LESTER PRAIRIE – It wasn’t pretty down the stretch one bit, but a win is a win, and the Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity boys basketball team will take it. In a game filled with runs back-and-forth, it was the Bulldogs who escaped with a 73-71 victory over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Thursday night on their home floor despite some poor free throw shooting down the stretch.
“We did not finish well,” LP/HT coach Nat Boyer said. “Free throws down the stretch did not fall the way we need them to fall. We came out and scored a lot of points in the second half, but we gave up a lot of points. It’s about stopping them and about finishing. This is a good one to have behind us now.”
The Bulldogs (8-12, 3-5) were in control throughout, but couldn’t put the game away at the free throw line down the stretch, which gave the Thunderbirds multiple chances to tie the game or even take the lead. The Thunderbirds (5-15, 4-8) had a chance at the buzzer to take the lead after two missed free throws, but the half court desperation attempt wouldn’t fall as the Bulldogs held on and escaped with the win.
“Kudos to them for playing the way they did,” Boyer said. “They battled right to the end and had plenty of chances to beat us. Thankfully, it didn’t fall for them, and we made the stops when we had to.”
Junior Dylan Ruzicka and Leighton Buhr stepped up their games big time in the win for the Bulldogs. Ruzicka knocked down six 3-pointers for the second time in three games. While making the start Thursday night, Buhr posted 17 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in place of Andrew Jackson who was out sick.
Ruzicka picked the right time to get hot for the Bulldogs. After opening the game on a 16-3 run, the Thunderbirds made a run of their own to take their first lead of the game with just over two minutes left in the first half. With both teams trading buckets, Ruzicka caught fire and knocked down three big 3-pointers in the final two minutes to give the Bulldogs a 29-22 edge at the half.
“The big thing for me is, that it’s not really me at all,” Ruzicka said about his hot shooting. “I’m sitting there, and I just set myself up. Those boys in there, they do all the work. They get me open and get me good looks. I’ve been able to finish lately. I went through a small slump, but I’m starting to come back because of those boys.”
While Ruzicka’s hot streak might comes as a surprise to some, Boyer knows he’s a shooter and has so much confidence in him, that he gave him, and him only, the green light to fire away late in the second half.
“I don’t do this very often, but I said nothing but layups,” Boyer said. “Then I pulled him back and I told him except for you. They knew it. We had a couple of guys that looked at me and said he just shot it. I said, ‘yup’. That’s because I gave him the green light. He’s shooting well and we got to keep that. With Dylan, it’s about confidence. He’s a very good shooter, and he just has to be confident to shoot.”
Look for the rest of the story, as well as more HJ sports coverage, in the Friday, Feb. 16 edition of the Herald Journal. Click here for subscription information.
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