The Warren/Alvarado/Oslo Ponies hoped that the third time would be the charm on Monday night, when they hosted the KCC Bearcats in Section 8A Boy’s Basketball. Kittson County Central has won the previous two games, and the old adage that “it’s tough to beat a team 3-times” didn’t come into play as KCC rolled to a 55 to 31 win.
The Bearcats were led by Senior forward Zach Rynning who was strong on both ends of the floor. During stretches of the game Rynning was nearly un-stoppable: pouring in 28 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking 6 shots to lead his team to the win. The rest of the Bearcat team had balanced scoring, but also were able to get the ball into Rynning’s hands. Warren/Alvarado/Oslo did a good job limiting the high scoring Derek Coffield to just 8 points, but could not stop both Coffield and Rynning.
The Pony offense struggled all night against the inside play of Rynning and Blake Nelson. The WAO Ponies also struggled at the free-throw line hitting just 3 of 13 attempts.
The win improves the KCC Bearcat record to 15-and-6 (12-1 in 8A play). KCC is now off until Tuesday, February 21st at Warroad (8AA). The Bearcats will be looking to avenge a 5-point loss to the Warriors during the Roseau Tournament back on January 28th. While KCC Coach Chad Kujava admitted it will be nice to have a weeks rest before the Warroad game, he also noted that his team has been playing well and sometimes you just would like to keep playing. Since losing to Warroad the Bearcats have won four straight games and sit a-top the Section 8A West standings.
The WAO Ponies season record drops to 9-and-12 (7-8 in 8A) with the loss. WAO is right back in action tonight in another key Section 8A rivalry with the Stephen/Argyle Storm (15-5/10-3) in Warren. The Pony vs Storm game will be heard on KKDQ 99.3 FM, and also on-line atwww.trfradio.com. Pre-game approximately 7:15pm.
Scoring Summary
Kittson County Central
Zach Rynning – 28 points, 11 rebounds, 6 blocks
Derek Coffield – 8 points, 5 rebounds
Trevor Deere – 5 points, 4 rebounds
Blake Nelson – 4 points, 5 rebounds
Wyatt Johnson – 4 points, 4 rebounds
Blayne Davis – 2 points, 6 rebounds
Andrew Olsonawski – 2 points
Riley Davis – 1 point
Caleb Christianson – 1 point
Warren/Alvarado/Oslo
Zack Riopelle – 9 points, 9 rebounds
Jayvon O’Quinn – 5 points, 8 rebounds
Jon Hess – 5 points, 5 rebounds
Greg Schanil – 5 points, 4 rebounds
Danny Schmidt – 4 points, 3 rebounds
Matt Bergh – 2 points
Dillon Novak – 1 point
