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Bryce Hoekman -
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Last time these two teams met in Westbrook the B-squad and the Varsity played in close games. B-squad won by 5, 39- 34 and the Varsity lost in OT, 69-62. The B-team was looking to make it a sweep on the year and the Varsity looking to split in a big sectional and conference match-up.
The B-team tipped things off at 6, hoping to get off to a fast start, it took a couple possessions for both teams to settle in, but MCC was in control. Bryce Hoekman looked dominate from the block, he pumped in 8 points in his only half of play. Ross Englekes added 9 points, attacking the basket and getting to the foul line where he went 3-3 in his only half of play. Carter Lewis had some nice attacks and finishes around the basket and added 4 first half points while Ben Ahlers added five, while connected on a three and a crazy jump shot. Owen Gillette swished a three and Hudson Schryvers added a free throw to get MCC to 30 first half points. Solid offense was accompanied by a little streaky defense at times, but you can’t complain about doubling up the score going into halftime 30-15.
Things would get interesting in the second half as WWG would battle back and turn the game into a bit of a nail biter. MCC would only score 14 second half points, but would hold a double digit lead for a long stretch to start the half. This gave the Rebels enough cushion at the end where if they made free throws they could hold on and win. WWG hit 4, 3-point shots in the second half and connected on 7, 2-point shots bringing the game within 3 points late. That was as close as they would get as Hudson Schryvers would step to the free throw line to seal the game with 3-4 and the Rebels would earn the 44-41 win.
The varsity was looking for a win against a team that was one spot ahead of them in the section seeding and looking for a split with WWG in conference play. The section seed points sat only tenths of a percentage point apart before tip-off, with WWG holding the slim advantage at the 8th spot in the 20 team section and MCC at the 9th. In the Red Rock Conference standings MCC was 7-4 and WWG sat at 7-3 for 3rd and 4th place. With a lot on the line, it was a packed house and great atmosphere to play some competitive basketball.
The first half started off with a bang for the Rebels as Christian Tentinger would win the tip, the Rebels would go down on offense and Chant Mitchell would pass out of the high post against the 23 zone and hit Tanner Graphenteen for a rhythm 3. The Rebels would earn a stop on the WWG possession and Mitchell would be rewarded with a bucket, assisted by Graphenteen on the next MCC possession. Tanner would find Mitchell in the short corner for a lay-up. Rebels would force a Charger turnover on the next possession and then the teams would trade misses before MCC would find Nate Kleven in the right block. He would quickly turn to the middle of the floor and lay in a smooth baby hook to take the 7-0 lead. Rebels would force another turnover on the next possession and the Chargers would return the favor and force a Rebel turnover. In transition Tanner Graphenteen would hustle down the floor to contest the lay-up, the Chargers missed and Tentinger grabbed the rebound. Graphenteen hustle play turned into a big shot from Abe Paulzine from the left wing. Mitchell would kick out from the high post to Paulzine for the three. As we have seen before, once Abe gets warm, 3’s seem to come in bunches. Paulzine would knock down two more from down town in the first half. 9 big points as the final score would correlate!
WWG would take their first timeout after the Paulzine three as the Rebels were up 10-0 at the 14:46 mark. A great start, but as with most matchups between these two teams, there was way too much game left to get comfortable. WWG would come out of the timeout and drill a 3, force a MCC contested three, and convert an and-1 opportunity. 10-6 and the Chargers weren’t done yet. Next thing you know by the 10-minute mark the game was tied 13- 13. This is how the game would go, small runs back and forth, back and forth. The two teams would trade baskets before WWG would hit a three and go up 18-15. But the Rebels would finish the half on a 10-4 run, going into the break, up 3, MCC 25 and WWG 22.
The second half would start off a little slow on the offensive end for both teams. That is kind of how the entire night went though, what ends up to be a low scoring, physical game. Chant Mitchell and Nate Kleven would get the scoring started for the Rebels. Mitchell on an attack to the left block and Kleven on an aggressive offensive rebound and put back on the right block. WWG answered with free throws and one of their two 3-point shots in the second half. Mitchell would find Kleven on the next possession as the two seniors played a nice short corner, dive play. Mitchell would catch and attack out of the short corner near the MCC bench and Kleven who was at the high post would dive, Mitchell would scoop it to Nate, who laid it in for the and-1 opportunity. WWG would connect on two more free throws after both teams traded stops and turnovers and the ball game was all knotted up at 31. It would stay this way for minutes. Neither team could find the bottom of the net as the defenses stiffened up and the offenses couldn’t convert until WWG took a 2-point lead on a transition lay-up.
The Rebels would answer though with a Tanner Graphenteen pass to a cutting Christian Tentinger on the baseline, he would pivot to one side of the basket and then back to his original position for the nice layin to tie the game back up. The two teams would trade possessions without any scores before WWG would hit their second three of the half and take the 36-33 lead with 3:30 left. The defenses continued to make it tough and the two teams traded possessions again, before Chant Mitchell would earn a steal and was fouled in transition. Mitchell would head to the free throw line for the 1 in 1 and convert on both to cut the lead to 1 with under 3 minutes to go.
We talked about how this was a game of runs. The Rebels started the game with a 10-0 run and not known how the game was going to finish with just under 3 minutes to go, the Rebels ended up finishing the game on 12-0 run. When the Chargers hit their second three of the half, that would be the last points they score against the Rebel defense. Tanner Graphenteen would go 3-4 from the foul line in the last two minutes along with Aidan Dierks who would make 4-4, including 2 after a flagrant foul, which gave the Rebels the two points and the ball.
MCC would earn the 45-36 win improving their position in the section and Red Rock Conference standings. MCC is now 11-10 and WWG fell to 11-9. MCC will be in action next Friday against Adrian/Ellsworth at Ellsworth.
Scoring: Abe Paulzine 9, Christian Tentinger 9, Aidan Dierks 7, Tanner Graphenteen, Chant Mitchell, Nate Kleven all had 6, Bryce Hoekman 2. Rebound Leaders: Christian Tentinger, Chant Mitchell, Nate Kleven all had 7. Steals Leaders: Tanner Graphenteen, Chant Mitchell, Abe Paulzine all had 2. Assist Leaders: Chant Mitchell 5, Tanner Graphenteen and Christian Tentinger each had 2.
