Rebels fall to Knights in Sub-Section
USC’s late rally comes up short and Alden-Conger wins 53-52

United South Central guard Jon Stanke (1) tries to get around Alden-Conger’s Parker Hintz (24) during a Section 2A South-Subsection playoff game on March 5. The Rebels’ Aiden Crabtree (2) watches the action from behind the play. The Knights held on for a close 53-52 victory to knock the Rebels out of the playoffs.
What would have been a game-winning shot by United South Central’s Jon Stanke did not count as the game-ending buzzer sounded just before the basketball left Stanke’s hand and the No. 6-seeded Alden-Conger Knights upset the No. 3-seeded USC Rebels 53-52 in Section 2A South Sub-Section boys basketball action in Wells on March 5.
The Rebels never held the lead in the game. The Knights started the game on fire and took an early 7-1 lead and increased their advantage to 14-5 with 12:36 remaining in the first half.
“We just could not get into a rhythm all night offensively and our shots would not fall until late in the second half,” USC coach Adam Walker said. “For most of the season our games depended highly on how well we shot from the outside and this was just another one of those cases.”
USC’s Blake Bullerman took a seat on the bench when he was charged with his second foul with 13:45 left to play in the opening stanza. He returned to the court at the 11:44 mark but went to the bench again two minutes later when he picked up his third foul.
Both teams struggled to put the ball through the hoop in the final eight minutes before the intermission with the Knights taking a 21-16 lead heading into the final 18 minutes of the contest.
The second half saw USC trim Alden-Conger’s lead a few times only to watch the Knights pull away again.
Six minutes into the closing period the Rebels pulled to within three points of the Knights, trailing 31-28. USC had a couple of opportunities to close the gap even more but were unable to generate any points during a two-minute time frame. Meanwhile, Alden-Conger extended their advantage back to eight points at 36-28.
With 6:37 left in the game, Jon Stanke swished a 3-pointer to cut the Knights’ lead to 40-36.
Alden-Conger appeared to be pulling away when they upped their advantage to nine points at 50-41 with just over three minutes showing on the game clock.
A free throw by USC’s Nathan Mutschler at the 2:26 mark made the score 50-42, before Bullerman fouled out of the game with 1:33 left to play.
The USC faithful got excited when Stanke connected on two shots from outside the arc to pull the Rebels to within two points of the Knights at 50-48 with one minute to play.
A basket by Alden-Conger’s big man, Andre Wasmoen, gave the Knights a four-point cushion with 47 seconds left.
Stanke countered with a drive to the basket to cut Alden-Conger’s lead to 52-50.
With 35 seconds left, Parker Hintz made one of two free throws for the Knights to put them on top 53-50.
An offensive rebound and basket by USC’s Aiden Crabtree made it a one-point game with the Knights holding a 53-52 lead with 20.8 seconds left to play.
The Rebels fouled a Knight player with 16.9 seconds before the game ending buzzer. The Knights’ player missed the front end of his one-and-one. USC got the rebound and brought the ball to their half of the court before calling a timeout with 11 seconds to play before the end of the game.
The Knights’ defense made it hard for the Rebels to get off a shot. And, unfortunately, Stanke’s desperation 3-pointer, which sailed through the net, did not leave his hand before the buzzer sounded and the Knights went home with the 53-52 victory.
“It was a heartbreaking way to lose and it was very hard to gather the team together after the game,” Walker commented. “You could just hear the sadness going through the players.”
Stanke led all scorers with 30 points while Colby Schumann finished with 10. The Rebels made only 11 of their 23 free-throw attempts.
Three players reached double figures for Alden-Conger. Wasmoen and Hintz each scored 12 points while Quentin Guanella finished with 11.
It was the final game for three USC seniors, Stanke, Brennan Anderson and Bullerman.
The Rebels end their season with an overall record of 13-14.
“It’s never easy to end the season like that, but I am very proud of how this team battled all year,” Walker added. “We lost our top scorer, along with five of our top seven players from last year’s team due to graduation and we were still able to compete at a high level with some of the top teams in the area.”