Dragons face pivotal clash with Fossil Ridge Panthers

By John English

Special to the Journal

The Carroll boys basketball team struggled this past week with losses to Richland and Northwest, but at 5-4 in district competition heading into Tuesday night's game with Keller and sitting in fourth place all by itself, Carroll is still in good position to earn a playoff berth.

The Dragons will square off with Fossil Ridge on Friday night in Keller, and coach Eric McDade said his team had better not take the Panthers lightly.

"Ridge is going to be ready, because they are fighting for a playoff spot," McDade said. "We are going to their place, and we were able to nip them last time, so I think they are going to be very ready for us and we are going to have to be ready to rise our game up to that level."

Carroll lost to Northwest on Friday by a score of 52-45, and McDade said the game was a dog fight from the start and went down to the bitter end.

"It was a war, and we expected it to be a war, and it was every bit of that," McDade said. "And when you get into the second half of district, where we are right now, you better be ready.

"I felt like our guys were ready, and it was a game that came down to the very end, and the bottom line is, they made free throws, and we didn't."

Daniel Brown led the Dragons in scoring in the game with 15 points, while Brett Jolly added nine and Cole Partyka scored 7 points in the game.

Spencer Tietjen, Sammy Silver, August Swanson, and Thomas Gilliatt combined for 14 points in the game.

McDade said he would like to see his team improve in some areas, but said, overall, he likes where the Dragons are positioned and the condition the team is in.

"We've got to make our free throws and we've got to be able to convert down the stretch if our goal is to make one of those playoff spots," McDade said. "We are very fortunate right now in that we haven't had any injuries, our kids are in good shape, and we haven't lost anybody to grades.

"Team-wise, we are steadily getting better, our practices are still good, but we've got a tough district and we play a number of good teams."

To make the postseason and have a playoff run, McDade said it will take a couple of things.

"We have to just fight through adversity, and really focus in on the defensive end of the floor," McDade said. "We have to get those stops when we need them and making plays.

"We want to finish strong, and to do that we have to guard and execute."

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