Lions battle Belle Plaine in opener

Plainsmen pull away in second half for a 55-32 win

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 11/30/21

The Lone Tree offense sputtered at times during the first half on Monday.  

But in the second half, it stalled completely. 

A 25-4 second-half run turned a tie game into a comfortable …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Lions battle Belle Plaine in opener

Plainsmen pull away in second half for a 55-32 win

Posted

The Lone Tree offense sputtered at times during the first half on Monday.  

But in the second half, it stalled completely. 

A 25-4 second-half run turned a tie game into a comfortable 55-32 win for Belle Plaine in the first game of the season for both teams. 

Plainsmen senior Ben DeMeulenaere scored 30 points, blocked six shots, and made things difficult for the Lions in the paint. 

“We lost our aggressiveness on offense,” Lone Tree coach Tom Squiers said about the second half. “I tell them every day in practice, I’d rather have a shot than a turnover. I think we just got too patient, and our guys are still a little bit timid on the offensive end.”

The Lions turned the ball over three times before attempting the first shot on Monday, but held Belle Plaine to eight points in the first quarter. 

Adam Knock’s steal and layup cut the lead to 8-7 and Cade Patterson’s 3-pointer gave Lone Tree its first lead of the year. Patterson grabbed a loose ball and scored in the paint to close the first quarter on a 10-2 run. 

“I thought our man-to-man defense caused them some problems and we doubled down a little bit more on (DeMeulenaere), so I think that helped us, plus we hit shots,” Squiers said. 

Lone Tree’s leading scorer and rebounder Tyler Bell missed the season opener with an illness. His defensive rebounding was missed severely against the 6-foot-4 DeMeulenaere, whose 13 rebounds per game were top-5 in Class 1A last year. 

Knock has been unable to practice because of a stress fracture, but was cleared to play Monday and led Lone Tree with eight points off of the bench. 

Drew Gauley’s 3-pointer tied the game at 23-23 early in the second half, but Patterson went to the bench with foul trouble and the Lions did not make another shot in the third quarter. The Lions trailed 40-25 before Patterson ended the field goal drought. 

Patterson finished with seven points and Shield scored six. Both were limited by four fouls for the shorthanded Lions and Mitchell Koedam fouled out of the game. 

Five players made a 3-point shot for Lone Tree including senior Matt Fellows. 

Shield and Ethan Bockelman each made a 3-pointer late in the second quarter as Lone Tree responded to an 11-0 run by cutting the lead to one at the half.

“We hit a few threes,” Squiers said, “and then you know, that whole second half we couldn’t throw it in the ocean.”

The Lions travel to Keota on Thursday, Dec. 2 and host Highland to open conference play on Monday.