CameraManBrent
02-21-2006, 12:44 PM
ENID - The road through the 2006 high school basketball playoffs has been paved thus far with easy victories for the Beaver Dusters.
Coach Brian Stalder expects things to tighten up quite a bit this weekend as the Dusters prepare to face Agra here Friday night in the Class A-1 Area Final at the Chisholm Trail Expo Center.
What does it all mean?
“We have two chances to win one,” Stalder said. “Our goal at the first of the year was to get to the State Tournament. Once you get there, you can see what happens. But, you have to get there first. We still have to get there with a victory, and our Area has some quality teams left. I think there are three or four teams that are State Tournament quality sitting in our Area. And we are all fighting for two spots.”
BHS has two appearances in the State Tournament in Stalder’s 10th season. The Dusters went in 1998, losing to Battiest and they reached the finals in 2005, falling to Frontier.
This year’s club - loaded with big time experience - has goals of bringing home the gold ball.
“You can’t win state if you don’t get there,” Stalder said. “We can’t start counting our chickens before they hatch. We have to take care of business on Friday night.”
Beaver’s opponent in Friday night’s contest is the Agra Bearcats. They upset Laverne 50-49 Monday night in Cashion in the Regional title contest. (It was postponed until Monday because of bad weather over the weekend)
“They played real well,” Stalder, who attended Monday night’s game in Cashion, said. “Laverne missed a few shots early in the game, and Agra just got confident and played better and better as the game went on.
“They are a team that is very athletic. They struggled before Christmas but are playing real well right now. We are going to have our fans full. They will give us match up problems in two or three positions.”
The Bearcats are 20-7 overall and have barely cracked the rankings at 20th this season. Still, Stalder says they are a quality basketball team - one of many in the Dusters’ Area.
“They will play four people all in a range of 6-0 to 6-1 and a post kid who is 6-3,” Stalder said. “They are going to do a lot of things that will pressure us. And they seemed to handle pressure after watching them against Laverne.”
Laverne handed Beaver its only loss of the season, 55-50, early in the month of February. Since then, the Dusters have not hardly been tested in several straight victories.
“I hope our kids will use Laverne getting beat as a wake up call to know they can play,” Stalder said. “We experienced it in 1998. We were unranked and made a great run. Sometimes it’s about being hot at the right time of the year. The team I watched last night is capable of beating anybody.”
If there are any advantages in Friday night’s contest, the Dusters should be the most experienced. Last season, BHS won three straight games in the Expo Center to reach the State Tournament.
“Our kids will be prepared,” Stalder said. “That is one thing when you’ve been through it before, it helps. I will be disappointed if we don’t prepare well. We have people who have been on the floor a long time for us.”
Coach Brian Stalder expects things to tighten up quite a bit this weekend as the Dusters prepare to face Agra here Friday night in the Class A-1 Area Final at the Chisholm Trail Expo Center.
What does it all mean?
“We have two chances to win one,” Stalder said. “Our goal at the first of the year was to get to the State Tournament. Once you get there, you can see what happens. But, you have to get there first. We still have to get there with a victory, and our Area has some quality teams left. I think there are three or four teams that are State Tournament quality sitting in our Area. And we are all fighting for two spots.”
BHS has two appearances in the State Tournament in Stalder’s 10th season. The Dusters went in 1998, losing to Battiest and they reached the finals in 2005, falling to Frontier.
This year’s club - loaded with big time experience - has goals of bringing home the gold ball.
“You can’t win state if you don’t get there,” Stalder said. “We can’t start counting our chickens before they hatch. We have to take care of business on Friday night.”
Beaver’s opponent in Friday night’s contest is the Agra Bearcats. They upset Laverne 50-49 Monday night in Cashion in the Regional title contest. (It was postponed until Monday because of bad weather over the weekend)
“They played real well,” Stalder, who attended Monday night’s game in Cashion, said. “Laverne missed a few shots early in the game, and Agra just got confident and played better and better as the game went on.
“They are a team that is very athletic. They struggled before Christmas but are playing real well right now. We are going to have our fans full. They will give us match up problems in two or three positions.”
The Bearcats are 20-7 overall and have barely cracked the rankings at 20th this season. Still, Stalder says they are a quality basketball team - one of many in the Dusters’ Area.
“They will play four people all in a range of 6-0 to 6-1 and a post kid who is 6-3,” Stalder said. “They are going to do a lot of things that will pressure us. And they seemed to handle pressure after watching them against Laverne.”
Laverne handed Beaver its only loss of the season, 55-50, early in the month of February. Since then, the Dusters have not hardly been tested in several straight victories.
“I hope our kids will use Laverne getting beat as a wake up call to know they can play,” Stalder said. “We experienced it in 1998. We were unranked and made a great run. Sometimes it’s about being hot at the right time of the year. The team I watched last night is capable of beating anybody.”
If there are any advantages in Friday night’s contest, the Dusters should be the most experienced. Last season, BHS won three straight games in the Expo Center to reach the State Tournament.
“Our kids will be prepared,” Stalder said. “That is one thing when you’ve been through it before, it helps. I will be disappointed if we don’t prepare well. We have people who have been on the floor a long time for us.”