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By Steve Morris
 Love
was not in the air last week on Valentine’s Day as the Braham Bombers
showed no remorse in stomping the Rush City Tigers by 34 points, 72-38.
Playing on their home court, the Tigers stuck with the Bombers for the
length of the first half by keeping within striking distance. The
Bombers largest first half lead was 10 points.
Right: Justin Bosman, right, went for up for a shot during the Tigers game against Braham on Feb. 14 in Rush City.
With 2:51 left in the first half, the Tigers were down 26-16.
Rush City senior center Isaac Roll finished with a team-high 18 points
and six rebounds. Roll shot a solid 67 percent from the floor,
making 8 of 12 shots.
Sophomore Justin Bosman ran the point for the Tigers, handling a
swarming full-court pressure by Braham. Head coach Jeremy Albright
admitted they missed Bosman’s scoring by him running the point, but it
was a sacrifice for the team.
“Bosman is a competitor and he doesn’t back down from big games,”
Albright said. “He had their best defender on him both times we played
them. I thought he played well on both sides tonight.”
Bosman finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
On the emotion spectrum, Albright was on the frustrated side with the
way his team performed in the first half. At one point, he ripped off
his sport coat in a fit of rage at the site of a botched offense set.
The Tigers game plan was to slow the tempo and remain in control, which worked in the first half but not the second.
“We played well for most of the first half, when we stuck to the game
plan and our scouting report,” Albright said. “We had too many
turnovers to compete with Braham.”
In the second half, Braham came out firing on all cylinders, knocking
down back-to-back three’s to extend its lead to 40-24 with 12:39 left
in the game.
In an effort to stop the Bombers from penetrating the lane, Rush City
switched to a 2-3 zone defense. Albright stressed the importance of
covering the outside shooters. It seemed at times Rush City missed his
memo as Braham eighth grader Tyler Vaughn punished the Tigers from
three-point land.
With the loss, the Tigers are 9-8 overall and 7-4 in the Great River
Conference with five regular season games remaining. As of Feb. 19, the
boys were the No. 6 seed in their section. Albright said sometime in
the first week of March they should find out their playoff seeding.
Briefly:
Rush City played without senior Andy Erickson who sat out his second
consecutive game. Albright said having Erickson out the lineup hurt the
team from a scoring vantage point.
Zach Saumer 2, Dylan Truskolaski 6, Justin Bosman 10, Isaac Roll 18, Cody Waters 2.
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