Trojans Make 1A Semifinals, Fall Agonizingly in Overtime to Goodhue

Rushford-Peterson’s boys made their second straight 1A semifinal. They then fell agonizingly in overtime.

Trojans “Poisons” Too Much for Rebels

Eighth-ranked Rushford-Peterson (2-seed, 21-4) used a pick-your-poison offensive attack to down Southland (7-seed, 17-6) in a 1A quarterfinal. The Rebels fell to R-P 61-52 in the regular season, a game where the Trojans hit 11 three-pointers. Southland was thus intent on stopping that “poison” of the Trojans attack. They used a 3-2 zone to curtail R-P’s shooters, particularly cousins Malachi and Dawson Bunke. It worked in as much the Trojans were just 2 of 13 from deep in the first half. But that zone left the interior open, and R-P inside poison Justin Ruberg had a big first stanza, scoring 16 points including 10 straight at one point. He alone created a 10-0 run that annulled a 15-14 Southland lead. The Rebels have a pair of good offensive weapons in Eli Wolff and Harrison Hanna. The duo each made a play late, as the Rebels scored the last five points of the half. They cut a once nine-point R-P lead (24-15) to four at intermission (24-20). The second half saw the Rebels cut down on the Ruberg poison. But it left the three-point line less defended. R-P started the stanza 6-0 to lead 30-20, only for Wolff and Hanna to lead Southland on a 11-5 spurt, cutting the edge to 35-31. Trojan senior guard Malachi Bunke then hit a three out of a timeout. A few minutes later, he hit his third trifecta of the second half. R-P went ahead 40-33 with under six minutes left. Zone useless while trailing, Southland went man-to-man. The Grady Hengel ‘poison’ came to the forefront. The Trojans’ junior guard used his off the dribble game to score seven straight points. R-P built a 48-36 lead with around 3:00 to go. Southland didn’t have enough antidotes. R-P moved on to its second straight 1A semifinal by a 53-42 final. They avenged last year’s semifinal loss to the Reb’s. The senior Ruberg had a game-high (22 pts, 9-13 FGs, 4-6 FTs, 10 rebs) to lead the Trojans. He had 16 of their 24 first half points. Fellow senior M-Bunke (18 pts, 4-9 threes, 3 asts) scored 13 of his 18 points after halftime. Hengel chipped in 7 points. Dawson Bunke added 6 points. M-Bunke, Hengel, and Andrew Hoiness were tasked with limiting the aggressive drives of Wolff and Hanna. The 42 points scored by the Rebels was their third worst of the season. They came in averaging 72.2 PPG. Only Spring Grove twice (37 and 38) had held them lower than 42 points. Wolff led Southland (19 pts, 5-6 FTs, 7 rebs). Hanna added 9 (pts) and 7 (rebs). After a 10 of 27 shooting first half (37%), R-P was 10 of 15 in the second half (67%). They finished going 6 of 21 from deep (29%). Southland shot 16 of 39 (41%) but 4 of 16 (25%) from deep. R-P moved on to face Goodhue (3-seed, 22-6), which beat Lyle/Pacelli 47-39 in another 1A quarterfinal.

Late Shots Don’t Drop,R-P falls to Goodhue 

The result wasn’t unexpected. It was super close and went beyond down to the wire. R-P had the ball at the end of both regulation and overtime with a chance to win. But the Wildcats had the trump card. The 1A semifinal battle of #8 Rushford-Peterson (2-seed, 22-4) and Goodhue (3-seed, 22-6) was just that; an expected close-knit defensive-minded and offensively disciplined battle. After all, both coaches are Rushford-Peterson graduates; R-P with Chris Drinkall, Goodhue with Matt Halverson. And the teams have met one other time in recent memory with a lot on the line. The 2017 1A Section final saw Goodhue out-last R-P 40-37 in double overtime. Halverson headed the Wildcats and Drinkall was an assistant for the Trojans. When R-P’s slow deliberate style meets R-P’s deliberate style it leads to a deliberate game! Goodhue scored the first six points. R-P settled in. By halftime, it was tied 17-17. The second half had ties at 22, 30, 32, and 34 leading up to the final minutes. R-P sophomore Dawson Bunke hit a three at the 2:55 mark to give the Trojans a 37-36 lead. Goodhue then went inside and got a basket from their ace card, 6’4” senior center Dayne Wojcik, to make it 38-37. Andrew Hoiness then hit another big three and R-P was up 40-38 with under a minute to play. Hoiness’s basket came after he grabbed a steal on the defensive end. But on the Wildcat end, Wojcik received an interior-to-interior pass from Sam Opsahl. He scored inside to make 40-40. R-P had the ball for the last shot in the final 23.5 seconds, but their best attempt was an off-balance three by D-Bunke (who hit three trifectas in the second half). It didn’t fall. The game went to OT tied 40-40. The Wildcats then scored the first four points, with Wojcik going baseline from the corner to give Goodhue a 44-40 lead with 2:06 left. After an offensive rebound, R-P’s Grady Hengel scored to narrow the margin to 44-42 (1:14). The Wildcats missed the front end of two one-and-one’s in the final 1:02. R-P missed an interior shot with their second to last possession. They took over for their last possession with 0:41 seconds left. After a timeout and withstanding a foul (Goodhue had fouls to give), the Trojans drew up a play for the final 0:08. It got scuttled by a mishandle and Goodhue’s defense, but Hengel found senior guard Malachi Bunke in the corner for a semi-open game-tying three. The ball was in the air a long time, as Bunke lofted over an on-rushing Wojcik and Opsahl. It was on-line but short, leaving the Wildcats with a dramatic 44-42 win in overtime! The war of attrition, a great high school game, was won by Goodhue. They were led by Wojcik’s huge effort (25 pts, 11-18 FGs, 14 rebs). He was 7 of 8 field goals in the second half and overtime, scoring 17 points after intermission. His only miss was a three-pointer. Adam Poncelet chipped in 9 points. Opsahl contributed 6 (pts), 5 (rebs), and 6 (asts). R-P was led by Justin Ruberg (13 pts, 4-14 FGs, 7 rebs), but the going was tough for the senior versus Wojcik. D-Bunke added 9 points (3-7 threes), all in the second half. Hengel (8 pts), Hoiness (6 pts, 4 rebs), and M-Bunke (6 pts) also battled, as all five Trojans to score had at least six. R-P shot just 29% (14 of 48) while Goodhue shot 49% (19 of 39). R-P did their work from deep, making 7 of 23 threes (30%) while the Wildcats were just 2 of 11 (18%). Goodhue was 17 of 28 (61%) from two-point range while R-P was 7 of 25 (28%). The Trojans were plus-three at the free throw line, going 7 of 7 to Goodhue’s 4 of 8. The teams combined for just 14 turnovers (R-P 6, Good 8). Goodhue beat R-P on the glass 30 to 22, but R-P had 11 offensive rebounds for 11 second-chance-points. Goodhue had 8 offensive rebounds for six second chance points. Oddly, in overtime, Goodhue was 2 of 2 field goals but 0 of 3 free throws. The Trojans excellent season ends at 22-5. The game ends the careers of a notable R-P senior class of 1,000-point scorer Ruberg, M-Bunke, Hoiness, plus Carson Thompson and Logan Skalet. The first three have all been varsity contributors at least three years.