Flustered by defense

It wasn’t the end of the season that head coach Allen Von Eye’s Dogies were shooting for at the 3A East Regional Basketball Tournament in Glenrock last weekend, but that’s how it played out.

The team went two-and-out with losses to Wheatland (27-43) on Thursday, and Glenrock (44-58) on Friday. 

As the No. 7 seed, Newcastle was pitted against the second-seeded Wheatland Bulldogs in the quarter-final round on Thursday. 

The Dogies started the contest off strong, trading blows with the Bulldogs to close out the first quarter with just a two-point deficit, 9-11. But, Wheatland came out in the second frame with their highest scoring eight minutes of the game, draining 14 points to Newcastle’s 2. Now down 14 points, the Dogies had an uphill climb ahead in the second half.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well,” Von Eye said. “They didn’t do anything that we didn’t expect them to do, and we had prepared for their 1-2-2 zone defense, but it just flustered us and we couldn’t knock down shots even though we had good looks.”

Von Eye’s crew responded well coming out of the locker room as they cut into the Bulldog’s lead by five points, however, Wheatland’s defense ramped up in the final frame of play holding the Dogies scoreless and handing them their first loss of the tournament. 

“Defensively, we didn’t play as well as we could have,” Von Eye determined. “In the second half, we did much better offensively, but we just traded buckets, and you can’t do that when you’re down.”

In the loser-out game on Friday, the Dogies were tasked with taking on the Glenrock Herders on their home court. The Herders put together a very balanced effort while the Dogies experienced lulls off and on throughout the contest.

“We went into the game pretty confident playing against a 1-2-2, and we did a good job of pulling them out of the zone,” Von Eye said. “But then, we had a tough time adjusting back to their man-to-man defense for about half a quarter. That allowed them to take advantage and pull away from us.”

Point guard Teddy Troftgruben put the Dogies on his back in the second half where he scored 18 of his 20 points, but the Herd consistently put points on the board to maintain and extend their 11-point lead at half time to 14 points by the final buzzer.

“Teddy came alive in the second half, after sitting for a lot of the first half because of foul trouble,” Von Eye said. “He hit some huge shots, but we couldn’t get defensive stops down the stretch.”

The loss brought the Dogies’ season to a premature end.

Newcastle will graduate two seniors from this year’s squad in starter Thatcher Troftgruben, and Connor Stohlhammer.

“Thatcher is going to leave pretty big shoes to fill. He is leaving a pretty impressive legacy,” Von Eye said. “Connor is just the consummate team player, and he is just exactly the kind of player you want at the forefront of your team.”

However, Von Eye will return the core of his squad next season, with several of those players being underclassmen who earned valuable varsity time in the latter half of the year.

“We played a lot of the young guys quite a bit this year, so they got a lot of high-level experience to grow from,” Von Eye said. “These guys are only going to get better and more diverse in their skill set, so that is pretty exciting.”

Newcastle @ 3A East Regional Tournament in Glenrock 3/6-7/25

Newcastle v. Wheatland 3/6/25: 27-43
Thatcher Troftgruben: 7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 deflections

Teddy Troftgruben: 21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 deflection

Kyan Allen: 13 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 deflection

Mason Rawhouser: 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 deflection

Colten Hatheway: 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 5 deflections

Newcastle v. Glenrock 3/7/25: 44-58
Thatcher Troftgruben: 7 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 deflections, 1 charge taken

Teddy Troftgruben: 20 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist

Kyan Allen: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists

Mason Rawhouser: 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

Landon Hatheway: 1 point, 1 rebound

Colten Hatheway: 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Connor Stohlhammer: 1 rebound

Coen Tavegie: 1 assist