The Le Mars boys basketball season came to an end in the substate quarterfinal with a 62-51 loss at top seed and seventh-ranked MOC-Floyd Valley on Monday night.
Le Mars came in to the matchup as heavy underdogs in a matchup that, on paper, favored the home team greatly. Evidently, no one told the Bulldogs this was the case. Le Mars came out and played a one possession game with the Dutchmen for the majority of the half trailing just 24-20 at the half. Head coach Cody Dyhrkopp says the defensive execution was great in the first half.
The second half was a bit of a roller coaster for the Bulldogs who got off to a rough start and fell 15 points behind the Dutch. The roller coaster went back up with the Bulldogs getting the game back to within a score and even took a one-point lead in the fourth quarter. The comeback was sparked by Cole Brownmiller who hit a trio of threes with 12 points in the second half. Coach Dyhrkopp says it was nice to see the time in the gym paying off for Brownmiller.
Unfortunately, Le Mars was outscored 18-6 to finish the game, and MOC-Floyd Valley survived an upset bid. Coach Dyhrkopp says the guys had nothing to be ashamed of after the game.
The Bulldogs graduate a senior class of five that had to go through the first coaching change for the program in over two decades. Even while going through that, they improved their win total from last year while playing a tough schedule in a tougher conference. Coach Dyhrkopp says that shows what kind of toughness they have.
The Bulldogs end the year with a record of 7-15. MOC-Floyd Valley will host Glenwood in the substate semifinal on Thursday, February 22.
