Photo by Jake McNeill Russell-Tyler-Ruthton boys basketball head coach Daren Gravley (left) hands the Section 3A Championship trophy to seniors Drew Werkman and Blake Christianson (3) after the Knights defeated Central Minnesota Christian in the section championship game at Southwest Minnesota State University on March 14. After graduating four key members of their rotation after last year’s state championship run, the Knights rallied late in the season to finish the year at 24-9 with a section championship. As a result, Gravley is the Independent’s 2023-24 Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.

TYLER — After its state championship run last season, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton boys basketball team graduated three of its top four scorers and eight of its top 10. Nobody would have blamed the Knights if they took a year to rebuild. Instead, they rallied through the home stretch to claim their third straight section championship under head coach Daren Gravley, the Independent’s 2023-24 Boys Basketball Coach of the Year. It’s also the second consecutive year Gravley has been named our Coach of the Year.

“I’m just so proud of this team — and I’ve said it many times — for forging their own identity,” Gravely said. “We completely changed the things we did offensively this year and everybody bought in. We had great leaders with our team captains, Blake [Christianson], Drew [Werkman] and Carson [Gylling]. It was just a phenomenal season and a lot of fun.”

The Knights had a tough draw on opening night, facing the Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks in what was a rematch of last season’s Camden Conference and Section 3A championship games. The Blackjacks had claimed the conference championship, the Knighst claimed the section title, but this time the Blackjacks were the prohibitive favorites as the No. 2 team in Class A. They beat RTR 72-65 and, after a win over RRC, RTR fell to 1-2 after a 75-37 loss to Southwest Minnesota Christian.

“We had to change our style of play a little bit. It took the guys — and even me, myself — some time to find the things that worked best for the team,” Gravley said, specifically citing the switch from zone to man defense as a catalyst for the team’s performance shift. “We made the shift around halfway through the season and just went straight to playing man-to-man, which I think was easier to be consistent.”

Defense is something the Knights like to hang their hat on, Gravley said, and it showed in how they played on the court. They held their opponent to under 70 points in 11 of their final 12 games.

Another consequence of the shift from zone to man, Gravley said, was the Knights’ improvement on the glass. The team struggled at points to communicate during defensive rebounding situations so the defensive changes largely fixed the issue.

Werkman and Christianson had come into the season as key contributors in last year’s state championship run. Werkman was named the Independent’s Player of the Year last season as the Knights’ second-leading scorer on 64% shooting from the field while Christianson was a consistent role player with another 6 points per game. Still, with plenty of holes in the offense after graduating most of their previous rotation, they had to adapt just like everyone else.

The way that everyone from the starters to the players coming off the bench began to accept their roles as the season went on was a key component of the team’s late-season success. Additionally, B.O.L.D. transfer Andrew Meyers started to fit into the rotation after missing the first month of the season with a sprained ankle.

“It took time with him in the rotation for everybody to get comfortable and learn how to read each other and learn how each other play,” Gravley said. “Learning to trust each other and figuring out how we as teammates get along, not just on the floor, but off the floor too. That chemistry really started to develop as we got to February and carried us all the way through the playoffs.”

RTR lost at home to Hills-Beaver Creek, 52-41, on Feb. 1. That was the last time they’d lose until the state championship. They rattled off 12 consecutive wins from there, including an 83-65 win over Hills-beaver Creek on Feb. 26 and a 64-54 win over the Patriots on March 9 in the subsection championship game. In the section finals, they beat Central Minnesota Christian by 20 points.

The Knights are again graduating seven seniors this year, including Werkman, Christianson, Gylling and Meyers. Still, with Gravley at the helm, don’t count on the Knights needing a rebuilding year.