The Rebels had less than 16 hours to get over their opening loss to St Marys before taking on the Sleepy Eye Public Indians Saturday morning at 11:30. The Rebels are a veteran team with four starting seniors and two more seniors coming off the bench. Sleepy Eye is the opposite as they don’t have a senior on the roster and dress more 8th graders and Freshman than any other age category. The Rebels experience and strength down low would help them along with their defensive pressure on their way to their first win of the year.
The first and second half were played very much alike. The Rebels full court pressure would create scoring chances early on as MCC would open up a big lead and then the Indians would settle down and would close the gap by the end of each half. The Rebels built a very early fourteen point lead against Sleepy Eye as Derek Kluis knocked down a pair of early 3’s and Tannger Graphenteen drove to the hoops for a couple of baskets and hit a 3 of his own. The Rebels would go inside to Bryce Hoekman for 15 first half points as it looked like the Rebels might walk away with the win. That would not be the case as Sleepy Eye started to knock down the three point shot. Eric Lazano made a pair of 3’s while scoring 12 first half points. Isaac Lendt hit a pair of 3’s including a buzzer beater as the first half came to an end. The Rebels led 31 to 30 at the half.
The second half was like the first with the Rebels starting strong and increasing their lead to double digits and then the Indians coming from behind to make the game closer. MCC only made two 3 point shots in the second half, one by Carter Lewis and the other by Kluis. Hoekman and Tentinger scored 6 points each to lead the Rebels. Lazano was still hot in the second half as he led the Indians with 9 points and Landon Wendinger added 6. In the end the Rebels defense would lock down on the Sleepy Eye shooters allowing the Rebels to get the 58 to 53 win.
Bryce Hoekman scored 21 points to lead the Rebels for the second straight game and he also grabbed a team high 9 rebounds. Derek Kluis scored 11 points and grabbed 5 rebounds for the Rebels. Tanner Graphenteen and Christian Tentinger each scored 9 points for the Rebels in a very balanced effort. What was impressive for Sleepy Eye was the two 8th graders combined for 28 points and the Sophomore center added 10. So 38 of the team’s 53 points came from players who are not old enough to drive. MCC will now have a week to prepare for their next game.
