Bluejay Basketball
Pierce Bluejays Dominate the Battle Creek Braves
By Parker Games
The Pierce Bluejays took a trip to Wayne and faced off with the Battle Creek Braves in an intense game to compete in the first round of the sub district tournament on February 24, in Wayne.
Pierce got the job done and dominated the Braves in the first round. The ending score was 54-45, a crazy game in the sub district matches, especially since the Jays lost to Battle Creek by one point in overtime during the regular season.
Starting off strong in the first quarter, Pierce doubled the Braves’ score, 18-9.
In the second quarter, the Jays looked even better than the first quarter and the score at halftime was 32-15.
“I think we came out calm and relaxed and it showed, we were really aggressive on the defensive end early and it helped transition to good offensive looks. I think I did alright coming out. I knew what I needed to do and just played my game, shots were falling and I made sure to get every rebound I could,” Frazier said.
Coming into the third quarter, the Jays kind of struggled to keep up with the Braves. The score at the end of the quarter was 40-28, with the Bluejays still winning the game.
Following, in the fourth quarter of the game, the Jays came out with a punch to seal the deal with the Braves. Pierce came out winning the game and going to the second game of sub districts. The end score of the game was 54-45, with Pierce winning by nine points.
Keaton Frazier scored the most points for the Jays, scoring 22, and Brock Collison got a total of 16. Gavin Lubischer and Kendall Shada had five points each. Payton Cederburg came in with one three pointer in the game.
“The team played really well on Monday. We got off to a great start offensively in the first half and played great defense as well. The second half was very competitive on both sides and were able to come away with the win. It was a great win that extended our season and gave us more opportunity to compete,”Alex Thramer, the head coach of the Jays, said.
The Bluejays wrapped up their season this year by winning 11 games and losing 13.
Bluejays Fall to the Blue Devils
By Addisyn Ludden
The Bluejays fought hard on Friday, February 21 against the Blue Devils but ended up falling short. The Bluejays were defeated 49-37 in this final regular season game.
The first quarter went well for the Bluejays with them leading with 11 and the Blue devils ended with six.
For the second quarter, the Bluejays scored 11 points and the Blue Devils ended the half adding 18 points and ending the half 24-22 with Pierce only trailing by two.
“We came into the game with good intensity since it’s a rivalry game, but it came down to turnovers. Overall, I think we played very well,” junior Ryder Theisen comments.
The Bluejays were outscored 8-4 in the third quarter with the ending score being 32-26.
During the fourth quarter, the Bluejays scored 11 points and the Blue Devils scored 15, ending the game 49-37 in favor of Wayne.
“I think we came out with good intentions and the fire. Our defense was great; however, we had some minor slip-ups that hurt us in the long run,” adds junior Keaton Frazier.
The Bluejays will play in their first round of sub districts on Monday, February 24 in Wayne against Battle Creek.
