Troopers rounding into form
Troopers rounding into form
By STU MERRY
The Garrison Troopers boys’ basketball team closes out the regular season with three games against some stiff competition. Tonight (Thursday) the boys in blue host Beulah. Friday, the Troop heads to Center. Then, Monday, Garrison heads across the Missouri once again to take on the Hazen Bison.
The Troop traveled to Makoti to take on North Shore-Plaza-White Shield this past Saturday, coming home with a decisive win, 66-38.
The win came on the heels of a close loss to a pretty darned good Parshall squad Feb. 9, 76-68. What kept the Troopers from possibly pulling out a win was missing some close-in shots early on, carrying over to the third quarter. The Troopers’ play served as a wakeup call for the Braves.
“They came out and made a run and we couldn’t score with them,” Coach Jason Mattheis said. “Our defense was also a little shaky in the third, and we gave up too many easy scoring opportunities, which helped them run away with the game.”
Overall Mattheis said he was pleased with the team’s performance. Two things that hurt the most was scoring consistently and protecting the basketball. Those two things have been problems all season, and the coaching staff continues to put a lot of practice time into those two areas.
The Troop also dropped off a bit in its defensive intensity, especially in the third quarter. That became a major point of emphasis for the rest of the week. The work put in showed against North Shore on Saturday.
“We came out with a lot of intensity and were able to keep it for the entire game,” Mattheis said. The Troop forced 35 turnovers, which led to 23 points, most of easy bucket variety. The team also took care of the ball, which is another focus area the coaches are preaching. Scoring percentage was also up for the Troop – 38 percent overall, but the Wildcats shot just as well.
