Photo by Paul Trende
Rushford-Peterson’s basketball teams had a perfect week. Chris Drinkall’s guys first beat Grand Meadow 79-38. Ten Trojans scored led by Dawson Bunke’s fantastic shooting (21 pts, 7-8 threes, 5 rebs). Carson Johnson (14 pts, 7-10 FGs), Sampson Wilkemeyer (8 pts, 4-4 FGs, 7 rebs, 4 asts), and Shane Rask (9 pts, 3-11 threes) helped. R-P hit 16 of 41 threes (39%). The Trojan girls (8-4, 15-6) beat Houston (11-2, 14-7) by a 69-31 tally the same night. Houston had 28 turnovers, R-P eight. Eleven Trojans scored. Ellie Ekern (12 pts, 4 stls), Nadia Happel (10 pts), Tayler Helgemoe (10 pts, 7 rebs, 5 stls), and Torryn Schneider (8 pts, 4 asts) did work. Avery Kingsley (12 pts, 5 rebs) and Aubry Boldt (6 pts, 5 rebs, 5 asts) led Houston. The gals then beat Schaeffer Academy 51-32. Helgemoe (12 pts) and Schneider (9 pts) led the way. Those games set up Saturday showdowns with Spring Grove. The boys game featured the #17 Trojans (16-5) and #3 Lions (18-2) in an epic battle. The first half was a 15-15 defensive struggle. Later in the second half, R-P led 50-39. But the Lions hit four threes in the final three-minutes. As it were, R-P still led 58-54 with 1.9 left, Lion Ben Udstuen shooting three free throws. He made the first two, purposely missed the third, and Jaxon Strinmoen scored with a second offensive rebound put-back to tie the game 58-58 and send it to overtime! Trojan Dawson Bunke tied the first session 62-62 with two free throws (1:09). The teams then exchanged a trio of misses; and it was overtime part Deux! In it, the teams again scored four points each. SG took a shot clock violation in the final four seconds in 66-66 game leading to overtime part Tres! The Lions then got six points from Strinmoen, including the 1,000th of his career. They led 72-67. But threes by Cayden Lea and Will LaFleur put R-P ahead 73-72! An Udstuen interior score put the Lions back in front, 74-73. With 13.2 seconds, R-P’s Caden Johnson made the first of two free throws to the game 74-74. SG missed its final shot; overtime part Quatro! SG led 79-76. R-P then scored the final six points. Caden J. hit two free throws (0:53.1) to make it 80-79. Bunke added two more to make it 82-79 (17.3). SG missed two free throws and its last four shots including one in the final 5.8 ticks. R-P prevailed 82-79! SG had last possession in three of the four OTs, going 0 for 4 from the field. Bunke (24 pts, 5-15 threes, 9-9 FTs, 8 rebs, 7 asts) and Lea (17 pts, 4-11 threes, 6 rebs, 5 asts) did big work for R-P. Carson Johnson (13 pts, 6-9 FGs), LaFleur (11 pts, 3-6 threes), and Caden J. (5 pts, 7 rebs, 4 asts) helped. Strinmoen (30 pts, 4-14 threes, 7 rebs, 8 stls), Udstuen (career-high 25 pts, 9-14 FGs, 3-4 threes, 4-5 FTs, 9 rebs), and Jacob Olerud (19 pts, 4-13 threes, 7 rebs, 6 asts) scored all but five Lion points. Elijah Solum did not play (knee). R-P hit 15 of 39 threes (39%) and 17 of 20 free throws (85%). SG hit 12 of 41 threes (29%), 9 of 14 free throws (64%). The Lions were 1 of 12 from deep in the first half, 10 of 20 in the second, and 1 of 9 in the overtimes. R-P (6-4, 17-5) won its sixth in seven tries. SG (15-2, 18-3) dropped its second straight. It was SG’s longest game ever. The girls teams then took the floor. SG, ranked #20, overcame an early 10-0 hole to lead 13-12, but R-P finished on a 23-5 run to lead 35-18 at intermission. They coasted to a 53-39 win, out-shooting SG 40% (21 of 52) to 29% (12 of 42). Ekern (14 pts, 4 asts, 7 stls), Schneider (11 pts), Nadia H. (10 pts, 4 asts), and Helgemoe (9 pts, 7 rebs) did work. SG was led by Kinley Soiney (13 pts, 10 rebs) and Siri Konkel (11 pts). The Trojans (8-4, 18-6) won their
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