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Zebras take control with 22-2 first-half run
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WABASH — Paul Leasure scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the third quarter, and Luke Hunting and Brock Bowers also scored in double figures for the Rochester boys basketball team as they garnered a 57-41 win over host Northfield at Kaltenmark Gymnasium Saturday.
Luke Hunting added 12 points, six of which came as part of a 22-2 run that covered the first and second quarters and turned a 7-2 deficit into a 24-9 lead. Bowers hit three 3-pointers and had 11.
Leasure finished the game four points away from 1,000 for his career.
Owen Prater added eight points off the Rochester bench. Tanner Reinartz and Aidan Smith tied for team high honors in rebounds with six. Rochester led by as many as 24 points in the third quarter.
Senior forward Eli Kroh led Northfield with 21 points.
Rochester improved to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in the Three Rivers Conference. They also beat Northfield for the sixth consecutive year.
Northfield fell to 5-12, 2-5.
Though Rochester had 18 turnovers as compared to Northfield’s 12, it was Rochester’s halfcourt trap in the second quarter that seemed to bother the Norsemen.
“The guys did a good job on the fly,” Rochester coach Rob Malchow said. “When we went to our pressure packages, they did a good job at that point. We didn’t really talk about how we were going to switch things up before the game. We just went with it, and when we called it out, the guys communicated, jumped into it, and I think really about mid-first quarter on, we had them on their heels most of the game, and that was good to see.”
Northfield coach Rex Reimer identified Rochester’s pressure as the turning point.
“I think it was their halfcourt trap,” Reimer said. “I think that kind of took them by surprise, and they turned us over and got some easy baskets on their end. We tried to adjust to it, but we couldn't recover. Once Rochester got the lead, we just couldn’t come back from it.”
The 22-2 run started with a Leasure putback, a Hunting 15-footer and a Leasure pullup 15-footer just before the first-quarter buzzer. That put the Zebras ahead for good at 8-7.
A Hunting putback, a Bowers trey from the left of the key, a Hunting putback of his own miss and another Bowers 3 off a Tanner Reinartz assist made it 18-7 and led to a Northfield timeout.
Tyson Baer found Kroh for a layup for Northfield, but Leasure and Prater hit treys as the lead reached 24-9.
Rochester led 30-17 at halftime and started the second half on a 15-4 run. Leasure had eight points in the third quarter, scoring on three midrange jumpers and a transition bucket. Smith scored in transition, Hunting scored on another putback, and Prater drilled another 3 as the lead got to 45-21.
“For the most part, we’re taking care of business against the teams that we need to,” Malchow said.
But securing the ball will also need to improve as Northfield narrowed the lead to 48-35 on a Kroh putback with 5:59 left.
“Our turnovers were as much self-induced as it was them,” Malchow said. “Several times, we caught the ball and didn’t jump-stop, and they called travel against us. It’s just one of those things where we’ve got to take care of the ball better. Their pressure was solid, but we’ve seen better pressure. We’ve just got to do a better job of it.”
Rochester also took the JV game 41-26. Jonas Kiser scored eight points for Rochester, Drew Bowers and Grant Clark had seven each, Bryce Baugher had six, Xavier Vance had four, Davis Renie had three, and Carson Paulik, Jack Reffett and Prater had two each.
Rochester 57, Northfield 41
ROCHESTER (57) (9-6, 3-3)
Paul Leasure 8 3-4 20, Aidan Smith 2 0-0 4, Brock Bowers 4 0-0 11, Tanner Reinartz 1 0-0 2, Luke Hunting 5 2-2 12, Drew Bowers 0 0-0 0, Ethan Medina 0 0-0 0, Luke Malchow 0 0-0 0, Owen Prater 3 0-0 8, Bryce Baugher 0 0-0 0, Xavier Vance 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 23 5-6 57
NORTHFIELD (41) (5-12, 2-5)
Carter Rodgers 2 1-1 6, Easton Shaw 0 0-1 0, Dillon Tomlinson 2 1-2 5, Tyson Baer 2 2-2 7, Eli Kroh 7 7-10 21, Jake Perney 0 0-0 0, Isaac Burkhart 0 0-0 0, Jaden Baer 0 0-0 0, Parker Oswalt 0 0-0 0, Joseph Delgado 0 0-0 0, Noah Burkhart 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 14 11-16 41
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 6 (B. Bowers 3, Prater 2, Leasure),
Northfield 2 (T. Baer, Rodgers)
Total fouls: Rochester 16, Northfield 9
Turnovers: Rochester 18, Northfield 12
Score by quarters
Rochester 8 22 18 9 – 57
Northfield 7 10 13 11 – 41
JV: Rochester 41, Northfield 26
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