USC guard Jorge Martinez drives the baseline in a recent game in Wells.

The United South Central boys basketball team was trailing St. Charles at the end of the first half, but ended up winning the contest 68-53, on Monday, Jan. 31.

Four of USC’s players reached double figures in the contest. Luke Pederson had 16 points, Zale Bushlack 15, and Johnny Martinez and Colten Quade each had 10 points.

St. Charles came out hot to start the game with three 3-pointers in the first four minutes, according to head coach Adam Walker. It went pretty back and forth, with USC leading most of the way, but St. Charles went on a quick run to end the half with a two point lead, 31-29.

“We played very well to start the second half, going on a 10-0 run to start,” coach Walker said. “After a timeout, St. Charles tied the game at 41 with about 12 minutes left in the game, but we started pulling away to win 68-53.”

As a team the Rebels shot 27 of 49 (55 percent) from 2-point range, 2 of 16 for 3-pointers (13 percent) and 8 of 17 for free throws (47 percent).

St. Charles was 14 of 27 for 2-pointers (52 percent), 5 of 19 for 3-pointers (26 percent) and 10 of 14 for free throws (71 percent).

“Johnny Martinez sparked us big time with his defensive pressure,” the coach added. “Taybor Conley and Luke Pederson both had great second halves as well, scoring inside and making plays on the defensive end.”

The Rebels and the Saints each had 28 rebounds. USC had 18 assists to St. Charles’ 10, 17 steals to their six, two blocks to their one and 11 turnovers to their 28.

The Rebels were set to host Faribault Bethlehem Academy on this past Friday, Feb. 4. This week they will travel to Maple River on Tuesday, Feb. 8, and go to Hayfield on Friday, Feb. 11.

Blooming Prairie 70, USC 64

It was another slow start, and a game of trying to play catch up, that did in the United South Central Rebels on Friday night, Jan. 28.

The Rebels lost to the Blooming Prairie Blossoms by a score of 70-64.

USC outscored Blooming Prairie 41-33 in the second half, but had trailed 37-23 at the end of the first half.

“This was the fourth straight game where we’ve trailed by double digits without scoring our first point,” head coach Adam Walker said. “We had to play catch-up throughout once again.”

The coach said the game felt like deja-vu from a game against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown just three days earlier, at least in how the game went.

“We made a couple nice runs in the second half to pull within five, but could not get a few more stops in a row in order to complete the comeback,” the coach explained. “Luke Pederson was very impressive tonight with five 3-pointers for a game high 27 points, as well as pulling down eight rebounds.”

Besides Pederson’s 27 points, Nick Bushlack had 14 points and Zale Bushlack had 13. Colten Quade added six points and Johnny Martinez four.

“We could not stop Blooming Prairie’s big man, Drew Kittelson, as he went for 25 points,” Walker said. “He also collected 24 rebounds, which actually matched our total rebounds for the night.”

As a team, the Rebels shot 12 of 32 for 2-pointers (38 percent), 10 of 24 for 3-pointers (42 percent), and 10 of 15 from the free-throw line (67 percent).

The Blossoms were 21 of 44 for 2-pointers (48 Percent), 5 of 14 3-pointers (36 percent) and 13 of 24 free throws (54 percent).

The Rebels had 24 rebounds to the Blossoms’ 49, 17 assists to their 19, three blocks to their five and both teams had 10 steals.