#2 Red Lake County beats #8 Nevis at BSU

The #2–ranked Red Lake County Rebels used solid defense and a big game from Will Gieseke to beat the #8-ranked Nevis Tigers 68-57 at Bemidji State University on Saturday night in a rematch of the Minnesota State Class A third-place game last season.
Red Lake County’s tallest starter was 6’1 and Nevis’ starting five was 6’8, 6’6, 6’6, 6’3, 6’3.

FIRST HALF
Nevis had a good start to the game as they scored the first five points, only to be countered by six Red Lake County points. Will Gieseke scored four points and Ben Gullingsrud added a basket for a 6-5 lead. Nevis responded with five more points for a 10-6 lead. Red Lake County battled back to get within a 15-13 deficit before the Rebels’ Gieseke scored six straight points to give his team a 19-15 lead with eight minutes left in the half. The teams exchanged points and Nevis tied the game at 23 before the Rebels’ Connor Duden scored five points for a 28-23 lead. Nevis responded with an 8-0 run on a pair of three-pointers and a basket for a 31-28 lead. Red Lake County’s Gunnar Halvorson scored the final basket of the half with 1:25 remaining and Nevis took a 31-30 lead into halftime.

SECOND HALF
The second half was a dandy as Red Lake County scored the first two points on a free throw each from Duden and Halvorson for a 32-31 lead. Nevis’ Ethan Buckholtz made a three-pointer for a 34-32 lead. The Rebels answered with baskets by Gieseke and Duden to regain the lead 36-34 lead four minutes into the half. The game was tied at 36 when Ben Gullingsrud made a three-pointer and Gieseke added a basket for a 41-36 lead. After the teams exchanged baskets, the Rebels led 43-40 when Gieseke hit a three-pointer, Logan Vettleson scored in the paint and Gieseke added a three-pointer for a 51-40 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Nevis trailed 60-50 when they went on a 6-0 run with four points from 6’6 senior AJ Bessler and two points from 6’8 senior Tjark Scheppeit to get within a 60-56 deficit with three minutes left in the game. The Rebels’ Will Gieseke stopped the run with three-points before Bessler made one free throws and the Rebels led 63-57 with 1:49 to go. The Rebels had the ball with under a minute remaining and milked the shot clock down to the final seconds when Gieseke burried another three-pointer for a 66-57 lead with 45 seconds remaining. Duden added two free throws and Red Lake County won the game 68-57.

Red Lake County improves to 13-0 on the year and will travel to Kittson County Central on Tuesday. Nevis drops to 10-2 on the year.