Lennox Girls Fall in Tough Loss; Oriole Boys Prepare for Round 1

Lennox Girls Fall in Tough Loss; Oriole Boys Prepare for Round 1

Tuesday night was a night with high energy and high potential for two teams. EPJ and Lennox were going to square off for the Region 4A crown in Beresford. Now for those of you there you would probably agree but if you weren’t there, I am sure you need to know. The gym in Beresford, I am sure, will never host a region championship again and here’s why. The crowds were packed in on both sides and there was little room to sit. Now everything else was done well, they had good music and lights and a good announcer, but it isn’t fun to watch a game when there is hardly any room. Back to the game, Lennox started off well with a and one play by Jordan Kruse and then Riley Peters nailed a 3 to make it 6 to 3 Lennox. However, Lennox’s offense stalled there. At the half way point in the second quarter, Lennox trailed 15-6. At the half, it was 22-11 and Lennox had finished somewhat decent through the last couple minutes. Then Lennox hit a wall of missed shots and turnovers which led to it getting ugly. At the end of three, it was 39-20. The final score ended up 52-27 with EPJ winning and heading to the State “A” tournament. The girls ended a great season and they definitely help set up the idea that the Oriole girls could be a contending team in years to come.

The Oriole boys’ team prepares to play the Beresford Watchdogs for the third time this season. Lennox has defeated them both times at scores of 51-34 and 67-56. The Orioles will attempt to do something that is actually quite difficult to do and that is defeat a team three times in one season. Usually a team can win twice over that team, but after the first two games that were close, the Watchdogs are a couple of changes from an upset over Lennox.

Looking at Beresford’s roster, they have a couple of talented players that Lennox will have to try and shut down. There are two main players that return for Beresford that will make a difference tonight and that is Chris Kropuenske and Logan Busch. Both of these players are tremendous shooters with the capability of making a high percentage of the threes that they take. The Orioles will have to rely on the good defense of senior Tyler Leisinger, senior Collin McEntee, senior Jacob Lackas and senior John Oldenkamp. Those four players will most likely be the ones covering the two main players from Beresford. As for the Orioles offense, they will be led by Jacob Hinker who has scored 20.9 points per game on average this season. However what makes Lennox dangerous is the fact that anyone on the starting group can have a big game at any given time. Such as Leisinger, McEntee or Oldenkamp.

I know that Beresford and Lennox will be a highly competitive and super exciting game to watch tonight. There are also two other Region 4A games tonight which is Tea Area vs EPJ and Vermillion vs Canton. Last year, I predicted the final scores of the second round and between the two games, I was four points off. I will predict scores for this round and maybe next round, but it gets to personal to predict scores if Lennox keeps winning. I predict Lennox win beat Beresford 64-50. I also believe that Tea Area will beat EPJ 68-48. Finally, I am predicting that Vermillion will defeat Canton 69-37. Now these predictions are not official and they are just for the fun and sake of predicting and trying to guess the right score.

If Lennox wins, they will play Saturday in Dakota Valley. This will be the last home game of the season and because of that, you might want to make a point to be at the game. These teams are both talented and this could be a very great game to watch. So come on out before 7:00 tonight, cause that is when tip-off is, and see Lennox vs Beresford in round one of Region 4A playoffs.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day and GOOOOO Orioles!