The Dike-New Hartford boys basketball team advanced in the playoffs with a convincing 70-47 win over Columbus Catholic in Monday’s 2A District 11 First Round. It was the team’s third win over the Sailors this season.
A Jaiden Soppe three-pointer as time expired gave the Wolverines an 18-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, and the lead increased to 32-23 at halftime. After an even third quarter where the Sailors tied the game at 34, DNH outscored their opponent 23-9 in the game’s most lopsided quarter to leave no doubt. DNH has advanced to Thursday’s district semifinal at Denver.
The Wolverine girls (9-14) will play in a regional quarterfinal at Pocahontas Area (17-5). DNH is coming off Saturday’s 56-33 first round win over South Hamilton, where they were crisp offensively by going 9/14 from three-point range. Head Coach Matt Dove on a possible recipe for an upset.
“I feel like when we take care of the basketball, more times than not, we get pretty good shots,” Dove says. “Now, do we make all of them? No, not all the time. But when we take care of the ball, I think do a good job of attacking the basket and getting the looks that we want to take. And then on the other end, defensively, I’ve been really pleased with the progress that we’ve made to this point. I think we do a pretty good job of forcing teams to take tough shots, but we’ve got to be rock solid when it comes to rebounding the basketball. After that, we’ve played some good teams and done some good things defensively. If we give them two, three cracks at it every trip they get on the offensive end, then the rest of it really doesn’t matter. So I would say those three things are going to be big for us.”
Pocahontas Area has won five straight, and will begin their playoffs as the 2-seed in the bracket, having received a first round bye. The tipoff will be at 7:00 p.m.
