Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota guard Jase Sorensen (11) works his way into the paint for a shot attempt during a non-conference boys basketball game against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton on Monday in Minneota.

MINNEOTA — A big game from Jase Sorensen and some timely shooting from the free-throw line allowed the Minneota boys basketball team to pull out a non-conference win over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton on Monday night. The Vikings held off a strong push from Russell-Tyler-Ruthton starting late in the first half, holding on for a 63-61 win.

“That [win] really produces some great mojo for us and it’s going to help us a lot going into Tracy on Friday,” Sorensen said. “I wouldn’t say we felt safe until point-six seconds were left … It was crazy that we’re sticking with the team that, you know, they’ve got a better record than us, but it was fun.”

Minneota trailed by 4 points with two minutes left when Easton Johnston ripped off an offensive rebound for a second-chance layup, and Ian Myhre followed up with a steal on the defensive end to set up Tristen Sussner to cut the deficit to a single point.

After a pair of misses from RTR from the free-throw line, Sorensen was fouled while hustling for a loose ball and went to the line himself in the double bonus.

The Knights called a timeout to ice Sorensen, but he drained both with ice in his veins to take the lead with 34.8 seconds to play.

RTR grabbed an offensive rebound after missing the tying shot, but the Vikings’ defense came up with another big stop before RTR fouled Myhre with eight seconds left. Dalager made both to give the Vikings an insurmountable lead.

Jackson Kerkaert banked in a 3 for the Knights with 1 second left on the clock, and the Knights fouled again with 0.6 seconds left. Sorensen made the first before missing the second, but Sussner grabbed the offensive rebound before being charged by Sorensen and Johnston in celebration of the win.

Monday’s game was a big win for the Vikings because it came after a poor performance in a 62-46 loss to Yellow Medicine East on Friday, Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said, crediting YME for playing well in Friday’s game.

“We’ve had a couple games now where, even in our loss against Southwest Christian [on Jan. 27], we were playing hard,” coach Johnston said, adding that Minneota was able to play a smaller lineup against RTR on Monday and take advantage of its speed. “I’m not saying that was the key to our success, but we knew going into it that we were going to tweak our lineup a bit and that seemed to help.”

Sorensen finished the night with a game-high 26 points on 6 of 18 shooting from the field with five made 3s on 13 attempts. He also shot an efficient 9 of 13 from the free-throw line.

“The shots were falling and the team needed it, so we were sticking with them. You’ve just got to do what the team needs,” Sorensen said.

As a group, Minneota shot 9 of 29 (31%) from the 3-point line while limiting the Knights to 4 of 24 (17%). The Vikings also shot 18 of 25 (72%) from the free-throw line while RTR shot 13 of 23 (57%).

“We got to the free-throw line a lot more tonight than we have the last couple of games, and shot well from the free-throw line. That’s one of the things that’s really hurt this year,” coach Johnston said, adding that he was pleased to see his team hold a plus-5 margin in points from the charity stripe after having some games where it got outscored by 15 or 20 points.

Colten Thomsen scored the game’s first points with a second-chance basket but Minneota responded with a trio of 3s from Sorensen, Johnston and Sussner to take a 9-4 lead.

RTR trimmed the deficit back down to a point, 9-8, before Hennen drained another 3 and Sussner knocked down a pair of free throws to build its lead up to 14-8.

The Knights trailed by as many as 9 points before they battled their way back into the game, trailing 22-13. Thomsen went up-and-under for a layup after a timeout and Tyler Wichmann followed up with a pair of free throws. Another tough basket through contact from Thomsen, a free throw from Thomsen and a Braden Nibbe layup tied the game up at 22 points apiece with five minutes left in the first half.

Lane Wichmann came away with a steal and knocked down a free throw to give the Knights their first lead since the game’s opening basket, 23-22, with four minutes to play.

The teams traded leads back and forth over the final few minutes. Gavin Schreurs answered a pair of Easton Johnston free throws to take a 33-32 lead, but Johnston came up with a steal to set up Hennen for a go-ahead midrange jumper to take a 34-33 Minneota lead into halftime.

The Vikings pulled up from long range early and often in the first half, but had a tendency to lose the ball going to the basket at points. The turnovers were something Minneota discussed at halftime.

“I talked about not dribbling so much because, for a while there, we were just catching and dribbling,” coach Johnston said. “We wanted to be able to take what they were doing and still expose that. We stayed aggressive, the calls went our way sometimes, and that was a good thing for us.”

Minneota outrebounded RTR 45-33 in the game, including a 19-11 edge on the offensive glass. Johnston led Minneota with 11 total and five offensive rebounds, followed by six total rebounds each from Owen Dalager and Myhre. Thomsen led RTR with four offensive and four defensive rebounds.

RTR got off to a hot start after halftime when Schreurs banked in a go-ahead basket and Thomsen followed with a pair of free throws for a 37-34 lead. The Knights maintained a narrow margin until Sorensen drained a 3 with a hand in his face, and Hennen got to his spot at the free-throw line for a go-ahead jumper for a 51-50 lead with just over five minutes remaining.

Minneota improves to 5-15 with the win and aims to carry the momentum into Friday when it caps off a three-game homestand against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (8-9) at 7 p.m.

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton falls to 11-8 and heads to Okabena for its next game, taking on Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda (4-14) on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. with the hope of avoiding its third straight loss.