(1) Dakota Valley 66 (2) Tea Area 55 – Five Things to Know

<p>Top ranked Dakota Valley defended their ranking with a strong first night showing against second ranked Tea Area.  Here are Five Things to Know</p> <p><strong>One</strong>.  <strong>The DV Transition Game</strong>.  One of the toughest things a team can prepare for on opening night is getting a defense set while sprinting back in a scramble and dealing with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="732179" first="Paul" last="Bruns"]</strong> coming down hill off a defensive board.  The Panthers won the rebounding battle 41-2 and Bruns was the difference collecting 17 boards.  The toughest part of it for the Titans was Paul sprinting the other way with the basketball and Tea Area forced to try and pick him up with whomever was close to him.  Making matters worse, an intelligent off ball cutter can take advantage of this retreating scramble consistently and that is what <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="963742" first="Isaac" last="Bruns"]</strong> did leading to his 19 points.  </p> <p><strong>Two</strong>. <strong>The DV D</strong>.  <strong>Jeffrey Worth</strong> had an excellent game shooting the basketball but the majority of his scoring punch came early.  After Worth’s 14 point first quarter, the Panthers tracked Worth fairly well with players like sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="963787" first="Randy" last="Rosenquist"]</strong> keeping a hand in the passing lane, a tight hand up contesting a potential attempt, and a quick sprint to spots.  Tea Area’s support (players not named Worth and Lundin) had a terrible evening shooting the ball.  <strong>Braden Beach</strong> was 0 for 5, <strong>Austin Lake</strong> was 0 for 6, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="757879" first="Garrett" last="Kolbeck"]</strong> was 1 of 12, and <strong>Gabe Glanzer</strong> was 1 of 7.  These are players the Titans count on for points but Dakota Valley forced the attempts to be contested, or deep in distance.  Tea Area shot 19 of 51 from the field and that was with Worth/Lundin shooting well. </p> <p><strong>Three</strong>. <strong>Class A MVP</strong>.  The Preseason Class A Player of the Year is Dakota Valley’s [player_tooltip player_id="732179" first="Paul" last="Bruns"] and tonight on opening night against one of the top contenders to Dakota Valley’s number one ranking, Bruns had 22 points, 17 rebounds, and five assists. The UND signed guard shot 6 of 18 from the field and 9 of 10 from the foul line. A player of his talent will likely come away frustrated that he left some shots on the floor, which is true.  But Bruns controlled the pace of the game with his defensive rebounding, transition push, and constant threat to produce points.  Paul went to the foul line ten times and I had him drawing eight fouls overall on Tea Area players.  Even on a night where he felt he should of made three or four shots, Bruns controlled the game enough to beat the second ranked team in the state by double figures. </p> <p><strong>Four</strong>. <strong>1-2 Punch</strong>.  Tonight is a glaring example of why the Titans will need more than just their 1-2 scoring punch of juniors <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="812209" first="Cael" last="Lundin"]</strong> and Jeffrey Worth.  That said you do have to appreciate the way the pair played.  [player_tooltip player_id="812209" first="Cael" last="Lundin"] was Tea Area’s one player that could put the ball on the deck and create some offense when the Panther defense was positioned as well as they were.  He scored 16 points on 7 of 16 shooting.  Lundin also grabbed 10 of his team’s 25 rebounds holding his own in that department as well.  Worth got his team off to a great start hitting four first quarter threes and five jumpers in the first half.  He scored 22 points for the game making 7 of 11 attempts (5 threes) plus he did a lot of the ball handling.  </p> <p><strong>Five.  Panther Youngsters</strong>.  If you are thinking "we will have to get DV when Paul goes to UND" there is some bad news in your future.  Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="963787" first="Randy" last="Rosenquist"] did a nice job defensive and grabbed four boards as we mentioned earlier. Six-foot-3 <strong>Sam Faldmo</strong> started the game and hit a three. Six-foot-5 freshman <strong>Jaxson Wingert</strong> came off the bench to hit a buzzer beater, throw his size around the paint, and score seven points in his debut.  And then you have [player_tooltip player_id="963742" first="Isaac" last="Bruns"] taking advantage of a defense focused on his older brother, and moving into space to score 19 points on 6 of 12 shooting from the floor 6 of 6 at the foul line. Grabbed 8 boards too. This is a talented program, not just team, a talented program. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>