Troopers win fifth straight
Troopers win fifth straight
By STU MERRY
The Garrison Troopers boys basketball team is peaking at the right time. District tournament play begins in a week.
The Troopers pulled out an exciting 77-69 overtime win Monday against Flasher on the strength of Ian MacDonald’s unconscious 32 points. Ian was stellar in the overtime session, canning a trey and going 6-6 at the line.
Jason Mattheis, coach of the Troopers, said Monday’s win was another good one for the team in spite of a weak finish..
“We just weren’t able to put Flasher away,” Mattheis lamented. “We struggled at the line down the stretch, which let them tie the game at the end.”
Fortunately, the Troopers didn’t waste a good early performance, outscoring the Bulldogs 14-6 in the extra period.
Mattheis said the coaching staff is liking what it’s seeing as the last regular season weekend approaches.
“I think the biggest difference for us during the win streak is that our guys are playing with so much confidence,” he said. “We were down big against Underwood and Washburn, but our guys stayed confident. They never thought we were out of the game, which allowed us to come back and get wins in both games.”
“It also helps that Ian, Kyle (Schlehr) and Andrew (Haugen) are playing terrific right now. Ian has been almost unstoppable.”
“He put us on his shoulders last night (Monday). He also finished with 12 rebounds,” Mattheis said.
