Photo by Samantha Davis: Murray County Central guard Carter Hanson (3) drives toward the basket while guarded by Russell-Tyler-Ruthton’s Chase Christianson during a prep boys basketball game in Tyler on Feb. 6. MCC will be taking on top-seeded Hills-Beaver Creek in today’s Section 3A South Championship at Southwest Minnesota State University.

MARSHALL — Looking to continue its strong postseason run, the No. 6 Murray County Central boys basketball team will face top-seeded Hills-Beaver Creek for the 3A South subsection championship today at Southwest Minnesota State University.

The Rebels and Patriots will be putting their two experienced rosters up against one another for the third time this season today, both with hopes to earn a spot in the section championship and get a step closer to a state tournament run.

MCC, which has now won four games consecutively, has had a competitive run in the tournament to reach the subsection championship.

After receiving the sixth seed to avoid the play-in round with finishing their regular season 16-10, the Rebels upset No. 3 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 48-47 in a buzzer beater for the second straight year in the subsection quarterfinals last Saturday. They then defeated No. 7 Edgerton 63-53 on Thursday to keep their season going and reach today.

Edgerton took down second-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 64-61 last weekend to eliminate the Knights from the playoffs, who played in the last three Class A state tournaments.

HBC, winning its last six straight games, has cruised its way through sections to meet MCC, with a 73-47 win over No. 8 Adrian/Ellsworth and an 86-62 defeat over No. 4 Southwest Minnesota Christian.

The Patriots are currently ranked ninth in the coaches poll after they finished their regular season 23-2. Their two losses on the season came from 71-60 to Viborg-Hurley, S.D., on Jan. 7 and 83-65 to SWMC on Feb. 11. It went on a 13-game winning streak between the two losses, their longest of the season.

HBC also made it to last year’s South subsection championship, but fell to RTR 64-54, who went on to win the section.

The two times MCC and HBC shared the court this year, the Patriots took the first meeting 81-47 on Jan. 28, but the Rebels put up a much stronger fight days later, falling just short by a possession, 70-68, on Feb. 4.

MCC and HBC also met each other in last year’s section tournament in the subsection

semifinals, where the Rebels suffered a 50-38 loss.

Both teams have an older roster and hold seven seniors, along with MCC’s nine juniors and HBC’s five.

The Rebels will continue to rely on their offensive playmakers, including Gavin Gillette, Maxwell Miller, Hudson Schryvers and Aidan Swenson.

In Thursday’s game against Edgerton, Gillette led the Rebels with 20 points on 50% shooting, and also went 6 for 10 from the perimeter. Swenson followed that up with a near double-double of 19 points and a team-high 9 rebounds along with three blocks.

MCC’s defense served it well to limit Edgerton to 29% field goal shooting while shooting 41% itself. However, the Rebels will need to protect the ball better against HBC as they gave up 11 steals while grabbing just five themselves on Thursday.

The winner of today will earn a chance to compete for the Section 3A title up against the winner of the North’s division, either No. 1 Dawson-Boyd or two-seed Central Minnesota Christian, who play at SMSU prior to MCC and HBC.

The winner of the section will book a trip to the state tournament, an appearance both the MCC and HBC boys basketball programs have yet to make.

Tip-off for today is slated for 2:30 p.m. at SMSU’s R/A Facility.