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Two high scoring ball games were followed up by a defensive battle as the MCC Rebels traveled to Okabena to take on the HLOF Coyotes Friday night.
The C-squad would get off to a fast start as stifling defense and a balanced attack on offense would push the Rebels out to a 34-14 first half lead. Hudson Schryvers would score 7, Dawson Schreier would score 8, Andrew Holm would connect on 7, Dylan Kramer 2, Gavin Gillette 7, and the shot of the night, Carter Knakmuhs three point shot just before the half!
The second half would see 7 Rebels get in the score book with Carson Englekes adding 5 and Evan Burch connecting on 2, and Jackson Kramer connecting on 5. The Rebels were hot from three as the team drilled 7 and rolled to a 58-28 win.
The B-squad had a very similar outcome as the c-team as they were able to get off to a great start as well. The Rebels were up 8-0 less than two minutes into the ball game and never looked back. Strong first halves by Bryce Hoekman and Ross Englekes led the way on offense as each sophomore scored 12 points and 11 points respectively. Solid defense by the entire squad made it tough on HLOF all game, holding them to 18 first half points and 17 second half points.
In the end a balanced scoring attack had Englekes lead the team with 17, Hoekman ended the game with 16, Ben Ahlers had 9, Carter Lewis 8, Owen Gillette 5, and Hudson Schryvers and Dylan Kramer each connected on 3 points each. A solid effort led to the 59-35 victory for the Rebels.
The varsity game was a little bit of the opposite of the first two games. Both offenses struggled a bit, with both teams shooting under 35% from the field. The Rebels did not connect on a single three point shot and neither team shot over 60% from the foul line. So naturally whoever plays better defense and takes care of the ball is probably going to win. On top of that whichever team makes free throws late will have a definite advantage and that is how this game played out for MCC.
Solid defense and active anticipation had the Rebels tipping and stealing passes over and over again in the first half. The only problem was MCC wasn’t turning it into points. The Rebels were almost too patient at times in the half-court offense and not aggressive with balance in transition. Or they were just a second behind in some of the decision making, so the Rebels couldn’t quite take control of the game in a way that would have made life a little easier in the end. Coming off a tough loss the night before, MCC may have been reeling a little bit on the offensive end, but the defense stayed steady.
Tanner Graphenteen and Nate Kleven led the way in the first half with 6 points each, Chant Mitchell finished the half with 4, and Christian Tentinger and Abe Paulzine each had 2 points. Kleven would have another monster game on the glass, collecting 5 offensive rebounds and 8 defensive, but that was it, it adds up to 21 points and the crazy part is the Rebels had an 8-point lead go-ing into the break. 21-13. The full court pressure and a very active zone swarmed the Coyotes and made them work for almost every shot they took. Only on occasion did they get an uncontested look from the floor.
Being up 8 is great, but there was always that feel that the Coyotes wouldn’t be held down all game and the Rebels had their chances in the first half to stretch the lead out, but only connected on 1-8 foul shots coupled with no three point makes. The defense would need to stay steady and in the second half and the Rebels would have to make foul shots, and they did!
A little bit more of an offensive second half as both teams scored more than they did in the first half would be led by a free throw streak at the end of the game for the Rebels and a three point shooting streak by Parker Murphy for the Coyotes.
The Rebels would gain a bit more control of the game in the second half, getting up double digits. Even though they only made 5, field goals in the second half the defense was outstanding. Holding the 23 ppg Junior, Sawyer Drent to just 7 points total in the game was impressive. Last game Drent scored 28. Holding the HLOF team to 23 second half points, as 9 of them came from Parker Murphy late in the game from beyond the ark. The Rebels would flip the script at the foul line in the second half, as they would score 14 points from the charity stripe compared to 10 points from the field.
Christian Tentinger would bounce back brilliantly from a first half free throw shooting of 1-6 and drill 5-6 in the most important part of the game. Chant Mitchell would connect on 2-4 and Tanner Graphenteen would make 7-8, ending the game with 6 straight makes. It was outstanding to see the confidence in the kids when they stepped up to the line in crunch time. Confidence was evident and the focus was there, it looked like they had done it a million times before, which most of them have put in that work. It paid off in a big way for the Rebels and turned into a big section win after a tough loss the night before.
HLOF was a hot team winning 5 of 6 games and averaging 63 points per game. The Rebels held them to 36, albeit only scoring 45 themselves, the effort on the defensive end was solid and the guys came up big in the end from the free throw line.
MCC moves to 10-9 on the year. 7-3 in the conference places them 3rd at the moment, 9th in the section and 5th in the sub-section. A big game coming up in conference as MCC will travel to Mountain Lake to battle the top team in the conference Monday night.
Leading Scorers: Tanner Graphenteen 15, Christian Tentinger 12, Nate Kleven 10, Chant Mitchell 6, Abe Paulzine 2. Leading Rebounders: Nate Kleven 13, Christian Tentinger 7, Tanner Graphenteen 5, Chant Mitchell 4. Leading Steals: Christian Tentinger 6, Aidan Dierks and Nate Kleven 3 each. Leading Assists: Chant Mitchell, Tanner Graphenteen and Aidan Dierks 2 each.
