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RTR takes care of RRC in third-place game

By Matt Dahlseid

TRACY - They weren't playing for the championship, but the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights competed like everything was on the line in the consolation game of the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Holiday Tournament Wednesday.

The Knights dominated Red Rock Central in all facets of the game and came away with a 77-37 win.

After losing to eventual tournament champion TMB Tuesday, RTR wanted to get out to a quick start against RRC. The Knights forced the Falcons into turnovers, tough shots and poor decisions early on and jumped on their opponent right away, pulling ahead 30-5 10 minutes into the opening half.

"I don't know if we had something to prove, but we wanted to come out and make a statement early and really just kind of get the solid taste of the loss out our mouths," RTR head coach Ted Kern. "It's good to come back and have a strong performance."

RTR's Taylor Newton, Brant Etrheim and Jason Minett pushed the ball up the court after every Falcons' miss and moved the ball around for easy layups or wide-open shots on the other end.

Minett, who finished the game with 13 points, five assists and three steals, said the Knights were running on all cylinders against the Falcons.

"I think we play our best when we play real team basketball and I think we proved that tonight," Minett said. "We moved the ball around good and we really pushed the ball and it was good team basketball."

The Falcons didn't crack double digits until there was two minutes left in the half and found themselves down 44-15 at the break. RRC picked things up a little in the second half, but was never really able to get things going offensively, leading to the 40-point loss.

Newton led all scorers with 16 points, while Dustin King scored 13, Etrheim put in 10 and freshman Dylan Kor added 10.

Jake Fredrickson and Reserve Daniel Maras were the top scorers for RRC, finishing with 12 points each.

RTR (77)

Taylor Newton 6 3-4 16, Philip Madsen 1 0-0 2, Brant Etrheim 5 0-2 10, Mike Kent 3 0-1 6, Jason Minett 6 0-0 13, Dustin King 6 1-2 13, Darren Feste 1 0-0 2, Dylan Kor 5 0-0 10, Travis King 2 1-4 5. Totals 35 5-13 77

Three-pointers 2 Rebounds 41 (D. King 8) Assists 22 (Minett 5, Kent 5) Steals 11 (Minett 3) Blocks 6 (Kor 2, Kent 2) Turnovers 11 Total Fouls 14.

RRC (37)

Tyler Erickson 1 0-1 2, Jake Fredrickson 7 0-2 12, Aaron Furth 2 0-3 4, Daniel Maras 6 0-0 12, Dylan Buntin g 1 0-0 2, Nathan Bierman 1 1-2 3, Henry Rogotzke 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 1-14 37.

Three-pointers 2 Rebounds 25 (Maras 6) Assists 9 (Fredrickson 4) Total Fouls 12.

Halftime Score RTR 44, RRC 15

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TRACY - Feeding off of the energy of its home crowd, the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton boys basketball team routed Wabasso, 77-44, in the championship game of the TMB Holiday Tournament on Wednesday.

TMB's Dominic Dolan scored 24 points and Joe Hook added 18 to lead the way for the Panthers.

TMB got off to a slow start offensively, but was still up 7-6 in the opening minutes.

Then the Panthers ignited their fans with an 11-0 run that included three-pointers by Hook, Dolan and Shane Erickson.

"The shots didn't drop early, but what I liked about what we were doing was we kept competing and we kept playing hard and we kept playing as a team," TMB head coach Rick Haberman said. "Once the shots started falling, we were kind of able to get on a little roll."

TMB's defensive intensity had Wabasso flustered early, allowing the Panthers to build on their lead. Midway through the half, they had taken a 27-8 advantage.

"Defense is one of our big things," Dolan said. "We try to stress that the most. We're always looking to get steals, get easy buckets and always pick up the pressure."

Finding themselves in a big hole, the Rabbits eventually went on a run of their own.

Drew Jenniges hit a pair of threes and Tyler Huhnerkoch hit one of his own to help Wabasso cut the lead to 29-19.

But that was as close the Rabbits would get.

TMB came out of the locker room after halftime up 36-23 and took the life out of the Wabasso players with an 8-0 run right away.

As the half went on, the Panthers continued to pile it on.

Hook hit three of his five three-pointers in the second half and Dolan knocked down three of his four shots from distance as TMB built an insurmountable lead.

Dolan said he and Hook were just taking what the defense was giving them.

"They were playing a zone, so we just tried to get the ball to Joe because he's our best shooter and he shot really well," he said. "...Especially in the second half, we came out and hit a lot of 3-pointers and it was just fun."

The Panthers shot 52 percent from downtown (11-21) and 47 percent from the field (30-69).

While Hook had strong shooting performances in both games of the TMB tournament, he had had his troubles from the field in the Panthers' opening games of the season. Haberman said it's good to see Hook finding his touch, which only adds to the plethora of scorers on his roster.

"Joe had kind of struggled with his shot until recently, but these five games have been the first games of his varsity career, so it takes a little time to get into it."

The TMB defense didn't allow a single Wabasso player to reach double figures scoring in the game, as Jenniges was Wabasso's high scorer with eight points.

The Rabbits dropped to 3-4 with the loss, while TMB improved to 5-0.

As Christmas break winds down and the Panthers head into the bulk of their schedule, Haberman said he likes what he's seen of his squad so far.

"We're fortunate to have a group of guys who know they've got to be ready to play hard every night," he said. "That's great to see because you're always going to have a chance to win when you play hard."

Wabasso (44)

Dalton Salfer 2 1-2 3, Dylan Bock 2 0-0 5, Steven Rohlik 3 0-2 6, Tyler Huhnerkoch 2 0-0 5, Jason Plaetz 2 3-4 7, Cole McKeown 1 0-0 2, Crew Jenniges 3 0-0 8, Taylor Zuehsdorf 0 3-4 3, Sam Guetter 1 3-6 5. Totals 15 10-18 44. Three-pointers 4 (Jenniges 2) Rebounds 29 (Rohlik 7) Steals 4 (Plaetz 2) Assists 1 (Guetter) Blocks 4 (Guetter) Turnovers 18 Total Fouls 11.

TMB (77)

Dominic Dolan 10 0-1 24, Joe Hook 6 1-1 18, Aric Carpenter 3 1-1 7, Shane Erickson 4 2-2 11, Jeremy Hoflock 2 2-4 6, James Fultz 1 0-0 3, Jesse Miller 2 0-0 4, Blake Giles 2 0-0 4. Totals 30 6-9 77. Three-pointers 11 Hook 5, Dolan 4) Rebounds 31 (Dolan, Erickson 6) Steals 7 (Dolan 3) Assists 11 (Dolan 3) Blocks 3 (Dolan 2) Turnovers 8 Total Fouls 17.

Haltime score: TMB 36, Wabasso 23