Tuesday was a good night for basketball as the 7 and 8th grade both won against TMB and the C, B, and A teams all earned wins over HLOF.
The C-team would earn a 40- 28 win being very aggressive on offense as the team put up 53 shots throughout the game. Dylan Kluis led the way with 10 points, Gavin Gillette finished with 9, Dawson Schreier had 8, Hudson Schryvers 6, Jackson Kramer, Carter Knakmuahs, and Andrew Holm each had 2 and Drew Wajer added a free throw to round out the balanced attack. Defensively the Rebels held HLOF to 37% shooting, 10-27 shooting.
The B-team would put together two solid halves on defense and would ramp up the offense in the second half to earn a 57-24 win over HLOF. A balanced attack all night was led by Ross Englekes who ended the game with a game high 15 points. Owen Gillette would find his range, knocking down 3, 3-point shots in the game and finishing with 11 points. Three players had 6 points for the Rebels, Ben Ahlers hit two threes, Bryce Hoekman, and Hudson Schryvers each had 6 as well. Two players had 4 points, Wyatt Loosbrock and Dylan Kramer. Talan Felber and Carter Lewis each had 2 and Jesse Kline added a free throw to round out the scoring for the Rebels. The team ended the game with 20 steals and 12 assists playing really well together.
The Varsity would look to get back in the win column as a tough stretch of games has the boys on a 3 game skid. Playing a talented HLOF team at home, the Rebels would need to put together a consistent effort to get the job done and for the most part, MCC did just that.
The game got off to a bit of a slow start and both teams traded turnovers on their first two possessions. Four possessions and four turnovers was not the start the Red Rock foes were hoping for. MCC would force a third consecutive turnover on the Coyotes and then a fourth before Tanner Graphenteen would finally break the scoring open with one of his 4, 3-point makes of the night. Chant Mitchell would assist on the shot as solid player and ball movement found Graphenteen open in the corner for three. This is what the score would stay until Graphenteen would find his range again after a nice hustle play by Nate Kleven collecting one of his 12 offensive rebounds for the night. HLOF would get on the board at the
13:27 mark in the first half, as Carter Drent would make a nice move and finish around the basket.
The Rebels would dominate the rebound game, collecting 22 offensive rebounds and 22 defensive rebounds through the game. Chant Mitchell and Nate Kleven would make the most of these opportunities as both senior post players finished the game with double digit scoring nights.
The two teams would play fairly even in the scoring column for most of the rest of the first half, with MCC going up 6 or 7 and HLOF bringing it back down to 3 or 4, and the game was tied for the last time at 16 to 16 with 5:15 to play in the half, but a steady defensive presence by the Rebels would make the Coyotes work for every shot they would get. MCC held HLOF to 37% shooting on the night. Also the Rebels would double their point total from the first 13 minutes in just 5 minutes. Going on a 10-0 run by the 3-minute mark scoring in every way possible. Post touches, transition baskets, and ones, free throws, and a three point shot. HLOF would drill a 3 to stop the run. But Nate Kleven would go on his own 3-0 run, hitting a free throw then missing a free throw Christian Tentinger gained the offensive rebound kicked it out for an Aidan Dierks three, he didn’t connect but Kleven was there for the board and the bucket. Rebels were back up 10, 29-19 with 1:30 to go in the half. MCC would miss the front end of a 1 and 1 and gave up a three on the other end quickly after on the next two possessions, a turnover and two made free throws by HLOF would cut the lead to 5 with just under a minute to go. Christian Tentinger would stop the Coyote run with by going 1-2 from the foul line and attacking and scoring with a smooth euro step from the left lane line putting MCC up 32-24 with 13 seconds left. HLOF would get one more possession and a three-point heave was followed by a MCC shooting foul. HLOF would connect on all three free throws as Sawyer Drent drained 3 of his game high 28 points. MCC would lead by 5, 32 to 27 going into the break. The story of the first half was free throws and threes. MCC would shoot 3-8 from the foul line and would knock down 5 threes while HLOF would go 10-11 from the foul line and knock down 3 threes.
The second half MCC would have possession and would go to work early in the post. As Chant Mitchell assisted to Nate Kleven with a high low action. Mitchell would lead the Rebels with 5 assists on the night. After a stop on the defensive end, Graphenteen would find his range again and drilled another three to put the Rebels up 10 quickly. The two teams traded buckets as Chant Mitchell would catch the ball at the high post and attack and finish with an acrobatic lay-in. After another MCC stop, Christian Tentinger would attack the glass and earn a trip to the foul line where he would connect on both. Tentinger led the Rebels with 21 points, he also recorded 10 rebounds for the double-double performance. He joined Nate Kleven who had 12 points and 19 rebounds for his double-double.
Tentinger put the Rebels up 12 points at 41-29 with 15 minutes to play. Another stop led to a relentless pursuit of offensive rebounds, Christian Tentinger would put the Rebels up 14 with an offensive rebound and put back.
The Rebels would get up as many as 16 points and HLOF would never get within 9 points in the second half as free throws would keep the game somewhat close in the latter minutes of the second half. Solid ball movement from the Rebels which was spearheaded by Graphenteen and Mitchell seemed to have an answer in either a basket or an assist when the Rebels needed it most. MCC would attack and get multiple opportunities at the line and HLOF would play the foul game, unfortunately it was one of those nights from the charity stripe as MCC went 9-20 in the second. While HLOF had a great night from the foul line ending 19-22.
The game would end with a satisfying team effort with so many contributions from everyone on the team. A 71-58 win for the Rebels, getting them off their losing streak and earning a home conference win. MCC sits at 6-6 overall, putting them 9th at the moment in the 20 team section.
Scoring Leaders: Christian Tentinger 21, Tanner Graphenteen 17, Nate Kleven 12, Chant Mitchell 10, Aidan Dierks 8, Derek Kluis 3. Rebound Leaders: Nate Kleven 19, Christian Tentinger 10, Chant Mitchell 5, Derek Kluis, Aidan Dierks, and Tanner Graphenteen 3 each. Assists Leaders: Chant Mitchell 5, Derek Kluis 2. Steals Leaders: Aidan Dierks 3, Derek Kluis 2. High Five Leaders: Nate Kleven 20, Christian Tentinger 15, Derek Kluis 13.
