Dogie men fall to ‘Blazers

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies started their contest against the Trailblazers in Torrington a little on their heels last Friday without starter Landon Engle. However, despite going into it missing his 10 point-per-game contribution, the team rebounded and battled but found themselves in a 52-63 deficit when the final buzzer blew.
“Considering the cards we were dealt, I thought the guys responded pretty well,” head coach Allen Von Eye insisted. “We were short-handed right off the bat, and we were in a situation which was totally out of any continuity that we’ve ever had, so the guys had to adjust and just battle for 32 minutes.”
The Dogies struggled a little and got off to a bit of a slow start, picking up a couple of offensive fouls, which put them in a tough situation.
“Tate [Engle] and Zach [Purviance] each were called for a charge as they attacked the basket,” Von Eye explained. “Those are tough to take, especially at the beginning of the game when you’re trying to establish an offense and be aggressive.”
The squad rallied from the early adversity to establish a 13-11 point lead at the end of the first quarter, however a crushing offensive onslaught by the ‘Blazers in the second frame where they outscored the Dogies 20-5 threw the Dogies into an all-too-familiar hole at the half.
“We just became really comfortable with east-west movement, and were not attacking the rim, and that’s not what we’re about,” sighed Von Eye. “Torrington was able to flatten us out and that lateral movement really started to kill us in that second quarter.”
The ‘Blazers took advantage of the Dogies’ lackadaisical offensive scheme and picked off several of those side-to-side passes up top which they segued into fast break points. Those easy buckets, in combination with a banked three-pointer is what would ultimately bring down Newcastle in the end.
 With just nine players suited up, and only four of those with four eligible quarters, the Dogies were lacking in depth which the ‘Blazers used to their advantage.
“We had some guys with foul trouble who had to sit, so that forced some guys into situations they are just never in,” he emphasized. “At one point, and for a while, we were without a ball handler, so that didn’t help us out much.”
After a half-time visit about chipping their way back into the game, the Dogies came out in the second half and outscored the ‘Blazers 34-32, but the second quarter thrashing they took proved too much to overcome.
“We hung with them in the third and then in the fourth quarter, the guys fought back and did everything they could,” Von Eye said. “We battled until the very end and we worked really hard, but when you’re sitting without 10 points, leadership, and an offensive threat that is going to draw defensive attention, it put us in a bind.”
Senior Christian Santos did what he could to step into that role by dropping in those 10 points. 
“Christian did some really nice things for us early,” Von Eye began. “He had an advantageous matchup and did a really good job of exploiting that to get us going.”
The Dogies had some very balanced scoring across the board with three in double figures including Santos with his points, Purviance with 16 and Engle with 12. Avery Chick was 100% from the floor on the night and finished with nine points, while Quint Perino and Hayden Overman each chipped in two and Hogan Tystad added one. 
“Kudos to our kids for overcoming adversity,” stressed Von Eye. “They were positive and worked their tails off, and that’s one thing we can always say about our guys — they are going to play their tails off. You’re going to get 32 minutes of hard, determined play and we did what we needed to in order to give ourselves a chance.”
This week, the Dogies have only a rematch with Burns to prepare for, but Von Eye pointed out that the Broncs present a pretty big challenge for his squad.
“Burns is playing pretty solid right now. They have a big 6-foot, 6-inch guy against whom we did a good job last time, but it was their guards who killed us,” he explained. “They have more experience having juniors and seniors who have played varsity ball since they were freshmen, but it’s all about the attitude you have and the effort you put forth. Those are things that we can control and if they’re positive, good things generally happen.”