Thursday night the boys traveled to Edgerton for a Varsity and B-Squad match-up. Both teams were able to get off to fast starts and come away with nice bounce back wins.
The b-squad was very aggressive in the early going, using a full court press and swarming zone defense in the half court. This defense only allowed three made baskets in the first half as the Rebels would turn Edgerton over multiple times that led to lay-ups in transition. In the half court, the Rebels offense would be led by Bryce Hoekman and Ross Englekes. Englekes led the team with 12 points and Hoekman ended the game with 9, but it was a very balanced attack that helped the Rebels score their 47 points. Nine Rebels scored during the duration of the game. Thomas Huso had 6, Carter Lewis 5, Hudson Schryvers 5, Owen Gillette 4, Ben Ahlers 3, Wyatt Loosbrock 2, and Michael Risacher 1, to round out the scoring. MCC would shoot 43% from the field, 33% from behind the 3-point line, and forced 24 turnovers in the game. MCC 47, Edgerton 22.
The Varsity game got off to a similar start as the b-team game. A fast and furious start had the Rebels scoring 48 first half points, their highest total in any half this season. A big part of the scoring was the ball movement against the Edgerton zone, which led to numerous open threes and the Rebels connected on most of them, hitting 7, first half threepoint shots. Tanner Graphenteen hit three of them, Aidan Dierks hit two, Connor DeGreef and Chant Mitchell each had one. On top of the outside shot, the Rebels were able to force turnovers and get out and run transition and find high percentage shots in the half court set as well. Solid cutting and passing led to 12 made 2-point shots in the first half as well. Graphenteen led the way in the first half with 17 points, Nate Kleven added 9, Aidan Dierks 6, Connor DeGreef 5, Christian Tentinger 4, Bryce Hoekman who stepped in and played some nice minutes 4, and Chant Mitchell 3.
Going into the break the Rebels led 48-19 accruing multiple steals and steady offense contributed to the fast start.
The second half had a little different feel to it, some sloppy play to start the half had both teams off to slower starts, but a balanced offensive attack and a strong defensive effort helped the MCC to stretch out their lead and get many contributions up and down the lineup. Eight Rebels scored in the second half as Nate Kleven and Ross Englekes each had 4 points, Chant Mitchell, Abe Paulzine, Dylan Kramer, and Carter Lewis, who made the pass of the night in transition to Dylan Kramer who finished the great wrap around bounce pass with an And-1, had 3 points each. Tanner Graphenteen, Christian Tentinger each had two points. A 23-10 effort in the second led to the 72-29 conference win for the Rebels.
As it sits right now, MCC is 4-1 in the Red Rock Conference a game behind both 5-1 MLAC and SWC. In the section the Rebels are 9th with 40.143 seed points, behind WWG who has 40.833 and just ahead of Wabasso who has 39.692. That places MCC 5th in the subsection. SWC, RTR, TMB, and WWG are each ahead of MCC in that order.
Scoring Leaders: Tanner Graphenteen 17, Nate Kleven 13, three Rebels scored 6 points, Chant Mitchell, Christian Tentinger, and Aidan Dierks, Connor DeGreef scored 5, Bryce Hoekman, Ross Englekes each had 4, Abe Paulzine, Carter Lewis, and Dylan Kramer each had 3. Rebounding Leaders: Nate Kleven 9, Chant Mitchell 4, Bryce Hoekman 3. Steals Leaders: Christian Tentinger 4, Tanner Graphenteen, Chant Mitchell, Connor DeGreef, and Nate Kleven each had 3. Assists Leaders: Tanner Graphenteen 6, Aidan Dierks 4, Chant Mitchell and Christian Tentinger 3 each.
