Prep Basketball: CMR boys defeat Billings Senior
The C.M. Russell High boys played possibly their worst quarter of basketball offensively in the third quarter Saturday.
They followed that up with their best, rolling out to a 25-10 run in the final eight minutes in a 52-42 triumph over Billings Senior in the regular-season finale for both squads at the Paris Gibson Education Center Gym.
"It came down close, and our defense really won the game for us at the end," Rustler guard Karl Tucker II said. The 6-1 junior led all scorers with 19 points, the majority coming from the free throw line, where he was 10-for-13.
"Coach has always been telling us that to win games, we have to play defense," Tucker added. "So we really stepped it up defensively, kept them from getting into the paint.
"They only scored 42 points, so that's a pretty good win."
The Rustlers (2-10 Eastern AA, 5-15 overall) led by two, 26-24, at the break, and came out attacking the rim in the third. They only scored one point.
Senior got into some serious foul trouble in that same quarter, thanks to that CMR defense. They only scored eight.
"At least in the third we were attacking the rim, and Senior got some fouls called against them," CMR coach John Cislo said. "Then in the fourth, we went to the free throw line a lot because of us attacking the rim, which was good, and made a few shots at the end and was able to pull it out."
Senior led 32-27 after three, but a Tucker free throw gave Russell a 41-40 lead with 2:40 left, and the Rustlers never trailed again. Chris Moore sank the back end of a two-shot foul opportunity, then Yancy Gagne drilled a 3-pointer that effectively let all the air out of the Broncs' balloon.
"I kind of struggled shooting the ball today," Tucker, who takes a lot of pride in his free throw shooting, admitted.
"Karl played great in the fourth, played eight minutes with four fouls," Cislo said. "Yancy did some nice things in the post, and I thought he did a good job defending number 21 (Senior post Mac Turner, who led the Broncs with 15 points before fouling out). Yancy did a good job playing him the way we wanted him to play him and limited him offensively compared to our last game.
"And I think Trevor Pepin played his tail off this entire weekend," Cislo added. The 6-foot junior had seven points and outstanding defense coming off the bench.
The season isn't over for the Rustlers; not by a long shot. There's a trip to the Class AA State Tournament riding on this game, which will be in Bozeman tentatively slated for Tuesday at 6 p.m.
"Bozeman is not an easy customer, they beat us by 20-30 points both times," Cislo said. "We're going to have to go out and be solid on defense."