CJ Schumann gets a shot off over the defense.

The United South Central Rebels took on the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs on Monday night, Jan. 27, and ended up with a loss by a score of 68-34.

Coach Adam Walker said the Rebels hung in with the Bulldogs, one of the top teams in the conference, for most of the first half, but once again, in the last five minutes, things turned around in a hurry.

JWP led 17-15 at that point but at the end of the first half they had jumped out to a 40-21 lead.

“We couldn’t get shots to go and got lost on defense for too many possessions,” coach Walker said. “JWP extended their lead in the second half and put the game away at about the 11 minute mark.”

The Rebels were led by Dylan Stephens who had 10 points. Wyatt Sparks added eight points and Aiden Crabtree had seven. Sparks also had eight rebounds.

USC made 10 of 24 for 2-pointers (42 percent), 4 of 18 (22 percent) for 3-pointers and 2 of 6 from the free-throw line (33 percent).

JWP made 23 of 41 attempts for 2-pointers (56 percent), 7 of 20 for 3-pointers (35 percent) and 1 of 4 shots from the line (25 percent).

The Rebels had 25 rebounds to the Bulldogs’ 35, 10 assists to their 18, three steals to their 13, no blocks to their one and 22 turnovers to their 12.

Next up for the Rebels was a game set for Thursday, Jan. 30, and a game on Saturday, Feb. 1, against Lewiston-Altura being played at Kasson.

This week the boys will host Alden-Conger on Thursday, Feb. 6, and travel to play Waterville-Elysian-Morristown on Friday, Feb. 7.

Blooming Prairie 72, USC 46

The United South Central Rebels boys basketball team struggled early against a big and physical Blooming Prairie Blossoms team, and the Rebels ended up losing the game 72-46, on Friday, Jan, 24.

USC found itself behind 30-8 midway through the first half, and cut the lead to 16, 36-20, at the halftime buzzer.

“The second half went a little more back and forth as we were able to cut into that lead,” coach Adam Walker said. “But Blooming Prairie’s size was just way too much for us to handle.”

Jayden Barnick was the only Rebel player to reach double figures in scoring with 15 points. He also had eight rebounds.

Brody Steinhauer and Dylan Stephens both had eight points and Zayden Schott had six.

The Rebels made 14 of 36 2-point attempts (39 percent), 3 of 15 3-point tries (20 percent) and 9 of 15 from the free-throw line (60 percent).

The Blossoms were 26 of 49 for shots inside the arc (53 percent), 5 of 22 for outside the arc (23 percent) and 5 of 9 from the line (56 percent).

Blooming Prairie led in the other stats, too. The Blossoms had 49 rebounds to the Rebels’ 23, 21 assists to their seven, 10 steals to their seven, three blocks to their one and 13 turnovers to 18 for USC.

USC 59, Medford 41

The United South Central Rebels boys basketball team defeated the Medford Tigers on Tuesday, Jan. 21, by a score of 59-41.

After somewhat of a slow start offensively, the Rebels defense tightened and helped out to a 12 point halftime lead, 31-19.

“Jayden Barnick helped jump start the offense midway through the first half to finish the half with 12 points.” coach Adam Walker says. “While Zayden Schott knocked down two late three-pointers to finish with nine at the break.”

The Rebels dominated the first eight minutes of the second half, holding Medford to just 11 points while USC built their lead to 57-30 with about six minutes to play.

Barnick led the Rebels with 21 points while Schott added 15 points. Wyatt Sparks had eight points and Dylan Stephens added seven.

Barnick and Stephens led in rebounding with six each, and Aiden Crabtree and Brody Steinhauer each had five grabs.

As a team the Rebels were 21 of 40 for 2-pointers (54 percent), 3 of 18 for 3-pointers (17 percent) and 8 of 15 for free throws (53 percent).

The Tigers were 14 of 32 for 2-point shots (44 percent), 4 of 26 for 3-pointers (15 percent) and 1 of 5 for free throws (20 percent).

USC had 36 rebounds to Medford’s 34, 12 assists to their two, 11 steals to their six, five blocks to none for them and 11 turnovers to their 21.