USC’s Jon Stanke works his way inside to get a shot off during a recent Rebels’ game. Stanke was the leading scorer for USC in all three games last week.

The United South Central Rebels boys basketball team had a lot of trouble with a tough Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldog crew when they played on Tuesday, Jan. 30. The Rebels fell to the Bulldogs by a score of 73-39.

USC scored 22 in the first half and just 17 in the second half, while JWP scored 32 in the first half and 42 in the second stanza.

The Rebels’ shooting woes returned against the Bulldogs as they shot 10 percent for 3-pointers (2 of 20) and 24 percent from the field (10 of 42). JWP pulled away early in the second half for the win.

“We were within reach in the first half and were down 10 at the break.” coach Adam Walker said. “Blake Bullerman picked up his second foul with about 11 minutes left in a 1-point game and JWP went on a run to close the rest of the half and lead 32-22.”

It was 40-22 in a hurry to start the second half and the Bulldogs would not look back, the coach added.

Jon Stanke led the scoring for the Rebels with 10 points, Bullerman had nine, Aiden Crabtree seven and CJ Schumann six.

The Rebels did go to the free-throw line 29 times and made 17 of those tries for 59 percent.

Meanwhile the Bulldogs shot 22 of 47 (47 percent) for 2-pointers and 6 of 12 (50 percent) for 3-pointers and were 12 of 22 from the line (55 percent).

The Rebels were outrebounded by the Bulldogs 42 to 21. USC had nine assists to JWP’s 17, seven steals to their 17, zero blocks to their three and 20 turnovers to their 16.

Next up for the Rebels was a game on Friday, Feb. 2 at NRHEG, and then they were scheduled to play Lewiston-Altura at Kasson-Mantorville on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 12:45 p.m.

T/ML/GHEC 54, USC 40

The shooting woes for the United South Central Rebels continued as they fell 54-40 to Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain on Thursday, Jan. 25.

“We had zero answers for Carter Fox who finished with 31 points and we lost control of the game early in the second half,” coach Adam Walker said. “We trailed by only five at halftime but couldn’t close in on their lead the rest of the way.”

The Rebels’ shooting percentages were low again for the game against the Jaguars.

They were just 23 percent from the floor (13 of 56), which included 27 percent for 2-pointers (10 of 37) and 10 percent for 3-pointers (3 of 29). They did do well from the free-throw line, going 69 percent (11 of 16).

The Jaguars were 13 of 29 for 2-pointers (45 percent), 6 of 20 for 3-pointers (30 percent) and 10 of 15 for free throws (67 percent).

Jon Stanke led the team in scoring with 20 points and in rebounding with 13 for a double-double.

Blake Bullerman had 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Rebels had 31 rebounds to the Jaguars’ 43, nine assists to their 13, 10 steals to their seven, one block to their five and 15 turnovers to their 23.

“It was a tough loss on the road,” coach Walker added. “And another tough shooting night.”

Blooming Prairie 68,

USC 60

The United South Central Rebels played very well on Friday, Jan. 26, after having come off two tough losses. But it was not good enough, as they lost 68-60 to the Blooming Prairie Blossoms.

“We knew this would be a huge test on how to respond as Blooming Prairie was undefeated and ranked in the top 10 in the state,” Rebels’ coach Adam Walker said. “This game was eerily similar to our first meeting in Wells.”

After trailing by nine at the half and hanging in, the Rebels eventually would tie it at 47 after Aiden Crabtree knocked down one of his four three pointers on the night.

“Jon Stanke was spectacular again making plays on both ends and between him and Aiden, they’re shooting from the outside was a huge help in keeping us in the game,” the Rebels’ mentor explained. “Blooming Prairie would eventually wear us down at the end of the game and free throws would ice it for the win.”

Three USC players made it to double figures in scoring. Stanke had 24 points, Crabtree had 14 and Nathan Mutschler had 13.

“Nathan Mutschler got us going off the bench and scored the first six points of the game and finished with a career high of 13 on the night,” the coach added. “We played scrappy defensively and hit timely shots which is our recipe for success, unfortunately it just wasn’t quite enough against the tall and quick Blossoms squad.”

USC shot 56 percent for 2-pointers (15 of 27), 36 percent for 3-pointers (9 of 25) and 60 percent from the free throw line (3 of 5).

Blooming Prairie was 24 of 61 from the floor and 8 of 20 from the line.

The Rebels had 32 rebounds to the Blossoms’ 36, 15 assists to their 16, 11 steals to their 10, zero blocks to their five and 26 turnovers to their 18.

Despite the loss, the coach said he was very proud of all the efforts by the Rebels in the game.