DULUTH — It didn’t take long for Duluth East’s Jobe Juenemann to get going Tuesday against Superior.
In the first 40 seconds of play, Junemann hit a pair of 3-pointers less than a minute into the game and the Greyhounds jumped out to an 8-0 lead — a start the Greyhounds needed. He finished with 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting with eight 3-pointers in a 58-26 win for East.
“We haven’t been starting out super-great, so that was one of our main focuses tonight and was to get going early on and get them to take a timeout,” Juenemann said. “We went out there, brought a lot of energy and executed the game plan with our spacing and our movement.”
In fact, they did exactly what Juenemann said was the goal, forcing Spartans’ coach Kory Deadrick to call a timeout.
“Our game plan was to play a slower place,” Deadrick said. “When they came out in the first 40 seconds and it was 8-0, I really wanted to slow it down because they were on pace for 100. Then we started getting stupid slow just to take them out of their rhythm. I did think we got some good looks in that first half and we just didn’t hit them, then the pace was so slow that we didn’t get a lot of shots.”
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It was the kind of night Juenemann needed, Greyhounds coach Rhett McDonald said. Juenemann hadn’t been shooting great from long distance, but the game against Superior offered him an opportunity to get back on track.
“Seeing those first shots go through, you gain confidence right off the bat,” McDonald said. “We knew that with their zone, they would have to protect the core a little bit with our bigs. He was going to have some space and Jobe took advantage of that. With the ball movement and guys continuing to play conceptually like we like them to and the ball just seemed to find Jobe at the right point.”
Duluth East’s other shooters started to heat up from the perimeter in the second half, with Juenemann hitting three more and four other Greyhounds hitting at least one. The gym erupted when crowd-favorite Rocco Paulson appeared to get a rare make from the outside, but referees determined his foot was on the line.
“Starting off with big 3's like that — it just makes the basket look bigger for everyone else because they’ve got the confidence, they know Jobe’s going to know it down,” Paulson said. “Having Jobe out there like that, he’s like a beacon. You get the ball, you see him wide open and you know that’s a golden goal — you can just roll back down on defense.”
Juenemann’s shooting skill is something he has developed over countless hours and shots over the years.
“Jobe works tremendously hard, you never question his work ethic in practice, in the driveway or in a game,” McDonald said. “He’s pretty much self-made, we can take any credit for him. The way he shoots the ball is based on him putting in a lot of time. He’s a great kid, a great teammate, he’ll be the first one to care for a guy. Top to bottom, he’s an outstanding kid and I think that’s one of the reasons you see the guys love him as much as the fans.”
Juenemann knows the early makes helped, but he looked back to the extra time he’s put in the past couple weeks that made a difference.
“Going into that game knowing I’ve been struggling, I’ve been taking a bit of time for myself — after practice, before practice, gyms on the weekend — just to get my shot back on track and I think that paid off a little bit tonight,” he said.
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Paulson said everyone can see that Juenemann is a great shooter, but not everyone sees the energy he brings to practice and to games. The Spartans, however, got an up-close look at what the guard can do.
“We would cover one corner and he would come off a double screen to the other corner,” Deadrick said. “Then his teammates would find him and, for some reason, we weren’t rotating fast enough. I think him moving off the ball is as good as anybody and he gets himself open. He plays really hard, he seems not to get tired and when you’re making shots like that, it’s just fun.”
Juenemann was happy with his play on Tuesday, but he knows it’s not just him that makes the Greyhounds go.
“I was hot tonight, but on any other night it can be anyone else,” he said. “I wouldn’t have gotten any of my shots if it weren’t for any one of those other guys, so I’m super thankful for them. We played great as a team and I have a lot of fun with these guys.”
Superior 10-16—26
Duluth East 27-31—58
Superior — Carter Lambert 5, Calvin Anderson 4, Tresean Sanigar 5, Aaron Moen 3, Drew Eisel 1, Landon Anrig 3, Kyle Johnson 2, Kanayoliseh Onwudiegwu 2. Totals 7 9-11 26.
3-point goals — Sanigar, Lambert, Anrig.
Duluth East — Jobe Juenemann 26, Patrick Smith 4, Rocco Paulson 4, Wyatt Johnson 5, Ty Nyberg 2, Dillon Bement 8, Michael Kastelic 6, Ben Schingen 3. Totals 22 0-2 58.
3-point goals — Juenemann 8, Bement 2, Johnson, Kastelic 2, Schingen.
This story was updated at noon on Feb. 2 to correct the spelling of Jobe Juenemann's name in photo captions. It was originally posted at 10:50 p.m. Jan. 31. The News Tribune regrets the errors.
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