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Cayden Veldhuisen
The MCC Rebel Boys Basketball team played their second game in Marshall over the holiday break on New Year’s Eve. The Rebels took on the 0-9 Lac Qui Parle Valley Eagles in a Section 3A matchup. The Rebels were coming off a strong performance in a win over Minneota earlier in the event. Wednesday, the Rebels would not play close to their best game, but they would get a convincing win.
The Rebels have had their struggles in the first half of games but then have reset themselves at halftime and dominated in the second half. The Rebels did not have that type of game against the Eagles, but they were able to dominate the paint against a team that was over-matched inside. The Rebels took the lead early and didn’t look back. The Rebels made 16 shots from the field in the first half, all of which were inside the three point line. Aidan Swenson led the Rebels with 14 points, while Dugan Kluis added 7 in the first. The Rebels did show good balance with Cayden Veldhuisen and Carter Hanson having six points each. The Eagles only scored 17 points in the first half led by Kaidyn Stender who made a pair of three point shots. What separated the two teams in the first half was turnovers, with the Eagles giving the ball to the Rebels 15 times while MCC only gave the ball away 5 times. The Rebels led at the halftime break 37 to 17.
The second half would see the play get sloppier with both teams making mistake after mistake. The Eagles couldn’t take advantage of the Rebels’ turnovers and though they were able to get some offensive rebounds, they were unable to score. Griffin Crans had a strong second half for the Eagles, scoring nine points. No one else on the team had more than 5. Aidan Swenson scored 10 second half points while four other Rebels scored four or more points. LQPV would never challenge the Rebels in the second half as MCC cruised to the 71 to 42 win.
The Rebels outshot the Eagles 46% to 28% from the field. MCC only made one three point shot in the game. The Eagles made 4, but took 11 more three point shots though out the game. The Rebels outrebounded the Eagles 34 to 23 while forcing them into 23 turnovers compared to the Rebels 13. Aidan Swenson led the Rebels with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Dugan Kluis finished with 11 points and 6 assists. Carter Hanson and Cayden Veldhuisen scored 10 points each and both players had 3 steals. The Rebels will have two games this week, hosting Edgerton Public and then a road game at Mountain Lake Area Comfrey.
