Rebels shut down Falcons

Published 11:27 pm Friday, December 2, 2011

The Southland boys basketball team opened its season playing solid defense as it beat Wabasha-Kellogg (0-1 overall, 0-1 Three Rivers) 50-31 in Wabasha Friday.

The Rebels (1-0 overall, 1-0 Three Rivers) didn’t score a lot of points, but Southland head coach Jon Thalberg said it wasn’t because they ran a poor offense.

“We took a lot of good shots tonight,” he said. “We just didn’t make a lot. We weren’t forcing shots, but there was just a lid on the basket.”

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Junior forward Mike Goergen had 15 points and nine rebounds for Southland and junior guard Nick Schmitz added 16 points.

“Our defense was superb,” Thalberg said. “Our focus this year is the less we allow, the less we’ll have to score.”

Southland scoring: Nick Schmitz, 16; Mike Goergen, 15; Decker Bendtsen, 11; Jake Frodl, 4; Marcus Johnson, 2; Chris Wolff, 2; free throws: 64 percent (9-for-14)