By DALE KUGATH
Sportswriter
RANDOLPH – The New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva boys’ basketball team is back in the hunt for a Gopher Conference championship.
Coach Pat Churchill’s Panthers walloped Randolph 71-40 on the road Friday, putting them in a virtual tie for first place.
United South Central actually holds a half-game lead at 9-3, followed by the Panthers and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown at 8-3.
NRHEG, which won the earlier meeting with Randolph 75-45, improved to 15-6 overall. The Panthers have won 10 of 13 road games this season.Randolph fell to 1-11 (7th) in the conference and 7-15 for the year.
NRHEG jumped out to an early seven-point advantage, but the Rockets battled back to tie the score at the mid-point of the first half.
NRHEG slowly gained control and left the court with a 30-16 margin at the break.
“I was really proud of our defense in the first half,” said Churchill. “We limited their shots in the paint and did not give up one offensive rebound the entire half.”
NRHEG started the second half with a 12-2 run and was never threatened again. The Panthers held a 45 to 29 scoring advantage in the final half.
“Their defense really flustered us for a while, but we finally got things going and built a nice lead,” said Churchill.
The Panthers continued to show good scoring balance as three players reached double figures.
Kevin “Big Country” Kalis pumped in 19 points to pace the Panthers.
Oakley Baker nailed three of four shots behind the arc on the way to 15 points.
Spencer Tollefson chipped in with 10 points, Trevor Tracy contributed eight points and Ryan Patraw added seven. Tollefson dished out seven assists.
No one reached double figures for Randolph. Eric Otte led the way with eight points.
Randolph won the junior varsity game, 50-45.
NRHEG faces Blooming Prairie (7-5) at home Friday, looking to avenge an earlier 69-59 loss.
The Panthers will close their regular season schedule at home against Tri-City United Feb. 21.