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PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: RTR comes up short against HLO/Fulda, 75-67

Photo by Sam Thiel RTR’s Payton Hess puts up a layup during their game against HLO/Fulda on Saturday. The Knights fell to the Coyotes 75-67.

MARSHALL — In its past five games, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton boys basketball team has had three victories, all of which came by a margin of 10 points or fewer. The Knights nearly had an opportunity to earn another signature win against Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda on Saturday, but a late push by the Coyotes was just enough to keep RTR at bay as HLO/Fulda defeated the Knights 75-67 at the R/A Facility at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Despite the tough finish, RTR coach Ted Kern said he felt their effort was strong but added they were quick on their shot selection throughout the game and HLO/Fulda was able to capitalize from their misses.

“I thought our effort was very good,” Kern said. “Probably the biggest fly in the ointment was shot selection; we had a little too quick of shots and the way they were hitting their shots and getting out in transition, you give them those extra opportunities, that’s like an empty possession.”

It was tight to start, as the teams were deadlocked at seven apiece before a floater from Aiden Wichmann gave RTR a 13-9 lead with 12:30 left in the first half. The Coyotes would have a strong answer, though, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to give themselves the lead before another triple pushed their advantage to 25-17 with 7:40 left.

The Knights continued to battle over the next few minutes, getting a jumper from Hayden Gravley before Logan Lamote got a layup to go to bring RTR to within two at 27-25. HLO/Fulda countered with a 9-3 run of its own to make it 36-28 with two minutes to play in the frame and both teams would trade points for the remainder of the half. The biggest highlight of the opening half for the Knights came right at its ending, as Wichmann got the ball with four seconds left, raced to halfcourt and found the bottom of the net with a buzzer-beating basket to bring the RTR crowd to its feet and cut the deficit to 41-36 at the break.

Looking to use their late first-half energy as momentum, the Knights got out to a strong start to the second frame, getting baskets from Wichmann and Dylan Anderson to give RTR the lead before a layup from Gravley made it 50-45 and capped a 14-4 run.

Kern said the key during that stretch to end the first half and begin the second half was their ability to attack the basket and not settling for quick shots as well as putting together a string of defensive stops.

“We were attacking and we weren’t settling for that first shot or open look and we were doing a nice job defensively of getting stops and answering with those good possessions,” Kern said.

HLO/Fulda had a quick response, however, going on a 13-2 run to take a 58-52 lead with 6:45 left and continued to hold onto its advantage down the stretch. The Knights were able to get to within six on a Payton Hess 3-pointer to make it 70-64 with 43 seconds remaining, but the Coyotes put the game out of reach with four free throws to ultimately earn the eight-point win.

Wichmann led the way for the Knights with 24 points while Hess added 11 and Gravley and Darrick Baartman each had eight. Hess and Jonah Christensen led in rebounds with nine each while Christensen led in assists with four.

RTR (7-16) will face Lakeview on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. Kern said their biggest takeaway will be to continue to learn from their mistakes and grow as a group as they head down the stretch of their regular season.

“Every night with this group, you hope they take something away from it that’s going to make them better down the line,” Kern said. “We’re a young team, we’re going to make some mistakes and I need to sit back and realize that sometimes too, but hopefully we learn and bring those lessons forward.”

HLO/Fulda 75, RTR 67

RTR 36 31 — 67

HLO/Fulda 41 34 — 75

Scoring: RTR (A. Wichmann 24; Hess 11; Baartman, Gravley 8; Anderson 7; Christensen 5; Lamote 4).

Rebounds: RTR 35 (Hess, Christensen 9; A. Wichmann 6).

Assists: RTR 9 (Christensen 4; Hess 2; Anderson, A. Wichmann, C. Wichmann 1).

Steals: RTR 8 (Hess 5; Baartman 3).

Blocks: RTR 2 (Lamote, Anderson 1).

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