Bobcats Defeat the Bees and Guarantee a spot in the State Tournament

The Madison Bobcats boys basketball team beat the Bonneville Bees Tuesday night on the Bobcat’s home court 59-50. Madison will be going to the state tournament. They were the number one seed in the district, and because they won this game, they automatically will go to the district championship game, which will determine the seeds of the teams going to the state tournament.

The Bobcats played very well last night. Nine out of the ten team members scored points during the game. Only one player didn’t score. Head coach Travis Schwab said, “we won because the kids worked together, and set up plays for each other.” And the Bobcats made their goal of forcing ten turnovers. Also, the Bobcats achieved the goal of holding their opponent to 50 points. Schwab said, “one of the key factors of winning was achieving the goal of holding the Bees to 50 points.” Madison has won every home game this season. They are 11-0 for home games. The Bees were only 2-9 for away games. Madison had the home court advantage and was the most likely team to win.

Madison’s lead over Bonneville started with the first basket of the game, and the Bees were never able to recover. By the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats were up by seven points, 20-13. The first quarter was Madison’s highest-scoring quarter of the game, with the majority of the team scoring during the quarter. During the second quarter, the Bobcats lengthened their lead to thirteen points with a score of 37-24. The Bees came into the second half fighting, but the Bobcats focused on shutting down Bonneville’s star player, Dillon Sorensen, a six foot five inch senior who averages 19.5 points per game. During the first half he scored 10 points, but going into the second half the Bobcats held him to only 7 points. Schwab said, “we focused on shutting Sorensen down, we made the goal to hold him below his average points per game.” The Bobcats achieved that goal by only allowing Sorensen to score 17 points.

Madison had a couple key factors in winning the game. All the team played well and worked together to score. Schwab said, “The key factor of winning was how the kids played together, and they kept a tight defense up top.” Bonneville was good at slowing the game down, and they were trying to make the Bobcats impatient on defense. Schwab said, “I give credit to Bonneville for running the clock and slowing the game, but our boys stayed patient and did a good job.” The team played to the expectations of their coach and school. Schwab said, “I am proud of the boys for taking the win during the district tournament.”