By Skip Hunter –

The SWC boys finished out a busy week of basketball at SWC with a Section 3A South subsection game against the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights. The Knights were a young team with a 12-6 record and had the fourth seed in the section. RTR has a similar philosophy as the Eagles as they get up and down the court in a hurry and like to shoot the three. However, they have no one inside with the prowess of Hunter Vander Haar.

After a slow start, the Eagles led 29-28 with 3:54 left in the first half, the teams scored a combined 21 points in those last 4 minutes, and the Eagles led at the break 42-36. The Eagles outscored the Knights 50-32 in the second half and took away a 92- 68 victory.

After Anika Dyk favored us with the national anthem, the referee tossed up the ball and the game was on. The Eagles scored first with a fast break bucket by Zach Prins using a Micah Schaap feed. RTR knotted the score up at 2 before Vander Haar put back his own missed shot. Carter Van Hulzen scored next using a Dawson Rieck pass. After the visitors hit a bucket, Schaap was fouled while shooting and made 1 of 2 free throws. The quick junior was lightning fast to the bucket all game and scored 14 on a variety of drives. The next Eagle points were a trey by Van Hulzen using a Schaap feed.

After RTR tied the score at 10, Van Hulzen tipped a Knight pass, Schaap picked it up and cruised to the bucket for a deuce. RTR went ahead 14-13, but Vander Haar made a nice spin move in the low post and scored. The Eagles went ahead 17-16 with a Prins trey assisted by Vander Haar. Rieck got a pass to Cole Walhof to make the score 19-16 with 10:20 left in the half.

The Eagles answered a Knight bucket with one by Van Hulzen from beyond the arc. Cody Van’t Hof provided the pass after Vander Haar grabbed an offensive rebound. The teams traded points with Van’t Hof passing to Van Hulzen for the Eagles bucket. Two RTR treys gave them a 28-24 lead. Rieck found Walhof for 2 points, and then it was Schaap to Walhof. Walhof was fouled but made both free throws. Van Hulzen added a free throw to give the Eagles a 29-28 lead.

Schaap hit a mid-range jumper followed by an RTR bucket. The Eagles answered with a Rieck drive for 2, but RTR tied the score at 33 with a trey. Van Hulzen splashed home 2 triples using feeds from Schaap. After another Knight 3-ball, Prins scored from beyond the arc using a Walhof feed to give the Eagles a 42-36 advantage at the break.

Once the teams heated up, they stayed hot. The Eagles won the second half 50-32. Vander Haar opened the scoring after swiping the ball. RTR came back with a bucket, but the Eagles worked hard on the offensive boards and after a flurry of missed shots, Rieck fed the senior points for another two points. The Eagles then hit a pair of treys with Rieck and Van Hulzen each scoring from deep using passes from Prins and Schaap. The Eagles stayed active on defense as well. On one possession Schaap tipped the ball away from a Knight, Jacob Raak finished off the steal and scored. The Eagles scored in a variety of ways. On one possession Van Hulzen sank a baby hook and Rieck ended a drive with a nice dipsy-doo shot to make the score 58-44 with 12:01 left in the contest.