Dogies drop to 1-2 in the quadrant

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
“Nobody wins a state title in February, so we just have to remember that it’s about the journey and it’s about the process,” said Allen Von Eye, head coach of Newcastle High School’s boys’ basketball team.
Von Eye’s hoops team is growing every weekend of play and though the win/loss columns are a bit lopsided, the squad is making strides in the right direction with each game they play.
Despite losing two straight against Douglas on Friday (62-80) and Wheatland on Saturday (37-73), Von Eye advocated that his team is making strides to improve and did some good things in both contests.
“We have started to shoot the ball better, so we hope that is coming together, but these games give us things we can look at to improve,” he nodded. “These guys are very aware that we have areas where we need to grow which is great.”
The Bearcats were up first, and were the third consecutive Northeast quadrant matchup for the Dogies. Von Eye and his crew were aware that they would be an athletic team who are playing some decent basketball, and that they would be the aggressor throwing pressure defense at them throughout the contest. 
“They were coming off the Buffalo shellacking where they didn’t play very well, so we knew we had to come out strong and we did in the first and third quarters, but then we let off a little bit,” Von Eye explained. “When we did, they started to go on a little run, but credit to our kids, we battled back at the tail end of the first half to put us in a position to be successful in the second.”
The Dogies hung with the Bearcats in the first half putting up 36 points resulting in only a six-point deficit at the break. Due to a couple of Bearcats who proved to be a little tough to defend, and too many turnovers by Newcastle due to the pressure defense, Douglas outscored the Dogies by 12 in the second half to take the win by an 18 point margin. 
“We just couldn’t control or contain the bounce, especially from those two guys,” Von Eye admitted. “Their freshman, Halquist, is very good and we knew coming in that he could drain it from the perimeter as he leads the conference in three-point shooting, but I was very impressed with his ability to get into the paint and finish strong off the bounce. You don’t typically see that from a freshman.”
Kyle Igo also had his best game of the season on Friday, while the Dogies just really struggled to contain those two off the bounce and keep them out of the paint.
Each player ended the night with 27 points so the damage they inflicted was hard to mitigate while their size inside also presented a bit of an issue. 
“We gave up plenty of second-chance rebounds when we did get a nice stop on their initial shot,” Von Eye stated. “But when we can’t clean that board, it makes it tough.”
Offensively, the Dogies had their best night of the season scoring 62 points and had very balanced scoring having three guys in double figures. Landon Engle led the way with 16 points, Tate Engle was right behind with 14, Zach Purviance also contributed 14 and Hayden Overman chipped in nine points as well.
“Tate showed for the sixth ball game in a row that he belongs on the varsity floor at the 3A level because he’s dang near unguardable off the bounce,” Von Eye boasted. “He has such a fast, tight spin move that when he drives in and executes, he challenges even the best defender to keep up with him.”
“Landon also had another good game and is deadly from that midrange jumper, and Zach has been shooting well from the perimeter lately,” he continued. “Then you get Hayden coming in off the bench who has been playing really well lately and giving us a spark when we need it.”
The Dogies then went into the Wheatland game with a quick turnaround as they hit the road early on Saturday.  
“We didn’t have time to prepare for both a big quadrant game on Friday and then pour a lot of time into the non-quad game.” Von Eye admitted. “We were prepped pretty well for Douglas and I was prepped for Wheatland, but we don’t match up well with them this year and they are playing pretty good basketball right now.”
Wheatland came roaring out of the box and put the hurt on Newcastle early, and unfortunately too many turnovers combined with less than stellar shooting by the Dogies contributed to a decisive Bulldog victory.
“We got a little shell shocked at the beginning, so everything we had planned to do kind of went out the window,” Von Eye sighed. “The third quarter was the worst we’ve played this year when we usually do pretty well in the first and third quarters.”
Coming out of the locker room, the Dogies turned the ball over seven consecutive times and it ended with the Bulldogs out-scoring the Dogies 24-5 in the third. Out of those seven turnovers, five led to layups and the other two led to buckets so Wheatland went on a 15-0 run to start the third quarter which kind of put the nail in the coffin for the Dogies. 
In addition, Wheatland only had four turnovers to the Dogies’ 19 throughout the contest.
“We had some guys hit some big shots but we also had some who showed their youth,” analyzed Von Eye. “It was a great opportunity for us to learn, though and we will work on improving those things going forward.”
This week, the Dogies have more challenges as they begin a lengthy road stretch. On Friday they will travel to Torrington to take on the Blazers who are currently on a nine-game losing streak which includes a loss to Newcastle a few weeks ago. Then on Saturday, they will head north to Big Horn who is playing some pretty good ball in the 2A ranks right now. Start times are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday and 4 on Saturday.