Photo by Samantha Davis. Red Rock Central’s Abraham Stavness dribbles into the paint for a layup in the first half of the Fast Break Holiday Tournament against Renville County West at Southwest Minnesota State University on Monday afternoon. I tried. Stavness scored a team-high nine points in the Falcons’ 68-30 loss.
MARSHALL — The Red Rock Central men’s basketball team suffered from shooting troubles and turnovers, falling to Renville County West 68-30 on Monday afternoon in the Fast Break Holiday Tournament at Southwest Minnesota State University. We lost and couldn’t find our rhythm.
“We know we’re a young team. I thought our players weren’t necessarily up to par with what we wanted them to be.” RRC head coach Colby Pack said. “They (RCW) came out with a little more energy than us and the shots weren’t early for us. You could see the tires deflating. It was a long night for us. It was.”
Abraham Stavness led the team with nine points and five rebounds, followed by Henry Stavness with eight points and a team-high four assists, and Austin Imker had a team-high seven rebounds.
The Falcons struggled from the start between turnovers and shots, and were unable to get back within reach after trailing by double digits about half way through the first half.
“We value confidence in our young kids. Our leading scorer is a 5-foot ninth-grader (Henry). So when teams take that away from us, it makes it difficult.” Puck said. “They made it tough for us. They switched screens and knew our best players.”
RRC got off to a tough start to the season, dropping its first four games and earning a 69-53 victory over Yellow Medicine East on Dec. 20, but this was the first time the Falcons and RCW had played by Monday. It was also the last match.
The Jaguars won 6-1.
RRC went scoreless for several minutes in the first half after Max Eriksson and Henry made the first two field goals. Turnovers started to become noticeable from the midfield, and a large number of inside shots failed.
The Falcons trailed by 26 points in the first half.
After RCW built a 17-4 lead in the first seven minutes, RRC called a timeout.
The Falcons used a full-court press at times and were able to get some steals, but they couldn’t convert them into points.
Imkel ended a scoring drought after being fouled, making 1 of 2 free throws.
Abraham then stepped to the charity stripe and made a free throw to put the Falcons within 23-6.
Finn Batalden hit a 3-point shot from the right side, but RRC returned to the locker room with a 42-16 deficit.
“They (RCW) basically got everything they wanted offensively in the first half…our game was trying to play fast and they kind of beat us at our game. Ta.” Puck said. “That willingness to be okay with losing by 25 points and be a contender is what we have to work on to get better and we’re going to get there.”
Henry had a team-high six points and Abraham had four points to lead the Falcons at the half.
RCW ended the first half on an 8-0 run to advance the score to 50-16 before Abraham made a free throw for an and-1.
Ryan Schlapp and Jonathan Driggs had several lane crashes for the Jaguars, but RRC struggled to find a solution. The pair consistently found mismatches at the 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-4 positions, respectively.
“We don’t have a lot of size. We’ve been practicing all week to jump on the ball and beat the flashes, and that’s the only disappointing thing.” Puck said. “We just couldn’t beat them to that point. They were able to get where they wanted offensively. Once they got there, there was nothing we could do to stop them. No, because we don’t have much size.”
Both teams continued to play man-to-man defense throughout the game.
RRC continued to show good looks on the perimeter and on some fast breaks, but shooting efficiency was the team’s main issue.
RCW overcame a 35-point lead and the game was over with just a few minutes remaining before the final buzzer sounded.
RRC (1-5) is scheduled to return home to face Springfield (5-1) Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
“We played 26 games. We can’t dwell on one loss.” Puck said. “Moving forward, we just want to play games and get better every day…take practice a little more seriously and you’ll see results on the floor on game night.”
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