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DODGE CITY —
It was superhero night inside the Dodge City High School Field House for the Demons’ home contest against Goddard Eisenhower, but Trey Hallman and company couldn’t put together the late-game heroics to defeat the visiting Tigers, dropping their final home game of the 2011 calendar year, 51-45.
Eisenhower, a new program in the 5A classification, came into the game with high hopes and a matchup issue for the Demons — they have size inside.
They used that size to outrebound the Demons 43-25, in what effectively decided the game in a six-point outcome.
The game began with high intensity, with Dodge using its pressure defense to force the Tigers into different offensive formations. It would seesaw back and forth between the two sides, as the first quarter would close with an 8-8 tie.
Head coach Dennis Hamilton’s squad would jump out to a small lead early in the second quarter, but could not pull ahead to a comfortable margin.
Behind the play of Trevon Evans and Zach Bush, the Tigers’ multifaceted backcourt, Eisenhower was able to close the gap and eventually tie things up at 21 by the halftime buzzer.
The third quarter would prove to be the undoing of the Demons.
The Tigers outscored Dodge 15-8 in that defining quarter, forcing the Demons to play from behind and run the offense primarily through Hallman, Isaiah Bradshaw and fellow guard Jordan Doan.
Down by six late in the fourth quarter, Bradshaw ran a perfectly executed pick and roll, resulting in a three pointer to cut the deficit in half. A steal at half court with just over a minute left saw Bradshaw launch up a three from the right corner in front of the students in their Batman underwear and Captain America regalia.
A loud moan escaped the student section as the shot found the back of the iron and bounced into the waiting arms of a Tiger defender.
Eisenhower would cap off the game with free throws as the Demons could not pull any closer, resulting in the Demons’ second loss of the season.
For Hamilton, his team’s slow start might have put the team in a situation that didn’t allow them to play their game.
“We didn’t get off to the start that I felt that we needed to in the very beginning,” Hamilton said. “We had three empty possessions to start the game and that kind of puts you behind the eight ball before you even get to cue your stick. It seemed that we were a little lackadaisical, but our kids played hard, there’s no question about that. We were just fighting from behind the whole time and their run in the third quarter kind of did us in.”
Perhaps the surprise of the evening came in the form of Matt Goedeken, who found his way into the lineup and made the most of his playing time, making seven of his 12 shots for a team-high 18 points and tied for the team lead with four rebounds.
Hamilton says Goedeken will continue to be relied upon as the season progresses and could be a heavily-utilized big body in the Demons’ offensive scheme.
“Matt shot the ball very well and led the team in rebounds, which is obviously his best game as a varsity player,” Hamilton said. “We’re asking him to do more inside and we’ll continue working with him. He’s a strong kid and it will come around. He had three nice three-point shots and we called one for him off of an inbounds play and he stepped up and knocked it down.”
Hamilton and company will look to bounce back from Saturday’s loss with their final game of 2011 against Ulysses on the road Friday night. Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m. and can be head on 95.5 FM.
It was superhero night inside the Dodge City High School Field House for the Demons’ home contest against Goddard Eisenhower, but Trey Hallman and company couldn’t put together the late-game heroics to defeat the visiting Tigers, dropping their final home game of the 2011 calendar year, 51-45.
Eisenhower, a new program in the 5A classification, came into the game with high hopes and a matchup issue for the Demons — they have size inside.
They used that size to outrebound the Demons 43-25, in what effectively decided the game in a six-point outcome.
The game began with high intensity, with Dodge using its pressure defense to force the Tigers into different offensive formations. It would seesaw back and forth between the two sides, as the first quarter would close with an 8-8 tie.
Head coach Dennis Hamilton’s squad would jump out to a small lead early in the second quarter, but could not pull ahead to a comfortable margin.
Behind the play of Trevon Evans and Zach Bush, the Tigers’ multifaceted backcourt, Eisenhower was able to close the gap and eventually tie things up at 21 by the halftime buzzer.
The third quarter would prove to be the undoing of the Demons.
The Tigers outscored Dodge 15-8 in that defining quarter, forcing the Demons to play from behind and run the offense primarily through Hallman, Isaiah Bradshaw and fellow guard Jordan Doan.
Down by six late in the fourth quarter, Bradshaw ran a perfectly executed pick and roll, resulting in a three pointer to cut the deficit in half. A steal at half court with just over a minute left saw Bradshaw launch up a three from the right corner in front of the students in their Batman underwear and Captain America regalia.
A loud moan escaped the student section as the shot found the back of the iron and bounced into the waiting arms of a Tiger defender.
Eisenhower would cap off the game with free throws as the Demons could not pull any closer, resulting in the Demons’ second loss of the season.
For Hamilton, his team’s slow start might have put the team in a situation that didn’t allow them to play their game.
“We didn’t get off to the start that I felt that we needed to in the very beginning,” Hamilton said. “We had three empty possessions to start the game and that kind of puts you behind the eight ball before you even get to cue your stick. It seemed that we were a little lackadaisical, but our kids played hard, there’s no question about that. We were just fighting from behind the whole time and their run in the third quarter kind of did us in.”
Perhaps the surprise of the evening came in the form of Matt Goedeken, who found his way into the lineup and made the most of his playing time, making seven of his 12 shots for a team-high 18 points and tied for the team lead with four rebounds.
Hamilton says Goedeken will continue to be relied upon as the season progresses and could be a heavily-utilized big body in the Demons’ offensive scheme.
“Matt shot the ball very well and led the team in rebounds, which is obviously his best game as a varsity player,” Hamilton said. “We’re asking him to do more inside and we’ll continue working with him. He’s a strong kid and it will come around. He had three nice three-point shots and we called one for him off of an inbounds play and he stepped up and knocked it down.”
Hamilton and company will look to bounce back from Saturday’s loss with their final game of 2011 against Ulysses on the road Friday night. Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m. and can be head on 95.5 FM.
