WORTHINGTON Earlier in the season, the Murray County Central boys basketball team got the best of Russell-Tyler-Ruthton by five points.
On Saturday in the Section 3A-South tournament, the Knights returned the favor by six.
"Looking at (Saturday's game), it was one of those games where they had it and we didn't," said MCC head coach Tim Bobeldyk. "You don't know what the factors are, we just didn't have it today."
Article Photos
Photo by Alex Oey
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton’s Nathan Condelli, right, and Dylan Kor, left, go for a block on Murray County Central’s Mitchell Hegstad in Saturday’s Section 3A-South game.
Fifth-seeded RTR (18-8 overall) advanced in the tournament with a 93-63 win over the fourth-seeded Rebels (14-10).
"We lost to them earlier in the year and we knew we had to defend the arc, stop the dribble penetration and come ready," said RTR's Brett Peterson. "We knew we could do this and get a little revenge on them."
The Knights' Peterson started the game with the first two of his game-high 26 points and Philip Madsen hit the first of five three-pointers to give RTR the 5-0 lead.
Fact Box
RTR (93)
Philip Madsen 6 0-0 17, Kole Vogt 1 0-0 3, Brett Peterson 9 6-8 26, Travis King 4 1-2 11, Newt Dunblazier 0 1-4 1, Dylan Kor 6 2-3 14, Levi DeRuyter 2 1-6 5, Shay Wabeke 1 2-2 5, Brett Vercruysse 5 1-2 11. Totals 34 14-27 93. Three-Pointers 11 (Madsen 5, Peterson 2, King 2, Vogt 1, Wabeke 1). Rebounds 51 (Vercruysse 11, Kor 10, Peterson 9). Assists 22 (Peterson 7). Steals 5 (Peterson 2). Blocks 6 (Kor 2, Dunblazier 2). Turnovers 7.
MCC (63)
Sam Nysetvold 6 3-5 17, Chris Halbur 4 6-11 14, Sam Erickson 1 0-0 3, Nate Wieneke 3 1-2 8, James Dahlgren 1 0-0 2, Trent Carlson 3 2-5 10, Sam Beech 4 1-1 9. Totals 21 13-24 63. Three-Pointers 8 (Nysetvold 2, Halbur 2, Carlson 2, Erickson 1, Wieneke1).
MCC's Kole Vogt answered back with a three, but that was as close as the Rebels would get.
"We knew they were going to be shooting threes," said MCC's Chris Halbur. "We put a hand in their face, but they are a good team. They knocked down key shots, got ahead and took it from there."
The Knights took advantage of small runs, reaching a double-digit lead (22-12) with just over 8:30 left in the first half. MCC had an opportunity to cut the lead to single digits, but in the last 3:30 of the half, RTR went on a 12-7 run to take a 49-33 lead into the half.
"At the half we had given up 12 offensive boards and they had shot 17 free throws," said RTR head coach Ted Kern. "The big thing we stressed at halftime was cleaning up the missed shots and staying straight up to make them shoot over the top. We did a real nice job of both of those in the second half."
In the second half, RTR continued its strong run and was able to score a variety of ways. Besides Madsen and Peterson, Travis King, Dylan Kor and Brett Vercruysse all finished in double digits, with Kor and Vercruysse each recording a double-double.
Sam Nysetvold paced the Rebels with 17 points, while Halbur and Trent Carlson added 14 and 10 respectively, but it was not enough to overcome the Knight attack.
"Any time we made a run or countered, they came back and equalized it," Bobeldyk said. "Give them credit, they played a heck of a game and had a really nice game plan. It worked for them today. Unfortunately, things didn't fall our way. But our guys played hard until the end."
RTR moves on to face Southwest Minnesota Christian on Thursday night in Worthington for the right to advance to the sub-section championship.
"Tournament time, regardless of who you are playing, you need to bring it," Kern said. "Every night for the entire game. We did it (Saturday) and we need bring it at that level or higher on Thursday."