Posted: 2/1/06
ìNot a good nightî for RC boys
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By Patrick Tepoorten
Last Tuesday night marked the high point of the week for the Rush City boysí basketball team. They traveled to Isle to face the Huskies and came away with a dominating 67-48 win.
Jake Bosman and Jerred Nelson were a force on offense for the Tigers. Nelsonís 17 points led the team with Bosman not far behind at 15 points.
John Kirchberg led the squad with 12 rebounds, with eight of those on defense. Nelson and Zach Beck had eight rebounds apiece and Bosman notched five assists.
ìOur defense was again key to our victory,î stated Tigers head coach Gary Dreissig, who added that his squad held Isle to 12 fewer points than their season average. Dreissig also credited a balance scoring attack for the result.
If the Isle victory was a primer on how well things can go on the court, Rush Cityís game against the Aitkin Gobblers on the 27th would be an example of what can happen when things go horribly wrong. ìIt simply was not a good night for Rush City basketball,î was how Dreissig described it.
Aitkinís zone defense would be the camel that broke the Tigers back. ìWe as coaches did not have the team prepared for Aitkinís zone defense,î said Dreissig. ìPlayers did not step up with any intensity or urgency,î either, he added.
Nevertheless, the Tigers were down by only six points, 28-22 at the half. In the second half though, the Gobblers poured it on and opened a 16-point lead with only six minutes left in the game.
If the Tigers had been stymied for most of the game, they found their mojo in the final minutes, rallying to a comeback that would fall just short at the buzzer.
The final score was Aitkin 61, Tigers 58.
Forty-four of the Tigers 58 points would come from just three players. Bosman had 13, Nelson had 14, and Jeff Jennings led the team with 17 points.
Kirchberg was his usual presence under the basket, securing eight total rebounds, while Beck and Nelson had six apiece. Bosman finished with seven assists.
Dreissig put the exclamation point on the disappointing loss after the game. ìWe win games together and we lose games together, and Friday night we certainly lost together.î
The Tigers will be looking to get the Friday loss back in the coming week with games against Hinckley/Finalyson and Onamia.
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