Josh Ihrke returns for his third full season at the helm of the Becker Bulldog boys basketball team and he is excited about as his squad that is comprised of 55 athletes from ninth grade to 12th.
Ihrke has named Dillon Radunz, Clayton Gallus and Andrew Davalos as his captains for the year and the varsity roster has eight seniors and seven juniors.
Last year, the team lost in the section semi-finals to Rocori, 75-64 to finish the 2015-15 campaign with a 12-16 record. They went 9-5 in the Granite Ridge Conference and Ihrke’s record stands at 22-52 in two seasons.
Ihrke’s assistant coaches are Anthony Miller (JV-A) and Nate Doimer (JV-B) and Brian Kuseske. The student managers are Anthony Agnew and Olson Pancoast.
The team played their first game of the year this past Thursday at home against Princeton. (See results at end of this article).
The team consists of Hunter McCalla, Matt Yoerg, Jake Fobbe, C.J. Howard, Caleb Foster, Gabe Dertinger, Tyler Lindquist, Davalos, Evan Epperly, Cody Gruenhagen, Ryan Good, Dawson Thom, Gallus, Jack Conzemius and Radunz.
Yoerg, Fobbe and Gruenhagen form a versatile, fast backcourt while Radunz, Conzemius, Gallus and Davalos give the team great presence under the hoop and plenty of physical challenges to opponents.
Junior Hunter McCalla is equipped with great vision and superb ball-handling skills and from outside the arc, look for Gruenhagen, Fobbe and Yoerg to nail the threes.
Gruenhagen, with good speed and great defense, looks to have his confidence at an optimal level and should give Ihrke many great options on both sides of the ball.
Davalos possesses unexpected moves and is not afraid to slice through the tall centers of other teams on his way to the bucket. Conzemius and Radunz have incredible size and bulk and will cause matchup problems for visiting teams on both ends of the court.
Fobbe, whose quickness can be underestimated, has great ball possession skills and usually dazzles the crowd with his shot selection. Yoerg gives the team a quality guard that is sure-handed and can shoot the lights out.
The Bulldogs will be playing in a new section this year (Section 5AAA) with teams from Rocori, Monticello, Apollo, Zimmerman, Dassel-Cokato, Willmar and Big Lake.
Ihrke is excited to see how this year’s team does — knowing his team is stock full of exceptional talent. With the plethora of talent and skill, he feels opposing teams will have a hard time stopping all his players who all have the ability and determination to score.
“I feel that there are a number of guys this year (that he can count on if the game is on the line),” Ihrke said. “That is a strength of ours. There is not one guy that a team can focus on to stop us. We have good guards and forwards that have size and are able to finish well around the hoop.”
Ihrke and his coaching staff has been anxious to get the regular season off the ground and are eying a few games on the schedule they are most looking forward to.
“We have a double header with the girls against Big Lake next Friday,” Ihrke said. “There will also be tough games against Monticello, Albany and Cathedral at home, as well as tough road games against Orono and Rocori in the Granite City Showcase over Christmas.”
With his first two years under his belt and a system he trusts, Ihrke is expecting wonderful things this year.
“I have high expectations this year,” said Coach Ihrke. “We have a lot of athleticism on the team with a number of guys that will be able to put the ball in the bucket.”
Ihrke says his team’s defense and transition offense will be a couple of their strengths.
“As a team, I would like to continue for the conference championship, as we have in the past couple of years,” he said. “As well as contend for the section championship. A goal this year is to make it to state.”
Becker 81, Princeton 73
The boys opened their season at home against Princeton Thursday night and came away with an impressive eight-point win to start 1-0.
Becker jumped out fast and furious and at one point in the first half, held a 30-point lead. They finished the half up by 20, but the Tigers refused to quit and made the game tight towards the end when they outscored the Bulldogs 42-30 in the second half.
Yoerg led the Bulldogs with 24 points, followed by Fobbe with 21 and Radunz with 13. McCalla, who had eight points, led the team with four assists and 10 rebounds while Davalos had three steals. Other scorers were: Davalos (8), Gruenhagen (3) and Conzemius (4).
Princeton had four athletes score in double figures including Brady Peterson (19), Reed Mitchell (17), Ben Jungroth (11) and Marqus Flicek (10).
Up Next
The Bulldogs traveled to Milaca Friday night to play the Wolves, then come back home Tuesday night to play Mora.
