The Red Lake County Rebels played a fantastic game on both ends of the floor, but just did not have enough in the final few minutes as the Henning Hornets pulled away for a 79-67 victory in the Class A Third Place Game at the Ganglehoff Center in St. Paul on Saturday. The Red Lake County Rebels end the season with a 29-5 record and a fourth-place finish, wrapping up another amazing season.
FIRST HALF –
As has been the case for the last two games, the Rebels got off to a great start, using a three-pointer from Nick Suchy and a pull-up jumper from Will Gieseke to take an early 5-0 lead. Henning was able to respond, though, and they turned to Kale Misegades, the senior and Mr. Basketball finalist, and he was on fire for the Hornets, scoring their first 12 points all on his own. Unfortunately for him, the Rebels responded with a basket every time he would score, as the lead kept changing hands. RLC took a 15-12 lead off a three-pointer from Gieseke, but Henning tied it once again on a three-pointer from Beck Thorson, the first player other than Misegades to score for the Hornets. Henning then took the lead back at 17-16, but the back-and-forth action didn’t stop there, as Gieseke hit yet another deep one to put the Rebels up two. The Hornets went up one at 23-22 before an extended stoppage from the scorer’s table stopped the momentum. The next few minutes were stop-and-go, but that didn’t seem to bother the Rebels too much, as a beautiful no-look reverse layup from Atley Vettleson gave the Rebels a 28-26 lead. Ben Gullingsrud then hit a three-pointer to put the Rebels up five, their largest lead of the half to that point. Henning was able to close the gap down to three, but a bucket from Ethan Johnson and a free throw from Gieseke in the final 30 seconds gave the Rebels a 36-30 lead at halftime.
SECOND HALF –
In the start of the second half, Kale Misegades did the same thing he did in the first half, scoring the first seven points of the half this time for the Hornets. The Rebels were again able to respond, though, with Ethan Johnson getting two buckets inside to put the Rebels up 44-40. The team then went back-and-forth with buckets, but Henning kept making threes with the Rebels making two-pointers. Dylan Wiederich hit one, and then Misegades hit one as well to help tie the game at 46. Thor Thompson made a shot from down low to retake the lead for RLC, but then a three-point play from Misegades gave Henning their first lead of the half at 49-48. Henning got the lead up to three, but then Will Gieseke stepped up once again, scoring five points in a row after a three-pointer from Connor Duden, putting the Rebels up 56-55. The teams went back-and-forth again until the game was tied at 58, before Ben Gullingsrud stepped up once again, drilling a step-back three-pointer to put RLC up 63-61. Unfortunately for the Rebels, however, that seemed to be where they ran out of gas. In the final few minutes of the game, Henning took complete control, hitting shots at will and getting stops on defense. They went on a 9-0 run to go up 70-63, and though the Rebels cut the lead down to five, they could only muster two more points, and Henning was able to pull away for a 79-67 victory.
Red Lake County ends their outstanding season with a 29-5 record and a 4th place finish in the State Tournament. They say goodbye to the following seniors: Ethan Johnson, Gunnar Halverson, Will Gieseke, Atley Vettleson, Logan Vettleson, Nick Suchy, Connor Duden and Alex Renner.
Henning ends the season with a 32-1 record.
Will Gieseke (pictured in the middle of the front row in the picture above) was named to the All-Tournament team. Will averaged 21 points per game, 6 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.7 rebounds per game, along with playing outstanding defense in all three games.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Henning | 30 | 49 | 79 |
| Red Lake County | 36 | 31 | 67 |
| For Red Lake County | Points | Rebounds | Misc. |
| Will Gieseke | 25 | 4 | 5 assists/2 steals |
| Ben Gullingsrud | 15 | 4 | 1 assist |
| Ethan Johnson | 10 | 6 | 1 assist |
| Connor Duden | 9 | 9 | 2 assists |
| Nick Suchy | 3 | 1 | – |
| Atley Vettleson | 2 | 1 | 1 steal |
| Thor Thompson | 2 | 1 | – |
| Dylan Lundeen | 1 | – | – |
| For Henning | Points |
| Kale Misegades | 41 |
| Zack Wiederich | 17 |
| Ryan Despard | 9 |
| Beck Thorson | 5 |
| Dawson Bushman | 5 |
| Todd Bjerke | 2 |
