By Brayden Dirks
On January 7th, the MMCRU boys’ basketball team played on their home court against the South O’Brien Wolverines. The Wolverines came into the game with a record of 6 wins and 3 losses, and the Royals were 3-4. MMCRU, since they were formed, has never beaten South O’Brien so they were looking to end that streak.
The game started favorably for the Wolverines as they led 16-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Royals looked to climb back from the deficit but South O’Brien’s physicality and rebounding proved to be too much during the second quarter. In that quarter, the Royals were outscored 17-5 and the score at halftime was 33-15. It appeared as though it could be a rough night for MMCRU, but they finished the game strong. The third quarter was evenly matched in scoring, so the Royals needed to spark a huge comeback. They stepped up their defense, and finally got the offense going. In the fourth, MMCRU got going from three-point land with a few strikes from Derek Goth and Kyler Bork. Their defense stepped up and allowed most of South O’Brien’s points from the free throw line. The Royals scored 22 points in the fourth and held the Wolverines to 14. Despite winning the second half, the deficit proved to be too much and the Royals were unable to comeback. South O’Brien won 59-50 and brought the Royals record to 3 wins and 5 losses.
Sophomore Kyler Bork led the way in points for the Royals with 14, and twelve of those points coming from three point baskets. Bork also led the Royals in rebounding with 8. Junior Derek Goth ended with two three pointers made and 13 total points. Sophomore center Mitchell Schnepf had 12 points and four rebounds. Freshman Jace Colling had four points and his classmate, Michael Peterson, had three. Sophomore Jonah Petersen and freshman Xander Tentinger rounded out the scoring for the Royals with two points each. MMCRU coach Cam Kuchel shared his thoughts on the game, “We had a rough start to our game with South O’brien. They are a strong and disciplined team and we had a hard time penetrating their 2-3 zone and were not knocking down shots early. Proud of our effort to mount a comeback in the 2nd half.”
On Tuesday, January 11, the Royals had another home game and played Trinity Christian for the second time this season. On December 20th the Royals beat the Tigers 55-19 in Hull. In that game, Derek Goth and Mitchell Schnepf both had 12 points to lead the way in scoring for the Royals. MMCRU now looked forward to getting another win against Trinity Christian.
The first few minutes of this contest were rough for both times, with many turnovers and missed shots. As the quarter progressed, the Royals were able to open up their offense with several threes from sophomore Kyler Bork. At the end of the first, the score was 16-6 with the Royals in the lead. In the second quarter, Trinity’s offense came to life as they found a way to penetrate MMCRU’s 3-2 zone. Both teams played well in the second quarter and it was 31-22 at halftime in favor of MMCRU. In the second half, Trinity continued to keep getting layups against the Royal defense, and they also stepped up their defense. MMCRU struggled from three in the second half, but were able to control the ball and take time off the clock. In doing so, the Tigers were unable to come back from the deficit and the Royals won 55-47. With that win, the Royals moved to a record of 4-5 on the season.
Kyler Bork was feeling his shot from deep with six three and led the way in points for the Royals with 21. Xander Tentinger hit three threes and scored eleven, while Mitchell Schnepf had seven rebounds and seven points. To round out the scoring for the Royals, Derek Goth had six points, Jace Colling had four points, Jonah Petersen had four points, and Preston Astidias had two points. Coach Cam Kuchel was very happy with how the boys played, “A game where we finally played 32 minutes of pretty sound basketball. We got out to an early lead then we were pretty even from there on out. Loved our poise at the end of the game handling their pressure and taking care of the basketball.” The Royals will play Akron-Westfield at Akron on Tuesday, January 18th. On Thursday the 20th they will play Kingsley-Pierson in Remsen. Please come and support the MMCRU boys as they head into the thick of their season!