By Skip Hunter –

When the Eagles traveled to Marshall last Saturday morning they knew that not just the weather and roads were going to give them a tough time that day, they also knew that the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights were going to give them a real tussle. The Eagles had lost to the Knights earlier in the year, and they hoped to avenge the defeat. However, RTR had only lost once this season, and seemed to have a lot of weapons.

All of those weapons were firing on Saturday. Shooters were hitting from all over the court, passes were finding their ways into shooters hands in good places, and even the weird bounces seemed to end up in the Knights hands. At the end, the Knights triumphed over the Eagles and ended their season by a 98 to 57 score.

After RTR scored first, Aiden Schaap got the ball to Jacob Uilk who splashed home a triple. RTR scored the next 10 points before Schaap found Ethan Sas open for 2 points. Sas scored again, this time using a Dawson Rieck pass. The Knights got a deuce, but Rieck found Trevin Prins open for 2 points. Uilk drove the lane for two to make the score 16-12 in the Knights favor.

The Knights scored 5 points before a Sas drive netted 2 for the Eagles. Schaap was johnny-on-the-spot to get an offensive putback. Jarett Kuipers passed to Prins to make the score 23-19. After an RTR bucket, Uilk made a nice drive and dish to Kuipers for 2 points. The Eagles had free throw woes throughout the game. In a stretch in the first half they were 3 for 5 with Kuipers scoring 1 and Rieck 2. Rieck made the score 32-26 with a drive to the hoop. The Eagles’ final 4 points of the first half were on an Uilk drive and 2 Sas charity tosses. RTR led 40-30 at the break.

Sometimes 10 points is not too big of a hurdle to climb; today it was. After Schaap made another putback shot, the Knights went on a 9-0 run before Rieck scored on a base line jumper and a drive. After the Knights had made the score 61-36, Kuipers went 1 for 2 from the line and also scored on a putback shot. However, 6 RTR points made the score 69-39.

Sas made it 40 with a free throw. The Eagles had a little 6-0 run with buckets by Kuipers (2) and Schaap. Schaap and Uilk provided Kuipers the assists, while Schaap scored after swiping the ball, getting it to Prins, who passed back to Schaap for a bucket. The score was 73-46 with 8:22 left in the game.