Vikings rally past SW Christian, 74-68

Minneota rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to upend Southwest Minnesota Christian 74-68 in a non-conference game Thursday night in Edgerton.
Ryan Dalager notched his third straight 20-plus points game, finishing with a team-high 21 points and five steals for the Vikings (11-2).
"Ryan is playing with a lot of confidence now," said Minneota coach Chad Johnston. "He's taking some of the shots that he was passing up earlier in the year because he has more confidence in them now."
Max Rost had 14 points, six assists and four steals for the Vikings; Peyton Sheik had 13 points and nine rebounds; Lucas Rybinski chipped in 12 points; Sawyer DeSmet finished with eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds; and Lincoln Jerzak tossed in six points.
The first half was close throughout and the lead exchanged hands several times when Johnston, questioning a 6-0 discrepancy in the number of fouls called, was whistled for a technical foul with around three minutes left.
"The way the game was going, I thought six to nothing on foul calls was ridiculous," Johnston stated. "Then we were called for a foul that I didn't think should have been called and they turned it into a three-point play."
When the official strolled past the Minneota bench, Johnston said "That one is on you" and was assessed a technical foul.
After receiving that technical, Johnston sarcastically remarked to the official, "That's a good call" and was immediately whistled for another technical, with the official declaring "You're out of here."
It was the first ejection of Johnston's long history of coaching varsity football, girls' basketball and boys' basketball.
Southwest Christian then cashed in on the technical free throws to build a 42-34 halftime lead.
According to Johnston, there were no curse words used.
"Yeah, I was mad but I didn't swear," he said. "I've said worse than that before in a game and not been "T'd up."
Johnston then sat in the hallway outside of the gymnasium during the second half. When informed that the team had taken a four-point lead in the second half, he watched the rest of the game via livestream on his phone.
"Our 2-1-1 press that we started from the get-go forced some turnovers in the second half and allowed us to get ahead," he said. "It was a good game for us, probably our biggest win so far this year."
Southwest Christian (9-4) was led by 6-4 junior forward Trevin Prins with 26 points. Gavin Reick, a 6-2 junior forward, hit six of 10 three-pointers and finished with 18 points.

Minneota 74, Southwest Christian 68   
Southwest MN Christian...........................42 26 - 68
Minneota...................................................34 40 - 74

Team Statistics
FG shooting: SW Christian 26-for-61, 42.6 percent; Minneota 28-for-71, 39.4 percent ... 3-point shooting: SW Christian 11-for-28, 39.3 percent; Minneota 10-for-28, 35.7 percent ... FT shooting: SW Christian 5-for-9, 55.6 percent; Minneota 8-for-11, 72.7 percent ... Rebounds: SW Christian 34, Minneota 33 ... Turnovers: SW Christian 18, Minneota 13 ... Fouls: SW Christian 10, Minneota 15

SW Christian Statistics
Scoring (fgm-fga, ftm-fta, pts): Nathan Brands 2-3 2-3 6, Grant Basker 1-7 0-0 3, Trevin Prins 10-22 3-4 26, Gavin Reick 6-10 0-0 18, Caden Sas 0-2 0-0 0, Aidan Schaap 3-9 0-2 6, Joshua Van Dam 4-8 0-0 9 ... 3-pointers: Reick 6. Prins 3, Basker 1, Van Dam 1 ... Rebound leaders: Prins 8, Schaap 8 ... Assist leader: Brands 4 ... Steal leader: 5 tied with 1 each

Minneota Statistics
Scoring (fgm-fga, ftm-fta, pts): Ryan Dalager 8-18 0-0 21, Sawyer DeSmet 4-4 0-0 8, Lincoln Jerzak 3-11 0-0 6, Tate Peterson 0-1 0-0 0, Max Rost 4-19 6-8 14, Lucas Rybinski 4-6 2-3 12, Peyton Sheik 5-12 0-0 13 ... 3-pointers: Dalager 5, Sheik 3, Rybinski 2 ... Rebounds: DeSmet 14, Sheik 9, Dalager 5, Jerzak 2, Rost 2, Rybinski 1 ... Assists: Rost 6, Dalager 5, DeSmet 3, Rybinski 3, Sheik 3, Jerzak 1, Peterson 1 ... Steals: Dalager 5, Rost 4, DeSmet 1, Rybinski 1, Sheik 1

(Result Tuesday, Jan. 9)
Minneota 84, RCW 52
Max Rost had 22 points and Ryan Dalager had 20 as Minneota routed Renville County West 84-52 in a Camden Conference game last Tuesday.
The Vikings (10-2), who drained a dozen of their 29 three-point attempts, shot a robust 46 percent from the floor.
As has been the norm throughout the season, the Vikings again got scoring from numerous players. Sawyer DeSmet added 13 points and 12 rebounds, Lucas Rybinski had 11 points, Peyton Sheik nine, and Tate Peterson eight.
Rost connected on 9 of 18 shots, including a trio of three-pointers. Dalager made 6 of 9 treys and 7 of 10 shots overall. Also shooting over 50 percent from the field was DeSmet, who made 6 of 9 shots, and Sheik, who made 4 of 7 shots.
The Vikings only trailed once in the game, 5-3, but then went on a 10-0 run and the rout was on.
Minneota took a 43-23 halftime lead.
Ryan Schrupp paced the Jaguars (1-9) with 20 points. Jon Driggs finished with 10 points, Joe Valdovinos with nine and Javin Mungai with seven.

MINNEOTA 84, RENVILLE COUNTY WEST 52   
Renville County West...............................23 29 - 52
Minneota...................................................43 41 - 84

Team Statistics
FG shooting: RCW 21-for-65, 32.3 percent; Minneota 33-for-72, 45.8 percent ... 3-point shooting: RCW 6-for-29, 20.7 percent; Minneota 12-for-29, 41.4 percent ... FT shooting: RCW 4-for-5, 80.0 percent; Minneota 6-for-16, 37.5 percent ... Rebounds: RCW 32, Minneota 39 ... Turnovers: RCW 16, Minneota 17 ... Fouls: RCW 16, Minneota 12

RCW Statistics
Scoring (fgm-fga, ftm-fta, pts): David Arizmendi 0-2 0-0 0, Jon Driggs 4-10 0-1 10, Wayne Fuentes 0-2 0-0 0, Fenton Gehrke 0-0 0-0 0, Braylon Hinderks 2-5 0-0 4, Brayden Klaassen 0-1 0-0 0, Calele Legare 1-4 0-0 2, Javin Mungai 3-7 0-0 7, Ryan Schrupp 7-20 4-4 20, Joe Valdovinos 4-10 0-0 9, Jack Wertish 0-4 0-0 0 ... 3-pointers: Driggs 2, Schrupp 2, Mungai 1, Valdovinos 1 ... Rebound leaders: Driggs 7, Hinderks 7 ... Assist leader: Mungai 4 ... Steal leader: Valdovinos 3

Minneota Statistics
Scoring (fgm-fga, ftm-fta, pts): Grant Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Dalager 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Dalager 7-10 0-0 20, Sawyer DeSmet 6-9 1-3 13, Lincoln Jerzak 0-4 1-2 1, Brody Larson 0-0 0-0 0, Tate Peterson 3-13 2-5 8, Max Rost 9-18 1-3 22, Lucas Rybinski 4-11 1-2 11, Peyton Sheik 4-7 0-1 9 ... 3-pointers: Dalager 6, Rost 3, Rybinski 2, Sheik 1 ... Rebounds: DeSmet 12, Sheik 7, R.Dalager 6, Jerzak 5, Peterson 3, Rost 3, A.Dalager 1, Larson 1, Rybinski 1 ... Assists: R.Dalager 7, Rost 7, Rybinski 6, Jerzak 4, DeSmet 3, Peterson 1, Sheiik 1 ... Steals: Dalager 3, DeSmet 2, Jerzak 2, A.Dalager 1, Peterson 1, Rost 1, Rybinski 1, Sheik 1