Bulldogs with the sweep! Late into the week and continuing into the weekend, Alliance hosted the East-West Shootout tournament. The varsity boys went 3-0, beating McCook, North Platte, and Lexington. With a nail-biting win against McCook Thursday night, Alliance starts off the tournament with good spirits. The game came down to the last minute. With a comeback from McCook, both teams put up a good fight. Brody Brennan took the game winning shot with 5.4 seconds left in the fourth period. Timeouts from both teams were then used one after another, first by McCook, then Alliance, and then McCook once again. The next two days, the Bulldogs beat North Platte 58-34 and Lexington 86-59. With all wins, it was a good weekend for our boys and coaches.

When asked about the weekend, Coach Trennepohl had a lot to say. “Great weekend of team basketball. I am extremely proud of these boys. They have completely bought into the system and process of becoming something great. They have worked extremely hard all summer and season. We require a lot out of them but they have learned to require more from each other. As far as this weekend goes, we really put three games together. I do not know how long it’s been since Alliance has won all three games, but I was told that Alliance had not beaten North Platte since 2000. We really played great team basketball and team basketball starts on the defensive end. I think the North Platte and Lexington games were the best two defensive games we have played all year. When we play good defense and rebound we are able to play to our strength by running the floor and getting easy baskets in transition. With that being said we had a lot of baskets in transition. We also found our shooters when they were ready to shoot and open, and therefore our percentage was great from the three-point line. It was a great way to start to prepare for districts and state. Now we go into the third part of the season and although we have accomplished things this year Alliance hadn’t done in many years we still have a couple goals to still mark off the list: District Championship and State.”

The boys are showing lots of strength and lots of hope for the last part of their season. More shots being made, better defense, and more showing of working as a team is really starting to reveal. The best of luck wished to the boys and girls going into district and state championships!