LAST HOME GAME ENDS IN LOSS

It was Senior Night and the last home game of the season for the Rebels. It was the last C-game of the season, as the B and A have one more against RRC on Monday. Crazy how fast things go once you near the end.

The C-squad had one of those games to finish the year. It seemed like the basket had a lid on it and MLAC couldn’t miss. The Wolverines hit 6, 3-point shots to the Rebels 1. Even with the cold shooting at the half the Rebels were only down 8 at 20-12, but things didn’t get much better in the second half as the cold shooting continued. Giving up only 18 second half points the defense did a nice job in spurts, but the MCC offense couldn’t find its rhythm and would fall 38-18 and split with the MLAC c-squad this year.

The Freshman had a solid season, going 14-5 and do a nice job of playing together. The future is bright for this group, keep improving and stick together!

The B-squad would get off to a nice start against MLAC, putting up 33 first half points to the Wolverines 16. Ross Engelkes would score 14 as would Bryce Hoekman. Ben Ahlers would hit a three and Carter Lewis would connect on one of his patented baseline drives to round out the scoring. Solid defense would allow the Rebels to go into the break with a nice cushion, which they would need against the scrappy MLAC team in the second half.

MLAC would get hot shooting and put up 28 second half points compared to the Rebels 19. Carter Lewis would lead the way in the second half for the Rebels offense scoring 9 second half points, while Gavin Gillette and Ben Ahlers would make all of their free throws. Gillette going 4-4 and Ahlers w2-2. Ahlers would also add another bucket for, 4 second half points. Wyatt Loosbrock would score 2 as well and had a tremendous defensive game. Tipping passes, creating steals, and being very active on the defensive end.

When it was all said and done, the Rebels earned the 52-44 win. The b-squad has one more game remaining and that is Monday in Lamberton against RRC.

The Varsity knew going into to the game they would have to shoot well to stick with the high tempo of the MLAC offensive and defensive attack. Also controlling the paint and the glass were going to be big factors in this ball game.

MLAC was able to get out to the early lead getting to the foul line on numerous occasions, 12 times to be exact in the first half and they would also find their rhythm from beyond the arc, hitting 3, first half threepoint shots. MCC would get multiple good looks in the paint either from offensive rebounds or post entry passes, but the hoop seemed to have a lid on it. On more than one occasion the Rebels would get two or three shots up from feet away from the rim and come away with no points or the Rebels would find an open three point shot that would hit iron and bounce out and on these empty possession MLAC would score a basket of their own.

Foul trouble would hamper the Rebels attack as well. Nate Kleven had 10 points and 13 rebounds in 15 minutes of play. He spent half the game on the bench in foul trouble. Losing that toughness in the middle of your offense and defense makes a difference against a tough MLAC team.

Both teams would play parts of the first half in the bonus and it would be MLAC who would take the advantage into the halftime break up 9, 30-21.

The Rebels were getting good looks at the basket, they weren’t’ turning the ball over, ended up with only 10 turnovers on the game, but they just couldn’t make shots. The team went 1-12 from the threepoint line. 8-18 from the foul line, and shot 16-45 overall. MLAC shot 20-42 overall and 7-14 from the three-point line. It doesn’t take much, if the Rebels shoot even close to their average from beyond the arc, it’s a tight contested ball game to the end. The MCC defense only gave up 25 second half points, holding the high powered Wolverine offense to just 55 points. 8 below their season average, but MLAC held MCC to just 41 points, 11 below their season average to come away with the 55-41 victory. MLAC is 20-5 with one game remaining and the Rebels fall to 13-11 with one game remaining as well.

Scoring Leaders: Nate Kleven 10, Tanner Graphenteen 9, Christian Tentinger 7, Aidan Dierks 7, Chant Mitchell 6, Bryce Hoekman 2. Rebound Leaders: Nate Kleven 13, Christian Tentinger 6, Tanner Graphenteen 5, Chant Mitchell 4, Abe Paulzine 3. Steals Leaders: Paulzine, Kleven, Graphenteen, Tentinger, and Dierks each had 1. Assist Leaders: Chant Mitchell 3, Graphenteen and Tentinger each had 1.

The Rebels have earned the third best record in the conference standings (10-5) and regardless of outcome of their last game against RRC, MCC will place third in the Red Rock Conference behind MLAC (13- 2) and conference champions SWC (14-1). MCC has earned the 4 seed in the section tournament and will play rival WWG at 12:30 in Worthington this Saturday.