By Dalton Bass
For the Star Herald
In a closely fought contest for most of the game, the Murray County Central Rebels pulled away late to beat the Patriots 59-45 in Hills on Tuesday night.
It was three minutes into the game before either team put points on the board. Senior Cole Baker (14 points and six rebounds) hit a floater from in the lane to give the Patriots a 2-0 advantage.
The Rebels went on an 11-0 run before a timeout was taken by Coach Wiertzema with 12:31 to go in the first half.
The Patriots came out hot after the timeout as Drew Leenderts (10 points) capped off the run with a three-point basket to pull the Patriots within three, by a score of 13-10.
The rest of the first period was a back and forth affair as Cole Baker put in a layup as he was fouled with 28 seconds left to go to cut the Rebels’ lead to 29-24 at the half.
The second half could never get closer than six points as Leenderts hit a mid range shot to cut the deficit to 34-28.
MCC’s lead grew as large as 16 points before ending the game with a 59-45 advantage.
Seniors Troy Durst (nine points and seven rebounds) and Andrew Harris (five points and six rebounds) were contributors for the Patriots.
The Patriots travel to SMSU in Marshall to play Canby on Thursday night.
Box Score
Baker 4 1 3-9 14, Raymon 0 0 0-0 0, Harnack 2 0 0-0 4, Page 0 0 0-0 0, Leenderts 2 2 0-0 10, Bundesen 0 0 0-0 0, Gehrke 0 0 0-0 0, Metzger 0 1 0-0 3, Taubert 0 0 0-0 0, Tatge 0 0 0-0 0, Durst 4 0 1-2 9, Scholten 0 0 0-0 0, Harris 2 0 1-2 5, Wiersema 0 0 0-0 0
Team Statistics
HBC: 18 of 44 (41 percent), 5 for 13 free throws (38 percent), 28 rebounds, 24 turnovers
MCC: 21 of 54 (39 percent), 11 for 19 free throws (58 percent), 30 rebounds, 13 turnovers