Taybor Conley, above, along with Zale Bushlack, has been a big part of USC’s success this season.

In a back and forth battle, the United South Central Rebels pulled out an exciting 74-65 win over the St. Charles Saints on Monday night, Feb. 13, in St. Charles.

And they did it on the back of one of their players who set a new USC school record for scoring in a single game.

Zale Bushlack had 43 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots. His 43 points broke the previous USC record of 41 held by Adam Schrader back in 2005 against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.

Bushlack made 14 of his 21 2-point shots, three of his five 3-point shots and was nearly perfect from the free-throw line, going 6 for 7.

The Rebels needed his performance, as well as help from the other team members, to overcome a deficit against the Saints.

USC trailed St. Charles 4-0 to start the game, but came back and led 8-4. The Saints kept hitting 3-pointers in the first half, and they led the Rebels by seven, 34-27, at the end of the first half.

USC started to come back in the second half, and eventually tied the game on a 3-pointer by Johnny Martinez. From there the lead went back and forth until Jorge Martinez hit his only three of the game to put the Rebels ahead for good.

USC made several free-throws at the end of the game to seal a 9-point win, 74-65, after putting out a 47 point barrage in the second half.

“We knew it would be a tough game after a long drive and an unfamiliar opponent to play against,” coach Adam Walker said. “This game had a feel as though it was going to be a rough night for us. The way St. Charles shot the ball and the fact that we had a tough time getting things going on offense. I was really proud of the guys for fighting through the crowd and adversity to come away with a win. We could’ve easily cracked and taken the loss but players stepped up in big spots in the second half.”

Besides Zale Bushlack’s 43 points, two other Rebels hit double figures. Taybor Conley had 14 points and seven rebounds and Johnny Martinez had 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Rebels had some impressive shooting percentages. They were 27 of 53 or 51 percent overall, with 22 of 38 for 2-pointers (58 percent) and 5 of 15 for 3-pointers (33 percent). From the free-throw line they were 71 percent accurate, hitting 15 of 21 tries.

The Saints were 23 of 65 overall, with 13 of 31 for 2-pointers (42 percent) and 10 of 34 for 3-pointers (29 percent) and 9 of 16 from the line (56 percent).

USC had 38 rebounds to St. Charles’ 28, 21 assists to their 13, 10 steals to their six, 10 blocks to their zero, 16 turnovers to their 14.

The Rebels had three more regular season games after this one. They were set to play Friday, Feb. 17 at Medford and this week they are scheduled to play on Tuesday, Feb. 21, versus Madelia for Senior Night and Friday, Feb. 24 versus New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva for Parents’ Night.

USC 72, Dover-Eyota 41

While the United South Central Rebels started off a little slow offensively for the first couple minutes, they bounced back and defeated Dover-Eyota 72-41 in a game played in Eyota on Friday, Feb. 10.

With USC trailing 6-5 early, Jorge Martinez led the charge and got the Rebels up by 10, 19-9. Zale Bushlack, Nick Bushlack and Johnny Martinez helped with the scoring burst.

At the half the Rebels led 40-20. They would outscore the Eagles 32-21 in the second half.

The four hot-shooting Rebels would all hit double digits in scoring. Zale Bushlack led the way with 29 points, 16 in the second half, while Jorge Martinez had 13, Johnny Martinez 11 and Nick Bushlack 10.

Blake Bullerman, before he came out of the game at the seven minutes left mark, led the team with a game high 12 rebounds. Zale Bushlack added seven and Johnny Martinez and Nick Bushlack each had five.

As a team, the Rebels were 28 of 68 from the floor (41 percent). That included being 20 of 45 for 2-pointers (44 percent) and 8 of 23 for 3-pointers (35 percent). They also were 8 of 15 from the free-throw line.

The Eagles were 19 of 58 from the floor, including 18 of 45 for 2-pointers (40 percent), 1 for 13 for 3-pointers (8 percent), and 2 for 12 for free-throws (17 percent).

The Rebels had 36 rebounds to 42 for the Eagles, 25 assists to their seven, 11 steals to their seven, five blocks to their four and 10 turnovers to their 21.