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It would be a rarity for a team to come back from a 27-2 first quarter deficit to win the game. Even though the Rush City boys basketball team wasnít able to come back after being down 25 points against Braham, the Tigers never quit.
The Bombers took the lead Feb. 20 after 8 minutes of play before the Tigers battled back. Rush City outscored Braham 20-18 in the second quarter, but still had an uphill battle trailing 45-22 at the half.
ìWe dug such a deep hole for ourselves in the first quarer that we couldnít recover,î Head Coach Gary Dreissig said. ìWe didnít play bad in the first quarter, we just couldnít score.î Rush City was 1 of 9 from the field in the quarter.
The Tigers held on to score 12 in the third and 13 in the fourth but allowed 27 points in the half for Braham to take the 72-47 win.
Dreissig was pleased with how well the team played after the first quarter deficit. ìAfter that we played them evenly,î he said. ìIt was rewarding to see our kids play so hard. The second, third and fourth quarters might have been our best basketball of the year.î
Junior Kevin Bengtson led the team with 13 points while senior Tim Karnick chipped in 12. Senior Andrew Kaufmann added 7 and seniors Kris Guentzel and Kellin Sybrant added 6 in a game of balanced scoring for the Tigers.
Earlier in the week, the team fell in a 56-49 contest to Onamia Feb. 17.
The Tigers held the slight 21-20 edge at halftime, but the Panthers slipped ahead 34-31 after three quarters.
In the fourth, Onamia outscored Rush City 22-18 for the win. ìWe needed to put Onamia on the line to stop the clock and they responded by making 16 of 23 free throws down the stretch,î Dreissig said.
ìWe had our problems on offense. We simply lack consistency on offense to get the win,î he said.
Guentzel led the team with 14 points followed by Karnick with 9, Bengtson with 8 and senior Brent Freeman with 7.
The team is now 5-13 overall, 4-7 in the Great River Conference. This week the team was scheduled to take on East Central Monday and host Ogilvie Thursday, Feb. 26 before traveling to St. Johnís Prep Monday, March 1.
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