Nick Bushlack provided the spark for the United South Central Rebels when they defeated the Madelia Blackhawks 63-38 to bring the regular season to a close.

The United South Central Rebels boys’ basketball team closed out the regular season portion of their schedule on Tuesday, Feb. 28, with a 63-38 victory at home over the Madelia Blackhawks.

The victory gave USC a regular season record of 19-7 and the No. 1 seed in the Section 2A South Subsection Tournament.

It was Senior Night for the Rebels and USC senior players Nick Bushlack, Nathaniel Clore, Jorge Martinez, Bryten Loe, Taybor Conley, Zale Bushlack and Tim Smedley were honored during the evening festivities.

In honor of Senior Night, USC coach Adam Walker started an all-senior lineup.

Madelia jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before Zale Bushlack stole the ball and took it to the hoop to get the Rebels on the board just over two minutes into the game.

Madelia was still holding on to a 9-7 lead when USC broke their press and Conley made a layup to knot the score at 9-9.

A free throw by Zale Bushlack and another basket by Conley put the Rebels in front for good at 12-9.

The Blackhawks’ center, Eagan Rathman, got in foul trouble early in the contest and Bushlack took advantage of the situation. The six-foot-four center continued to score from inside the paint while USC extended their lead to 34-23 at the half.

“With a different starting lineup than usual, we had a tough time getting into a flow early on,” Walker said. “Once we settled in, we were able to take a nice lead heading into the second half.”

The Rebels started the second half where they left off in the first half and continued to pull away from the Blackhawks.

Bushlacks’ steal and subsequent dunk seven minutes into the final stanza had the Rebels on top 46-28.

“Zale and Taybor (Conley) got going inside and Nick Bushlack was able to control the tempo outside,” Walker commented. “Nick knocked down a couple of 3-pointers which helped us pull away.”

Beginning with his dunk, Zale Bushlack scored 14 of USC’s next 17 points and finished with a total of 37 points for the game.

Nick Bushlack was the only other Rebel to reach double figures in scoring. He finished with 12.

Johnny Martinez tallied eight points, Conley added four and Jorge Martinez finished with two.

As a team, USC made 26 of 40 (65 percent) 2-point attempts and 2 of 12 (17 percent) of their 3-point attempts. They also were 8 of 13 (62 percent) from the free throw line.

The Rebels controlled the boards with 35 rebounds to 26 for the Blackhawks.

USC had 16 steals on the night. Zale Bushlack led the team with six thefts, Johnny Martinez had five and Nick Bushlack had three.

The Rebels committed 17 turnovers while the Blackhawks had 19.

“I want to say thank you to all the seniors for all of their hard work and dedication to our program,” Walker said. “This is a great group of kids who will be very successful after high school. It has been a great season and we hope it continues long into March.”

The Rebels will open the playoffs with a home game on Tuesday, March 7. They will face the winner of a game between Alden-Conger and Madelia, which was played on Friday, March 3.

If USC wins on March 7, their next game will be on Thursday, March 9 at St. Peter High School at either 6 p.m. or 7:45 p.m.

The other top seeds in Subsection 2A are No. 2-seed Mankato Loyola, No. 3-seed Mountain Lake-Comfrey and No. 4-seed Martin County West.

Look for results from the tournament games in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.

USC 64, NRHEG 38

The United South Central Rebels boys’ basketball team celebrated Parents’ Night with a 64-38 victory over the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Panthers on Friday, Feb. 24.

“After having three days off due to the weather, we came out a little bit flat on offense early on in the game,” USC coach Adam Walker said. “Thankfully, we maintained our high level of intensity on the defensive end and that helped us gain a lot of momentum.”

Indeed, the Rebels’ defense held the Panthers to just two points in the first five minutes of the game which allowed the hometown team to build a 12-2 lead.

USC’s Zale Bushlack ran into some early foul trouble but Nick Bushlack picked up the slack for the Rebel offense.

“Nick scored eight points in a row at one point while Zale was on the bench in foul trouble,” Walker commented. “That was huge and helped us go on top 29-8 with four minutes remaining in the first half.”

The Rebels would take a 32-16 lead heading into the halftime intermission.

Zale Bushlack marked his return to the floor early in the second half with some inside baskets to help the Rebels increase their lead to 26 points midway through the final stanza.

USC was able to get all of their players involved in the contest before the horn sounded marking the Rebels’ 64-38 triumph.

Bushlack finished the game with 19 points while also pulling down seven rebounds.

Also reaching double figures in scoring was Nick Bushlack, who finished with 16 points while recording four assists. Johnny Martinez finished with nine points and seven assists.

Blake Bullerman had seven rebounds while Taybor Conley had six boards and five assists.

The Rebels had a good night shooting the ball and connected on 50 percent of all of their shots from the field. USC was 23 of 39 (59 percent) from 2-point range and 3 of 13 (23 percent) from behind the 3-point line. They made nine of their 13 free throw attempts (69 percent).

Meanwhile, the Panthers struggled to get the ball to go through the hoop. NRHEG was 16 of 42 (38 percent) from inside the arc and 1 of 11 (nine percent) from outside the arc. The Panthers made three of their eight attempts (38 percent) from the charity stripe.

“It was fun to be able to get all of our players into the game and the crowd was amazing showing their support,” Walker said. “I want to thank all the parents for their constant support of our program and I hope to see all of them during our Section Tournament. It should be a fun postseason.”