Dragons blast Colfax 64-35

The St. George’s Dragons Saturday night visited Colfax and served notice they will be back in contention for another state title run this year.

After being challenged by Colfax in the second quarter, the Dragons put it together and pulled away from a young Bulldog team for a 64-35 win.

Coach Reece Jenkin said despite the big margin he felt the Bulldogs did a solid job of competing with the Dragons.

“They obviously are back with a whole lot of talent and have to be considered as favorites to take another run at the title this year,” Jenkin noted. He also said Colfax came out of the game with a better idea of what they have to work on as the season unfolds. One thing on the project list will be shrinking the amount of turnovers.

The Dragons, who came to Colfax after rapping Liberty 69-50 in the league opener Friday night, are rolling again with six seniors from the team that defeated Colfax in last year’s 2B title game. Among the returnees are 6-7 Dexter Sienko, 6-4 Will Tender and 6-0 Erik Mulheims.

Saturday, the Dragons rolled out a 7-0 lead at the start of the game, but the Bulldogs battle back. Colfax actually tied the defending champs with 1:41 left in the first quarter when Kasey Johnson broke along the baseline for a reverse hook.

Unrattled, the Dragons went on a scoring string in the second quarter and moved out to a 14-point gap, 29-15 at the half.

Sienko, the focus point of the Bulldogs’ scrambling defense, finished with a game high 23 points. He picked up nine beans by shooting 9-10 off the toss line.

Tender, who finished within 20 points, and Mulheims who hit 10, each had a pair of three-pointers.

Johnson and Keith Gfeller each hit nine for the Bulldogs, and Josh Brown led the rebounding with 24.

Colfax, now 2-2 overall, opened the league run at Davenport with a 45-41 win over the Gorillas. They fought back after trailing 3-14 near the end of the first quarter.

“It was a very tough game, and I’m proud of the way we fought back after being that far down,” Coach Jenkin said.

Gfeller hit 20 to lead Colfax, and Johnson finished with 13. Junior Brent Becker in his first game, booked five points in the opener.

Coach Jenkin noted the game was a scramble most of the way. Johnson hit a key threebie to put Colfax in front by five points with about 90 seconds on the clock, but the Gorillas game back on foul shots and the win didn’t go into the books until Johnson added two beans in the last 40 seconds.

Colfax now stands at 1-1 in the NE. They will host Springdale Friday night and then finish out the pre- Christmas run at Reardan next Saturday.

St. George’s 64- Colfax 35: 11/9 18/6 18/11 17/9; Danny Robinson 1 0- 0 2, Mark Webber, 0 1-2 1, Keith Gfeller 2 5-8 9, Hunter Weitze 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Kasey Johnson 3 3-4 9, Brent Becker 1 0-0- 2, Josh Brown 2 1-2 5. Total 11 12-1 f-23 35. St. George’s: Cody Peplinski 1 (3pt) 0-0- 3, Peter Worall 3 1-2 7, Erick Mulheims 3 (2-3-pt ) 2-2 10, Nathan Fubeyna 0 1-2 1, Will Tender 5 (2-3ptr) 8-8 20, Dexter Sienko 7 9-10 23. Total: 19 21-24 f- 19 65.

Colfax 45-Davenport 41; 5/14 17/12 10/8 13/9: Mark Webber, 1 0-0 2, Keith Gfeller 6 (3-3pt) 5-6 20, Hunter Weitze 1 0-0 2, Kasey Johnson 5 (3-3pt) 0-0- 13, Brent Becker 2 1-3 5, Josh Brown 1 1-1 3. Total 12 16-24 f-16 45. Davenport: Max Mielke 2 (3pt) 6-9 11, Austin Zeller 1 4-5 6, Wyatt Ezers 5 3-6 13.