Dawgs Drop in Opening Game on the Court

Milbank Area Bulldogs dropped their season opener 68-47 to Morris Area on the road.

The locals played hard and stuck close to the Tigers throughout most of the first half, but trailed 34-23 at the midway mark. “I thought we played pretty good through the first 14 minutes of the game,” noted Bulldog head coach Matt Bastian. “We defended hard, played with a lot of energy and shared the ball well on the offensive end of the floor. Unfortunately, foul trouble and fatigue hurt us towards the end of the first half.”

Milbank Area continued to plug away in the second half, but were outscored 34-24 which led to the demise of the Bulldogs. “I know the score didn’t look good, but it was our first game of the season compared to Morris Area’s sixth,” explained Bastian. “We have a lot of things they exposed on us, however, we still have a lot of positives to take from this game.”

Sophomore Jonny Ash led the Bulldogs with 14 points, three rebounds, and three turnovers. Junior Nate Bien followed with 11 points, five rebounds, and one turnover. Senior Nolan Foss tallied nine points, two rebounds, and one steal while senior Jacob Jackson added five points, two boards, one steal, and two turnovers. Sophomores Derrick Aho and Mitch Quade contributed three points and one steal each. Sophomore James Weber had two points.

Also contributing to the Milbank Area scorebook were senior Kyle Montag, one rebound and one turnover; junior Matt Lenards, two rebounds, two steals, and three turnovers; Riley Wollschlager, two turnovers, and Tanner Gauer, two rebounds, and two turnovers.

The Dawgs wrapped up the contest with 23 rebounds, six steals and 15 turnovers. Milbank Area went 18 for 43 from the field for 42 percent shooting on the night.

Morris Area made 55 percent of its shots from the field, hitting 30 of 55 attempts. The Tigers won the game with 33 rebounds, two assists, 13 steals, and 11 turnovers.

Milbank Area will travel to Redfield Friday to take on the Redfield-Doland Pheasants. The C game will begin at 5:15 p.m. with junior varsity and varsity to follow. The teams were slated to play in Sisseton Saturday, December 19, for a double header, which has since been rescheduled. The boys will travel to Sisseton Saturday, January 30, with the C game beginning at 4 p.m.

Junior Varsity and C team scores – The Milbank Area C team suffered a 44-26 loss to Morris Area while the JV fell 49-37