Tribe downs Central, Charles City

at Central...

Although the Indians didn’t have a peak performance Tuesday, Feb. 15 at Central, the Tribe still hung on to take a 58-54 nonconference victory.

Central got on the board first and by the end of the first frame had taken a 15-11 advantage over the visiting Indians.

Waukon began to turn the contest around in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors 18-11 through the next eight minutes to score a 29-26 lead by the half.

Central regained a 30-29 lead early in the third, however the Indians rallied to register a 41-33 advantage midway through the period. Scoring slowed in the remaining minutes and Waukon carried a 43-33 lead with just one frame left to play.

The Warriors chipped into the Tribe’s lead, however they couldn’t come any closer than the final margin, 58-54.

Coach Don Kuennen had worried his charges might have a let down after upsetting Waverly-Shell Rock the Friday before. “I’d feared a little bit of a mental letdown and I think that’s what we got,” the coach said.

Kuennen pointed to the Warriors for causing some of the Indians’ problems. “I credit Elkader for making a good game. They’ve got a couple of nice players and shot the ball very well in the first half. They made the game pretty interesting at the end.”

Defense allowed the Indians to take the lead in the latter portions of the game. “In the second half, we defended a lot better,” Kuennen mentioned.

Free throw shooting caused woes for the Tribe, too. The Indians landed half of their free shots, going 12-for-24 at the charity stripe, much less than the 73 percent Waukon had posted in its three most recent contests.

“We had a lot of trouble at the free throw line in the fourth quarter,” Kuennen said. “We were only 9-for-19 in the fourth. If we had hit our normal percentage, we would’ve won easily.”

Senior forward Joe Miller had a stellar night with 24 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.

Junior guard Ben Rausch ended with 12 points and eight rebounds while sophomore forward Ryan Jones registered 12 points and a pair of blocks.

Senior forward Kendal Sickels picked up four steals.

WAUKON FG FT PF TP

Mike Rausch 0 0-0 1 0

Ben Rausch 4 3-8 2 12

John Seibert 0 0-0 1 0

Joe Miller 10 3-4 3 24

Dylan Schulte 1 0-0 1 2

Jeremy Hirth 0 1-4 4 1

Ryan Jones 5 2-2 4 12

Kendal Sickels 1 1-4 2 3

Russell ReVoir 1 2-2 0 4

TOTAL 22 12-24 18 58

3-point goals: B. Rausch, Miller

central FG FT PF TP

Dan Bauder 4 3-4 4 14

Tyler Camp 0 0-0 0 0

Andy Hauber 0 0-0 0 0

Tom Murray 1 0-0 4 2

Dumitru Beck 0 0-0 0 0

Mike Beck 2 0-0 3 4

Pat Grau 4 1-2 4 9

Derek Bergan 3 0-1 2 7

Jake Wilke 7 2-6 3 16

Cody Dreyer 1 0-0 1 2

TOTAL 22 6-13 21 54

3-point goals: Bauder (3); Bergan

vs. Charles City...

Avenging an earlier loss was on top of the Indians’ minds Friday, Feb. 18, as NEIC foe Charles City came to town. Waukon was able to hand the league’s other orange and black team a 58-42 loss, but the win came with a price as Ben Rausch finished the game - and likely the season - early with a knee injury late in the game.

Waukon struck early from long distance, with Rausch tying the tally at 3-3 to get the Indians on the board. The triple trend continued in the first with the Tribe sinking five total - two each by Rausch and Miller and another by sophomore guard Mike Rausch - as the Indians took an 18-14 edge after eight minutes of play.

Charles City fought to take the lead in the second, opening the period on a 7-2 run to go up 21-20. Jones sank a three-pointer, but the score remained tight for the remainder of the half, when the Indians held a 31-28 lead.

Third quarter action belonged solely to the Tribe. The Indians added 12 points to their tally while managing to keep the Comets in check until the final ten seconds, when Bryant Estlund sank his third three-pointer of the night to make the score 43-31.

Charles City’s Greg Offerman made a run in the fourth, scoring all six points for the Comets in a 6-2 run, but the Tribe still maintained a ten-point lead. For the Indians, however, the worst was yet to come.

With five minutes left on the clock, Ben Rausch broke for a basket, but hit the floor after being fouled on the shot, quieting a previously noisy gym. Competition was put on hold about 20 minutes before Rausch finally left the school with emergency personnel.

With their ailing teammate in the back of their mind, the Indians still had a game to finish. Fouls riddled the final few minutes, allowing the Indians ample attempts from the charity stripe. Waukon landed a total of 13 free throws in the fourth to keep the Comets at bay and take the NEIC win.

With the exception of the loss of Ben Rausch, Kuennen was pleased with the night overall. “I was extremely pleased with the way our team competed after Charles City had beat us pretty handily at their place.”

Defensively and on the glass, the Indians played as well as they have all season. Waukon took a 29-25 advantage on the boards. The Tribe also registered eight steals and helped the Comets commit 16 turnovers. “At halftime we were concerned that we were giving up too many easy shots and letting Charles City shoot too many free throws,” Kuennen explained. “So we changed up our defense and the guys executed a 2-3 zone extremely well in the second half, in fact we almost shut them out in the third.”

Keeping Charles City’s offense in check isn’t necessarily easy to do. “Charles City is an extremely good shooting team. Fortunately for us, they didn’t shoot the ball real well against us,” Kuennen noted.

In fact, the Indians were able to hold a pair of shooters - Josh Molstead and Brad Sloter - to just two points each, well below their averages. “Both of these guys average in double figures and Molstead leads the conference by far in threes and we were able to shut him out,” the coach mentioned.

Ben Rausch’s 19 points led the Indians. His brother Mike ended the night with 14 points while Jones added 13 and Miller poured in ten. “I was pleased with the balanced scoring we had. I think this is the first time this year we’ve had four guys reach double digits,” Kuennen noted. “We were very hot in the first quarter with five threes. We shot the ball real well.”

As far as Rausch’s knee, Kuennen said there is no official diagnosis yet, however it looks like the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and possibly medial collateral ligament (MCL), has been damaged. Kuennen mentioned that Rausch will have the knee checked later this week.

The coach added, “Losing Ben is a major obstacle for our team to overcome. We rely on Ben for a lot of things, including breaking pressure. We’re not just going to miss his 15 points per game, but also his ballhandling and ability to attack a pressure defense. I’m glad he’s a junior and still has another year to play. I’m sure he’ll be busy rehabilitating as soon as possible. He’s the type of guy that will do whatever it takes to get back because he loves to play.”

He also issued a challenge to his charges. “It’s not a matter of any one person stepping in to fill Ben’s shoes. It has to be a collective team effort.”

Kuennen pointed out that he didn’t have to look far to find a player willing to step up Friday night. Mike Rausch sank six important free throws in the waning minutes of the contest. “I think Mike probably had his best overall game Friday night,” Kuennen added.

Miller capped out a nice all-around game with five rebounds, three blocks, five assists, and two steals.

Sophomore forward Jeremy Hirth contributed ten rebounds and two steals.

Mike and Ben Rausch finished with three assists each.

WAUKON FG FT PF TP

Mike Rausch 3 7-11 4 14

Ben Rausch 5 6-7 2 19

John Seibert 0 0-1 1 0

Joe Miller 4 0-4 4 10

Dylan Schulte 0 0-0 1 0

Jeremy Hirth 1 0-0 3 2

Ryan Jones 4 4-6 1 13

Kendal Sickels 0 0-0 1 0

Russell ReVoir 0 0-0 0 0

Andrew Snitker 0 0-0 1 0

TOTAL 17 17-29 18 58

3-point goals: B. Rausch (3); Miller, Jones (2); M. Rausch

charles city FG FT PF TP

Bryant Estlund 3 1-2 3 10

Brandon Rippentrop 1 2-2 5 4

Brad Sloter 1 0-2 2 2

Drew Thorson 0 0-0 1 0

Joe Wiltse 0 0-0 2 0

Josh Molstead 1 0-0 3 2

Eric Miller 0 5-6 5 5

Brian Fox 3 1-1 1 7

Greg Offerman 5 2-3 2 12

Chase Meusel 0 0-0 1 0

TOTAL 14 11-16 25 42

3-point goals: Estlund (3)

All that remained on the Indians’ regular season calendar was Tuesday night’s contest at Decorah-North Winn. Waukon begins tournament action Monday, Feb. 28. The Tribe heads back to Decorah for a rematch with the Vikings. Play will start at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the Thursday, March 3 district final against the winner of the Crestwood/New Hampton contest at 7 p.m. at Luther College.