Tenacious D: Rebels show off their depth in a wire-to-wire win over L-P

Published 9:55 pm Monday, January 15, 2024

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ADAMS – The Rebels showed why they were one of the deepest teams in the area as they came at Lyle-Pacelli in waves en route to a 78-38 win in a boys basketball game Friday night.

Southland opened the game on an 11-3 run and that lead was up to 47-20 early in the second half.

Thirteen total players scored in the win for the Rebels (9-2 overall) and Noah Goergen was the only one to reach double-figures as he hit four three-pointers on his way to 20 points.

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“We run two waves of 10 and there’s not much difference between our first five and our second five,” Southland head coach Scott Koenigs said. “We can have a different scorer every night. They’ve really bought into it and they don’t care how many points they score, they just want to win.”

Koenigs asks all of his players to play high-pressure, intense defense and to move the ball on offense. Goergen was the beneficiary on offense on Monday, but he knows that trying to guess Southland’s leading scorer is like picking the winner of a game of musical chairs. It can be anyone on a given night.

“There’s no real selfishness on the team and we know that each one of our players can play,” Goergen said. “There’s no real discrepancy between who’s the best. We’re all teammates.”

Goergen worked on his ball handling this offseason which helped him give Southland point guard Jonas Wiste a little break. Wiste finished with five points, seven assists, two steals and five rebounds against L-P and he embraces the role of playmaker.

“You’ve just got to trust in one another. We know that everyone can hit shots and they can turn it on whenever they need too. You’ve got to trust your teammates and it’s kind of and I’ll scratch my back and you’ll scratch mine kind of deal,” Wiste said. “Last year when we played Lyle, we had the slow tempo and I held the ball 80 percent of the time. It was so tiring. Having Noah help me out back there has helped me out a lot.”

Dylan Christianson gave L-P (5-7 overall) a solid effort in the paint as he finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Lyle-Pacelli 19  19  –  38

Southland 39  39  –  78

Southland scoring: Noah Goergen, 20; Nick Edland, 9; Maverick Hanna, 7; Travis Kirtz, 6; Sam Boe, 6; Andrew Timm, 6; Jonas Wiste, 5; Gavin Nelsen, 4; Micah Johnson, 3; Cole Miller, 3; Kaleb Yunker, 2; Tate Goergen, 2; Riley Jax, 2

LP scoring: Dylan Christianson, 14; Landon Meyer, 12; Chase Bauer, 8; Logyn Brooks, 2; Andrew Frederick, 2