The Rebels powered their way to a 37-23 lead at the intermission. USC hit 12-16 shots in the paint in the opening half.
“I thought this was one of our poorer halves of basketball this season,” said Churchill. “We didn’t work hard enough to keep them out of the paint.”
NRHEG allowed another 37 points in the second half, but did a much better job of making the Rebels work in the paint. The Panthers also started to get the ball inside, which opened up the outside for some of their shooters.
NRHEG narrowed the deficit to 12 points a couple of times, but fouling at the end of the game stretched the margin to over 20 points.
“We were much more aggressive in the second half. Our second half was much better than the first half.” said Churchill. “We figured out how we need to play in the second half. We got the ball inside and it opened things up for our guards.”
Spencer Tollefson and Kevin Kalis reached double digits for the Panthers. Tollefson fired in 18 and Kalis contributed 12. Trevor Tracy chipped in with eight. Four players reached double figures for USC.
Trey Allis led the winners with 15 points, Nate Pederson and Cole Stencel scored 13 apiece and Steve Voigt added 10.
Kalis completed a double-double for NRHEG by ripping down 11 rebounds.
“If we duplicate the effort and intensity we had in the second half, we could be a dangerous team to play,” said Churchill.
The Panther junior varsity improved to 12-4 with a 47-44 win.
NRHEG is on the road at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Friday. The Panthers and Bulldogs are tied for fifth place in the conference. NRHEG won the first meeting 60-49. The Panthers travel to Medford Tuesday, looking to reverse an earlier 72-58 defeat.
USC 74, NRHEG 51
NRHEG 23 28 51
USC 37 37 74
NRHEG (51): Tollefson 18, Kalis 12, Tracy 8, Mangskau 5, Peterson 3, Schwierjohan 2, Krell 2, Mrotz 1.
USC (74): Allis 15, Stencil 13, Pederson 13, Voigt 10, Linde 8, Mattick 7, Becher 4, Nelson 2, Kalis 2.
NEXT: Friday – NRHEG at JWP, 7:15 p.m.
