Nick Bushlack (2) drives to the hoop in a game against Blue Earth Area earlier this season.

KW 60, USC 52

The United South Central boys basketball team played hard, but lost to the Kenyon-Wanamingo Knights on Friday night, Dec. 16, in a game played in Wells.

The Rebels lost the close game 60-52.

“We started out pretty flat on Friday night falling behind by as many as 11 with about nine minutes to play in the first half,” coach Adam Walker said. “Zale Bushlack started to dominate inside, scoring nine straight points to bring us within two with six minutes left in the half. The rest of the half went back and forth for the last few minutes, and KW took a five point lead into halftime.”

The score at the half was 27-22 in favor of the Knights.

“We started off the second half slowly but at about the nine minute mark, we started to pick up full court defensively and that really sparked us,” coach Walker added. “We went on a 17-0 run to take a six point lead with four minutes left.”

After Kenyon hit a big trey to stop the Rebels’momentum, Taybor Conley finished with a very athletic move inside to give USC a five point lead.

On the next possession, the Rebels were called for a foul on a near steal, as well as a technical foul for slamming the ball down, the coach said. KW made both 1 and 1 attempts, both of the technical free throws, and hit a nice backdoor layup for a total of six points in one possession to take the lead back by one.

“Foul trouble and that momentum swing made a huge difference that we could not overcome,” Walker explained. “KW went 8 for 8 from the line down the stretch to close out a 60-52 win.”

Zale Bushlack led the Rebels with 26 points and had eight rebounds. Nick Bushlack scored 12 points and had six rebounds and seven assists.

Conley had eight points and led the team in rebounds with 10.

As a team the Rebels were 21 of 58 shooting from the floor (36 percent). They were 15 of 34 for 2-pointers (44 percent) and 6 of 24 for 3-pointers (25 percent). They also were 4 of 9 from the free throw line (44 percent.)

The Knights were 18 of 52 from the floor, including 6 of 18 beyond the arc, and were 18 of 23 from the charity stripe (78 percent).

USC had 32 rebounds to KW’s 39, had 16 assists to their 13, five steals to their 10 and 17 turnovers to their 18.