Teton Men's Basketball kicked off the second half of their conference schedule with a road trip to Bottineau to take on Dakota College at Bottineau. It had been exactly 30 days since our last men's basketball contest, so some rust was needed to get knocked off. Tetons started slow in the first half, ultimately losing to the Lumberjacks by a final of 60-83.

The initial minutes in the first half saw a back-and-forth contest with the Lumberjacks taking a 17-9 advantage early. From here, the Lumberjacks were able to extend their lead to as many as 26 by pushing the pace in transition and finding shooters for threes. Tetons ended the half on a better note, outscoring the Lumberjacks by 7, going into halftime losing by 19.

"Going in, it's never easy to not have a game for 30 days. Basketball is a tough sport conditioning wise, but with that many days off you can really lose your rhythm and connection as a team. It took a too long for us to settle in and execute in the first half than what we would have liked, but good things to see so we can get better."

The second half saw a back-and-forth battle. The Tetons looked to get their rhythm back and were executing better on both ends of the floor. With that came an inside-out attack as the Tetons saw themselves get to the free throw line 16 times, going 13-16.

"We got back to executing, moving the basketball, and not settling quite so much in the second half which was good to see. Shot selection was closer to where we want it to be, just didn't see them fall tonight. Defensively we were also much better in the second half, a lot of that came down to playing harder and doing a better job positioning wise."

"We played them more even once we settled in a bit. The last 23 minutes we won by 2, just can't come out flat to start and get down early."

Tetons will be back in The Well on Monday, January 16^th against Lake Region State College.