The Stephen/Argyle Storm 6-game winning streak came to an end on Friday night in Hallock. The KCC Bearcats bested the Storm 57 to 41 in a key Section 8A West and 7-Star conference showdown.
The Storm came into the game riding a 6 game winning streak, benefited somewhat by a favorable schedule. Since January 1, Stephen/Argyle had played 8 of their last 9 games at home. So Friday night’s game was a key road test for the Storm, and a chance of redemption, against a KCC Bearcat team that beat the Storm 61-47 back on January 6th.
The Storm took the initial lead on a Blake Labine jumper about :90 seconds into the game, but the Bearcats’ Derek Coffield would answer with a 3-pointer moments later to put KCC in the lead for the rest of the contest. Kittson County Central got a very strong first half from Coffield (15 pts.) and a second half that was dominated by Zach Rynning (13 pts.). KCC built a 20-point lead early in the second half and held off a Storm, who closed with-in 10, to win their 13th games of the season.
Stephen/Argyle struggled offensively, missing several early shots, including a handful of un-contested lay-ups. The 3-pointer also didn’t fall for the Storm, which in turn led to the Bearcats dominance in the paint.
The win improves Kittson County Central to 13-and-6 on the season. The Bearcats win keeps them on-top of the conference standings. KCC returns to action on Thursday, February 9th with a key Section road game against Goodridge/Grygla.
The loss drops the Storm to 14-and-5 on the season. Stephen/Argyle is on the road against Park Christian for their next game on Friday, February 10th.
Scoring Summary
Kittson County Central
Zach Rynning – 21 points, 11 rebounds
Derek Coffield – 20 points, 8 rebounds
Blake Nelson – 7 points, 6 rebounds
Blayne Davis – 3 points, 2 rebounds
Wyatt Johnson – 2 points, 4 rebounds
Trevor Deere – 2 points, 2 rebounds
Riley Davis – 2 points, 1 rebound
Stephen/Argyle Central
Blake LaBine – 10 points, 8 rebounds
Luke Yutrzenka – 8 points, 4 rebounds
Owen Ellefson – 7 points, 3 rebounds
Daniel Haugen – 6 points, 6 rebounds
Connor Yutrzenka – 5 points
Donley Gryskiewicz – 3 points, 3 rebounds
Jared Rivard – 2 points, 4 rebounds
7-Star Conference Standings
Kittson County Central 6-1
Northern Freeze 6-3
Stephen-Argyle 5-3
Goodridge/Grygla 4-3
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo 2-4
BGMR 2-6
Lake of the Woods 0-5
Section 8A – West Standings
Stephen-Argyle 10-3 14-5
Fertile-Beltrami 7-4 10-5
Northern Freeze 8-4 11-4
Kittson County Central 10-1 13-6
Goodridge/Grygla 8-5 10-6
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo 6-7 8-11
Badger/Greenbush-MR 7-8 9-10
Red Lake County 5-9 6-10
Win-E-Mac 6-7 6-11
Climax/Fisher 1-8 3-13
Sacred Heart 0-14 1-17
