On Friday January 17th the Blazers were finally able to take the court for the first time in 2 full weeks. We had to opportunity to take on conference foe and possible conference champion Tri-Village. The Blazers took the floor in front of a packed house and matched the intensity of the Patriots. Kellen Laird hot a hot hand early getting buckets and initiating offense to get the Blazers going. The Patriots are averaging a conference best 77 points per game. At the end of the first quarter the Blazers were down 16-10. At the start of the second we immediately answered the call and pulled right back even. The second quarter the Blazers played physical defense and stifled the Patriots only giving up 11 points and scoring 17 to go into the half tied 27-27. The third quarter we continued to be the most physical team but the Patriots leading scorer started to heat up. In the end the Patriots were able to pull ahead and secure the victory, but it wasn't for lack of physicality or fire from the players.
As a first-year staff and trying to get our program ideas and culture going this was a great game for us. It was a good measuring stick to see where we are at as a team and where we have progressed and what work we still need to do. It also shows the kids how well we can play if we buy in to the game plan and play for the family.
Kellen Laird led the Blazers with 21 points and 7 assists, Nick Brubaker and Tayden Blevins each had 8 points, Daniel Turpin had 4 points, Talon Bousman, Lucas Alexander, and Brancin Mowen each chipped in 2 points. Ethan Osswald knocked down a free throw. Korbin Sullivan, Talon Bousman, and Nick Brubaker made Tri-Village's leading scorer earn his points by playing great physical defense which was a large factor of why we were able to play Tri-Village in a close game!
Blazers are back in action this Friday at Dixie for a WOAC matchup and home on Saturday against Northeastern (Ohio).