Red Lake County boys basketball earns first trip to state with win over KCC

The Red Lake County Rebels used a 21-0 run over a seven-minute span in the second half to beat the Kittson County Central Bearcats 68-40 in the Section 8A Boys Basketball Championship played at Ralph Englestad Arena in Thief River Falls.

FIRST HALF
Kittson County Central jumped out to a 6-0 lead with three-pointers from Brody Scalese and Ty Vig. Red Lake County answered with a Connor Duden three-pointer to get within a 6-3 deficit 90 seconds into the game. KCC’s Vig made two free throws before Duden scored on a jump shot. Vig and Kellen Johnson answered with a basket and a three-pointer respectively for a 13-5 lead four minutes into the game. KCC continued to play outstanding defense and built a 20-11 lead halfway through the half. Red Lake County’s Ethan Majeres made a big three-pointer and KCC’s Vig answered with a basket for a 22-14 lead. Red Lake County’s Will Gieseke gave the Rebels a huge spark with back-to-back three-pointers to get within a 22-20 deficit. The teams exchanged three-pointers and after a three-pointer from Johnson, KCC had a 28-23 lead with 2:15 left in the half. The only points in the final two minutes came on a Gieseke free throw line jump shot and the Bearcats took a 28-25 lead into halftime.

SECOND HALF
Red Lake County had a red-hot start to the second half as Majeres made a three-pointer to tie the game at 28-28 After a KCC three-pointer, Red Lake County’s Ethan Johnson made a basket, and KCC’s Vig answered with a basket for a 33-30 Bearcat lead with 15:42 remaining. Red Lake County took over the game as they started to heat up on the offensive end as they went on a 21-0 run behind five Rebel three-pointers. The run started with Majeres making a three-pointer, after a Rebel block on Vig, Johnson made a basket, and Majeres followed with a three-pointer. Duden kept things going with a basket and Gieseke three-pointer, Owen Chervestad followed with a three-pointer and Duden added another three-pointer before getting another basket for a 51-33 lead with 10:07 left in the game. KCC stopped the scoring drought with an Eli Peterson basket with 7:31 left in the game that stopped an eight-minute scoreless drought. Red Lake County’s Majeres answered with a three-pointer and after a KCC basket from Broday Scalese, Majeres made another three-pointer for a 57-37 lead with 5:01 remaining. The three-pointer was the 13th three-pointer of the game for the Rebels and the sixth of the game for Majeres.
Red Lake County emptied the bench in the final minutes and won the game 68-40 to win the program’s first boys basketball section championship.

Red Lake County improves to 29-2 on the year and will play at 11:00, 1:00, 3:00, or 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 18 at Target Center. KROX Radio will have all the Red Lake County game on the radio! Red Lake County Coach Steve Philion, in his 51st year as head coach, will be making his third trip to state with the previous two years in 1992 and 1993 with Clearbrook-Gonvick. Kittson County Central’s season ends with a 22-8 on the year and they say goodbye to the following seniors – Ty Vig, Kaden Seurer, and Brooks Nordin.