Blue Jays Drop Game To Killdeer
The Blue Jays hosted the Killdeer Cowboys on Tuesday, Dec. 17 in their home opener. The Cowboys were ranked number five in the first poll of the season. They held a fifteen point lead at the end of the first quarter. Although Stanley held with them in the second quarter, a strong third quarter by Killdeer put the game out of reach as they went on to win by a score of 63 to 43.
Head coach Kory Anderson said, “We are finding out that we don’t have a handle on this Stanley team yet. The boys remain playing hard but as a program we need to find out what this team is going to be about. Killdeer was a good team that exploited what we know to be our weaknesses. We struggle to take care of the ball and as big as we are, we aren’t rebounding well. The one game we have won this season we rebounded extremely well and only had 13 turnovers. We are going to have to improve these areas going forward in order to be successful.
Defensively, we have a good base but need to finish possessions with rebounds. We are giving too many second chance points. Offensively we are struggling to find balance. We are big and want to get the ball inside but we also have Drake who is a great scorer that needs open space. Finding a balance is crucial. Going forward, we will need to improve on our weaknesses and become great at our advantages.”
As a team, Stanley made 17 of their 40 shot attempts for 42.5%, including 13 of 23 two point and 4 of 17 three point attempts. They converted 5 of their 8 free throws for 62.5%. That compared to 25 of 63 shooting for Killdeer, including 20 of 35 two point and 5 of 28 three point attempts. They made 8 of their 9 free throw attempts.
The Blue Jays had 19 total rebounds including 3 offensive and 16 defensive boards, compared to 30 rebounds for Killdeer including 13 offensive and 17 defensive boards. Stanley had 11 assists, 4 blocks and 7 steals and committed 15 turnovers.
Austin Kanenwisher led the team with 12 points, followed by Ben Hynek with 10, Kade Snyder with 8, Bennett Larson with 5, and Drake Schlosser and Jevon Johnson with 4 each.
Kade Snyder had 7 rebounds, followed by Ben Hynek and Bennett Larson with 4 each, Jevon Johnson with 3 and Drake Schlosser with 1.
Bennett Larson had 5 assists, followed by Jevon Johnson with 3, and Drake Schlosser, Ben Hynek and Kade Snyder with 1 each.
Ben Hynek had 3 blocks, followed by Jevon Johnson with 1.
Austin Kanenwisher and Kade Snyder each had 2 steals, followed by Ben Hynek, Jevon Johnson and Bennett Larson with 1 each.
Stanley 7 16 8 12 - 43
Killdeer 22 16 17 8 - 63
Up Next: The Blue Jay boys have one game on their schedule during the Christmas break. They will face Thompson at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 28 as part of the The Hoopster Classic at the MSU Dome.