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Hudson Schyrvers
In the rematch of the two Red Rock Conference foes, the Rebels hosted HLOF Tuesday night, looking to move past the tough second half they endured Monday night against SWC. From the tempo that the Rebels started the game with, they did just that. Moved on and maybe played their best half of basketball of the year.
The Rebels fell behind 1-0, after giving up an offensive rebound on their first possession on defense. The Coyotes went 1-2 from the line on the shooting foul after the o-board. MCC struck back with an offensive rebound of their own and a 15 foot jump shot by Bryce Hoekman to take the lead at 2-1. Then the Rebels went off as a team.
Aidan Dierks hit a three, assisted by Carter Lewis. Carter Lewis hit a 10 foot jumper, assisted by Aidan Dierks on the next possession. Ross Engelkes drilled a three, two possessions later, and at the 14:30 mark, MCC was up 10-1. They weren’t finished yet.
The Rebels piled up stop after stop and used their defense, turning it into offense. Dierks would find Hoekman in transition for the two handed dunk on the next possession to go up 12-1. Ross Engelkes used a shot fake attack and dish to find Carter Lewis for two on the next possession. Gavin Gillette entered the game and instantly scored in transition. At the 11:40 mark it was 16-1. Dierks hit a three on each of the Rebels next two possessions to go up 22-1. Hudson Schryvers hit a streaking Ross Engelkes in transition for the lay-up to go up 24-1. Both teams would miss two free throws in a row on their next possessions before the Coyotes made their first field goal of the game. 7:22 remaining in the half it was 244, Rebels.
It seemed like the Rebels were relying on instincts more in the half and not over-analyzing the game. They were playing hard, fast, and together. With 6:23 to go, it was MCC 27, and HLOF 4. MCC earned its biggest lead of the half at 33-7 and then finished the half with a Gavin Gillette three, assisted by Carter Lewis to go up 44-16 at the break.
The second half started off with the Rebels striking first to go up 30, as Hudson Schryvers found Carter Lewis in the middle of the zone for two. Hoekman scored on the Rebels next possession from the right block to go up 32.
The Rebels found some great looks throughout the next few minutes. Owen Gillette came in and played the high post against the zone, and drilled a jumper. That was followed by a Gavin Gillette to Aidan Dierks transition bucket, which was followed by a great pass from Bryce Hoekman to Ross Engelkes for the easy two. Just like that, the Rebels were up 33 at the 13:35 mark.
The two teams traded stops and HLOF would end up going on a bit of a run of their own. The score was 56-30 at the 12 minute mark and then 6230 at the 10:30 mark. The two teams traded buckets up until the Rebels hit 69. They found some great looks, but the ball wasn’t going through the basket. HLOF brought the game back to within 21, but the Rebels would go on to win 73-52 for the Red Rock Conference victory.
Leading Scorers: Bryce Hoekman with 21, Aidan Dierks with 14, Gavin Gillette with 13, Carter Lewis with 10, Ross Engelkes with 9.
Leading Rebounders: Bryce Hoekman with 9 and Hudson Schryvers with 9 Leading Assists: Aidan Dierks with 6, Hudson Schyrvers with 4, and Carter Lewis with 3 Leading Steals: Owen Gillette with 2
