Zale Bushlack (22) fights through traffic in the lane to get off a shot against Medford in a game played earlier this year. Bushlack led USC with 27 points in their 83-45 victory over Alden-Conger.

USC 83, Alden-Conger 45

The United South Central Rebel boys basketball team had a commanding 40-24 score at the end of the first half of their game against the Alden-Conger Knights in the first round of the Section 2A Tournament.

Then the Rebels more than doubled up the Knights’ score in the second half, 43-21, on their way to an 83-45 victory on Friday, March 4, at home.

The game started off very evenly when Alden-Conger made their first couple 3-point shots and USC made some inside buckets along with a Luke Pederson three, coach Adam Walker said.

“When we started pressing at about the 12-minute mark, things started to open up for us offensively,” coach Walker said. “Johnny Martinez and Nick Bushlack made consecutive steals for layups to help push us to the 40-24 lead at the half.”

The second half started with a Nick Bushlack ally-oop pass to Taybor Conley for a big time dunk, which ignited the crowd, Walker added.

“We would use that to help extend the lead up to 35 with about nine minutes to play and running the clock the rest of the way,” the Rebel mentor said. “Zale was dominant inside and Nick was dishing the ball well offensively as he finished with 11 assists on the night.”

Zale Bushlack ended up leading the team with a big 27 point night. Nick Bushlack added 12 points.

Taybor Conley added nine points and Johnny Martinez, Colten Quade and Luke Pederson each tallied eight points.

As a team the Rebels were 32 of 49 shooting from 2-point range (65 percent), 3 of 21 from 3-point range (14 percent) and 10 of 19 from the free-throw line (53 percent).

Alden-Conger was 13 of 25 for 2-pointers, 4 of 16 for 3-pointers and 7 of 13 for free-throws.

The Rebels had 31 rebounds to the Knights’ 27, 25 assists to their 10, 22 steals to their four, three blocks to their three and 10 turnovers to their 32.

“I was happy with the way we played throughout the game,” coach Walker said. “We had a lot of energy, which in the postseason we will need to have so it was nice to see.”

The Rebels earned the right to move on in Section 2A play and were set to take on No. 2 seed Mankato Loyola on Tuesday, March 8, for the Subsection quarterfinal matchup.

“We feel great about our position and feel Loyola is definitely a team we can knock off on the road,” the Rebel mentor said.