USC’s Blake Bullerman powers to the basket and goes high to get a shot off despite some heavy defense by two St. Charles Saints players. The Rebels won a thriller over the Saints by a score of 59-56.

After a hard-fought battle on Monday night, Jan. 8, against St. Charles, the United South Central Rebels’ boys basketball team fell 63-47 to Maple River the next night, Tuesday, Jan. 9.

“Maple River took a nine point half time lead and after building it up to 15 in the second half, we gave one last effort at coming back as we started to hit some second half shots,” coach Adam Walker says.

The Rebels would pull to within seven and nearly to five after a missed layup. But Maple River would then hit two straight 3-pointers to build their lead back up to 13 with just under four minutes left to play. They would hit some free throws late to ice the game.

“We really struggled to get going offensively against a good Maple River defense,” coach Walker says. “And they shot the ball really well from the outside to keep us off balance defensively.”

Jonathan Stanke again led the Rebels in scoring with 17 points. CJ Schumann had nine and Dylan Bonsack eight.

The Rebels made 12 of 30 2-pointers (40 percent), 5 of 14 3-pointers (36 percent) and 8 of 14 free throws (57 percent). The Eagles were 13 of 28 for 2-point shots (46 percent), 8 of 13 3-point shots (62 percent) and 13 of 19 from the line (68 percent).

The Rebels had 22 rebounds to the Eagles’ 28, 13 assists to their 16, 10 steals to their four, and 13 turnovers to their 15.

Next up for the Rebels was a game on Friday, Jan. 12, at Kenyon-Wanamingo. This week they were scheduled to play Waterville-Elysian-Morristown on Tuesday, Jan. 16 and Hayfield at home on Friday, Jan. 19.

USC 59, St. Charles 56

It was a real battle when the USC Rebels took on the St. Charles Saints on Tuesday, Jan. 9. But in the end, the Rebels took the win 59-56.

“This was a back and forth battle all night,” coach Adam Walker said. “We took a four point lead into halftime at 25-21.”

The Rebels would lead by 10, 42-32, with about 10 minutes left in the game. However, the Saints went on a run and they led 51-47.

“It looked like it would be very difficult for us to come back,” coach Walker said. “We made some stops and knocked down some shots and would tie the game at 51.”

Jon Stanke and Blake Bullerman led the charge after that and the Rebels went ahead 57-51 with 30 seconds left in the game. The Saints made a try at the end and sank a long-range 3-point shot but the Rebels held on for the big win.

“I was really happy with how well we defended again,” Walker said. “St. Charles came into the game averaging over 70 points per game.”

Stanke led the team with a double-double, 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Bullerman added 10 points. CJ Schumann and Nathan Mutschler each had seven points.

The team shot 47 percent inside the arc (14 of 30), 31 percent outside the arc (5 of 16) and 55 percent from the charity stripe (16 of 29).

Some of the stats were as close as the score. The Rebels had 36 rebounds to the Saints’ 33, 13 assists to their 14, five steals to their seven, both teams had two blocks and the Rebels had 15 turnovers to their 12.

“This was a great win for us and we really showed how well we are able to fight adversity,” the Rebels coach said. “Losing a big lead and then having to come from behind late was a great test for us! We were very happy with a big win over a good St. Charles team.”

USC 59, Randolph 44

The Rebels of United South Central jumped out to a huge lead at the beginning of their game against the Randolph Rockets on Friday night, Jan. 5, and ended up with a big 59-44 win.

“We jumped out quickly Friday night to a 30-6 lead thanks to our stifling defense,” coach Adam Waler said. “Halftime score was 34-16.”

Aiden Crabtree led all scorers with 19 points. He connected on three of his five 3-pointers to help the Rebels build the lead to 57-32 with just under eight minutes to play in the game.

“We stalled offensively a bit as we went to our bench and ended up with a great home win against a good Randolph team,” coach Walker said. “I was so proud once again of how hard we worked defensively, especially against a team like that who shoots the ball really well from the outside.”

Jonathan Stanke was right behind Crabtree in scoring, with 18 points. Blake Bullerman was right behind with 11 points.

Stanke and Crabtree also led the team in rebounds, with eight each. Nathan Mutschler had seven points and six rebounds, and Bullerman had five rebounds.

As a team the Rebels made 17 of 41 2-pointers (41 percent), 5 of 15 3-pointers (33 percent) and 10 of 20 from the free-throw line (50 percent).

The Rockets were 13 of 38 for 2-pointers (34 percent), 4 of 22 for 3-pointers (18 percent) and 6 of 11 from the line (55 percent).

USC had 39 rebounds in the game, 14 assists, 13 steals, four blocks and just 16 turnovers.

Coach Walker was pretty happy with the team’s performance.

“We held their starting five to just 15 points on the night,” Walker said. “Dylan Bonsack and Jon Stanke were once again fabulous on the defensive end and Aiden Crabtree continued his hot shooting to lead the team with 19 points.”

The Rebels’ next games were set for Monday, Jan. 8 vs. St. Charles, Tuesday, Jan. 9, at Maple River and Friday, Jan. 12 at Kenyon Wanamingo.