|
By Steve Morris
 With the help of a menacing 1-2-1 full-court pressure, the No. 4 seeded Moose Lake/Willow River Rebels sent the Rush City Tigers into the off season on March 13.
At the East Central High School in Askov, the No. 5 seeded Tigers lost their first round section 7AA playoff contest 75-58.
Right: Rush City junior guard Dylan Truskolaski finished the game with a team-high 14 points, including three three pointers.
Fans from both parties were treated to a high-scoring, track meet style game that featured two teams battling with everything they had to survive.
MLWR deployed their full-court pressure early, forcing the Tigers into 27 turnovers by the end of the game.
Head coach Jeremy Albright said his team turned the ball over too many times to be competitive and he admitted MLWR will be a tough team to beat in the tournament. The Rebels advanced to play the Braham Bombers March 15 at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
The run-n-gun style of play was evident in the amount of shots the Rebels fired. For the game, they shot 58 times, making 23.
The Tigers (13-10, 11-5) played catchup the entire game. The closest the boys came was a 2-2 tie in the opening minutes of the game.
Rush City was behind 21-10 with 10 minutes left in the first half and was down 35-23 by halftime.
Rush City junior guard Dylan Truskolaski played well, making three, three pointers and leading the team in points with 14. However, his hot shooting alone was not enough to lift the boys past the Rebels.
Senior captain Isaac Roll finished the game with 12 points and eight rebounds while Andy Erickson finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Sophomore Justin Bosman filled up the stat sheet with seven points, eight rebounds and six assists.
“It was a tough way to end what had been a decent season for us,” Albright said.
Alongside the turnovers, the Rebels dominated Rush City in the offensive rebound department.
The Rebels collected 23 offensive rebounds alone, compared to just seven by the Tigers.
“We gave up too many offensive rebounds,” Albright said.
Albright remained optimistic the team will be back next year in better form.
“We have a lot to build on for next year,” he said.
Briefly:
The junior varsity team finished their season 14-5 while the C-Team lost one game all season and finished 18-1. The awards banquet is scheduled for April 7.
Dylan Truskolaski 14, Andy Erickson 13, Isaac Roll 12, Justin Bosman 7, Jared Orn 2, Luke Moulton 2, Cody Waters 3, Austin Otterness 3, Chris Lofgren 2
 |
