Dogies wrap up regular season

The Dogies took care of their case of the first quarter blues last week as they finished out their regular season hosting Douglas on Thursday and Buffalo on Saturday. Though head coach Allen Von Eye’s crew dropped both contests, in each game, they started out strong which is something that they had been struggling to do over the last few weeks. 

“For two games in a row, we came out to a faster start, which we have stressed at length,” head coach Allen Von Eye nodded. “They weren’t hesitant and they did a nice job of attacking and executing the way we wanted to.” 

The Dogies also handled the pressure that both teams applied against them quite well. 

“We’ve been doing a much better job lately against full court pressure,” Von Eye insisted. “Where we still need to do some work is in the half court, working against that in your face, on the line up the line defense.”

Against the number one ranked Bearcats on Thursday, the Dogies put up 14 points in the first quarter. Unfortunately, Douglas also got off to a good start and scored 27 of their own. From there, the Bearcats continued to build their lead to come away with the 87-38 victory.

“We battled hard, and even though it doesn’t show in the final score of the game, we felt we played hard and did some good things on offense,” Von Eye insisted. “We’re doing the things we want to do to get the shots we want to take. They don’t always fall, but we’re getting the looks which is great.”

Zander White led his team with 15 points, Quint Perino was next with nine, Pate Tavegie and Teddy Troftgruben each scored four points, JJ Lipp put in three, Wyatt Cole had two and Thatcher Troftgruben chipped in one point to round out the scoring.

On Saturday, the Dogies played their best defensive game of the season against Buffalo, according to Von Eye. 

“Our rotations and our scramble mode was so much better. We helped and helped the helper so that was great,” exclaimed Von Eye. “We played more zone in both games than we have been playing, and we executed it much better. We closed out on shooters and made it difficult for them to get off the shots they wanted.”

Newcastle got off to another fast start like they did against the Bearcats on Thursday, once again scoring double digits by the end of the first quarter. This time, they were able to keep the score close, only allowing Buffalo 18 to their 10. 

In the second quarter, the Dogies went blow-for-blow with the Bison, scoring 12 points apiece to keep the deficit to just eight at the half. 

“We weren’t hesitant against them so we attacked the basket. I think part of that was also due to the confidence we gained when we played them up there,” Von Eye mused. “Other than the first quarter, we played three really good quarters against them last time, so we knew we could do it.” 

Buffalo was able to outscore the Dogies by five in the third quarter to extend their lead to 13, and then some offensive struggles in the final quarter of play by Newcastle factored into the team’s 57-31 loss. 

Once again, White led his team in scoring with nine points, Perino was next with eight, while Cole was right behind with seven points. Tavegie added three points, and Lipp and Teddy Troftgruben each scored two points. 

“We were so incredibly proud of them and we told them that at the end of the game. We’ve been wanting 32 minutes of good solid basketball and we got pretty close on Saturday,” Von Eye nodded. “That gives us a lot of hope and confidence heading into the Regional Tournament. We’ve gotten better each week, which was exactly what we wanted to do at the beginning of the season, and we like how the bracket shakes out for us.”

The 3A East Regional Tournament tips off on Thursday in Torrington. The Dogies will be pitted against Douglas who is the number one seed from the Southeast Quadrant at 7:30 pm on Thursday.