Dutchmen Basketball
State Champions
Even after their return to Melrose, with fans lining Fifth Avenue and filling the school parking lot, it was still a bit unreal to head coach Ryan Dusha what the team had done
But the fact is The Melrose Dutchmen are again a state basketball
champion.
Never ranked among the top teams all year, and ranked fifth in the state tournament seeds, the Dutchmen came out of the Class AA championship with first place medals, trophy and nets.
"This is a bit surreal," Dusha said after Melrose clinched the championship with a 63-51 win over Caledoniain the State Class AA championship this afternoon in Minneapolis. "We don't know how to this, cutting down the nets. This is fun."
What Melrose did know how to do was prepare of its opponents, and execute it game plan. The win came through a combination of being prepared and execution. Melrose's outside shooting was noticeable in the game
as Drake Meyer, 24 points, and Cesar Cervantes, 10 points, combined for six
three-point shots. Another key element to Melrose's win was how it
controlled the boards. Melrose outrebound Caledonia 43-35 and did not concede
anything to the physical inside play of the Warriors.
The Dutchmen led for most of the them game and once
its inside players, Blake Gerads, two points, Tyler Braegelmann, 15 points, and
Colton Meyer, eight points, started to score the Dutchmen had established
themselves inside and outside.
Dillon Haider's ability to complete no-look passes,
resulted in buckets for the Dutchmen. He also had four points in the
game. Cervantes had seven assists in the game.
Caledonia came to play and Melrose could never
really let up. For one of the few games this year, Melrose played primarily
seven players, although all senior were able to play in the game.
Melrose finishes its year a 29-5. Dillon Haider, Tyler Braegelmann and Drake Meyer were named to the all-tournent team.
From the start of the year Dusha had coached the team to be balance, unselfish and work everyone into the game. The goal was to constantly improve. He did admit to when he started thinking of state championship.
"With
about minute left (in the championship game) For us championship basketball is not a destination, it is a
mind set. We never
talk about getting to the state championship, We talked about improving every
day and playing champishp
basketball."
More photos can be found at http://youtu.be/vBpx2fI5Ekg
Read about the game in the March 18 issue of the
Melrose Beacon.More photos can be found at http://youtu.be/vBpx2fI5Ekg
Answer: The Dutchmen have won their last seven consecutive state tournament playoff games.
