MCC 70 - WWG 63
MCC traveled to Westbrook Friday night to take on the 16-8 Chargers. This would be the last road game of the regular season for the Rebels, as they looked to get a big Red Rock Conference win heading into their home finale against Edgerton Monday night.
The Rebels started on defense after losing the tipoff and forced a tough contested shot and miss on the Chargers first attempt, but an offensive rebound off of a missed block out assignment turned into two points early for WWG. This would be a common theme throughout the night and especially the early going as the Rebels did not do a good job on glass. For the game, they were out rebounded, 11-4 on the offensive end and 32-23 overall. These second chance points and possessions are critical and make it difficult for any team to stay competitive. But the Rebels would.
The Chargers went up 7-2 and scored after offensive rebounds on each of those possessions. Aidan Swenson had the lone two for the Rebels off a nice pick and roll with Gavin Gillette. Gillette hit the rolling Swenson right before the block for the easy two.
This was the start of a run by the Rebels. MCC pulled in front, going on a 10-0 run to take the lead with 11:43 to play in the first half. MCC went cold for the next couple minutes. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with shooting. Unforced turnovers took away too many opportunities for the Rebels. The Chargers retook the lead at 12-10 before Aidan Swenson hit a 10 foot jumper with 8 minutes to go in the half, tying the game at 12.
The Rebels defense had to battle through some issues at this part of the game, too. The perimeter defenders did not consistently stay in the front of the ball and the backside defenders over rotated, leaving the weak side three point line almost uncontested. WWG did a nice job of exploiting this and connected on a handful of threes in the first half.
The Chargers got up by as many as 8 points with about 4 minutes to go in the half, before Tristan Behrends drilled a rhythm three from the left wing. The sophomore has made big shots all season long and this was another one, cutting the lead to 22-17 in a big moment before the half. This would spark the Rebels to finish the half strong. Behrends attacked and scored on the Rebels next possession, taking advantage of a hard close out.
MCC needed to get some stops on defense as a part of closing out the half strong and Carson Engelkes was a big part of that. He took on the assignment of defending WWG’s best offensive player, a 1,000 point scorer, and fantastic all around offensive threat. Engelkes forced a turnover, grabbed a couple rebounds, made his opponent earn any catches he got, made his opponent give up the ball, and just played tough defense. He attacked the challenge head on. Next thing you know, Behrends drills another three and MCC goes into the half up one, 28-27 after trailing 22-14 with four minutes to play!
The second half saw WWG take the lead back after their first possession on a tough reverse lay-in under the basket, but Hudson Schryvers created a double team off of his attack and made a fantastic wrap around pass to Aidan Swenson for the bucket on the opposite block to retake the lead.
WWG tied the game with a free throw on their next possession before Dylan Kluis gathered in an offensive rebound and put back to take the 3129 lead for the Rebels just a couple minutes into the second half.
A big miscommunication allowed the Chargers to tie the ball game on their next possession off of an inbound play. The Rebels did not cover WWG’s best player and he earned the easy two under the basket. 3131 with 15:43 to play.
Both teams earned some defensive stops over the next couple of possessions before Dylan Kluis used some nifty footwork to score on the step through, lefty, finger roll. MCC got a stop on their next possession and this sort of marked the start of the Gavin Gillette offensive explosion. Gillette scored 26 second half points as three of those came on the next possession. His defender went underneath the pick and roll, Gillette read it, stepped back, and drilled the three. MCC was up 5 with 14:41 to play.
WWG answered back with 5 points in their next two possessions, but Gillette would score in between them with a nice attack and 10 foot jumper. His outside shot, opened up the driving lanes and vice versa in the second half. This attack led to another three on the Rebels next possession for Gillette. His defender went under the screen trying to take away the drive, Gavin read it and stepped back into a rhythm three. MCC 41, WWG 36 with 12:42 to play.
WWG scored on their next possession, cutting the lead back to 3 and then to 1 after the Rebel again had some unforced turnovers negating shot opportunities. Careless ball handling and overexcited passing seemed to be the culprit.
But guess who answered back again? Gillette earned the hoop and the harm off a nice inbound play to put the Rebels up 43-40. WWG would tie the game up shortly after with a big three from the left wing off of an offensive rebound and second chance opportunity. With just over 9 minutes to play, 43 all.
Gillette earned another trip to the free throw line where he broke the tie, 44-43 MCC. The Chargers attacked right back and took the lead at 4544 on their next possession. A back and forth second half with plenty of drama, exciting game to say the least.
With just under 8 minutes to go Gavin drilled a 10 foot jump shot to give the Rebels the lead back by one. The Rebels earned a stop on defense and then connected on a Max Miller right wing three. Big shot, creating a two possession game. MCC got another stop as a crashing Hudson Schryvers came from the top of the key all the way to the block for a huge rebound. This would turn into a Gavin Gillette drive and kick to Tristan Behrends who drilled another big three to put the Rebels up 7 with 6:41 to play.
On the next defensive possession for MCC, Behrends got a tip on the first pass of the possession, WWG stayed in control of the ball, but two passes later, he jumped the passing lane and attacked the basket in transition, earning a trip to the foul line! He connected on 1 of 2 to push the lead to 8 with 6:15 to play.
WWG cut the lead to 6 on a couple of free throws. MCC would not score on their next couple of possessions before Gavin Gillette turned a steal, that he created on a baseline out of bounds play, into another big three. MCC was up 9 with 5 minutes to go. 56 to 47.
Each team turned the ball over on their next possession before the Rebels left a wide open shooter from three in the corner to cut the lead back to 6. But Aidan Swenson got two of those back with an 8 foot jumper on MCC’s next possession. WWG got an offensive rebound on their following possession which turned into another three, this one at least contested. But Gavin Gillette answered right back, drilling another three of his own, keeping the Rebels up 8 with under four minutes to play.
The Chargers never quit. They went on a quick run of their own, cutting the lead down to 2 with 1:16 to go and they had the ball! But believe it or not, Gillette came up with another huge play, this time defensively. After the Chargers defensive rebound everyone started moving down court in transition. The Charger dribbler stopped and passed to the point guard. The only issue was, Gavin was waiting for this to happen. Gillette took two steps up court, planted and picked the ball off and scored two points before anyone even knew what happened. MCC was back up 4 again and it was a two possession ball game.
The Rebels never looked back and they put the game away on free throws and a press break lay-up by Aidan Swenson to earn the 70-63 road win. MCC is now 15-10 on the season.
Leading Scorers: Gavin Gillette, 30. Aidan Swenson, 16. Tristan Behrends, 12. Leading Rebounders: Aidan Swenson, Hudson Schryvers, 7 each. Dylan Kluis, Carson Engelkes with 4 each. Leading Steals: Gavin Gillette, 3. Leading Assists: Hudson Schryvers, 5. Gavin Gillette, 3. Dylan Kluis, 3.
