WORTHINGTON -- If there was any doubt about the top-seeeded Southwest Christian's boys' basketball team ability to dominate, it's gone after a 77-53 win over No. 5 seed Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in the Section 3A-South semifinals Thursday in Worthington.
From Zach Huisken's two free throws to make it 2-0 SWC (24-1) to Kaleb Schelhaas' layup to make it 77-53, the Eagles led throughout the game with no hint of slowing down.
It was the polar opposite of the Eagles' 61-58 victory over Hills-Beaver Creek.
"We didn't like the way things turned out for us on Saturday (versus H-BC)," SWC coach Jamie Pap said. "We won the game, but we weren't satisfied.
"We wanted to prove that if teams were going to play us in zone, we weren't only going to rely on the three ball and that we could attack the zone. I thought we did a great job of it early. We attacked that zone."
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SWC came out of the gates with a 31-12 run to start things off and the Eagles used every weapon to do so. Eric Talsma (15 points) had nine points, Dominic Nibbelink (16 points) had eights points and Huisken (19 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocks, three assists) and Andrew Top (12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks) each had six points during the opening spurt for the Eagles.
"Defensively against H-BC we were missing our rotations," Huisken said. "It was a big goal for us this game to come out firing on all cylinders and I think we did a very good job with that.
"We worked hard for it this season and we deserved (the top seed). This shows our determination and discipline and how bad we want it."
The SWC defense never gave R-T-R a chance to breathe. The Knights' leading scorer, Brett Peterson, who averages over 20 points a game, was held to 12 points on the game.
SWC took a 38-24 lead into the break and came out the second half just as hot, opening the second frame on a 13-6 run behind four points each from Klint Knutson and Nibbelink to push the lead to 51-30.
From there, SWC used a 9-5 run to push the lead to 25 -- the Eagles' biggest lead of the contest -- behind four points from Talsma.
"I just try to play my position and do what I can to help the team," Talsma said. "I don't feel like I have to do everything because we have a lot of other good players.
"I don't think we have to prove anything. We just knew we had to play better after (the H-BC game). We felt like we had to come out better if we wanted to keep on winning. After the Hills game, we got in the right mindset."
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After the 9-5 run, R-T-R (18-9) never got the lead below 20 points, as SWC cruised to the sub-section championship Saturday at 6 p.m. at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall versus Ellsworth.
"I don't care who we play, I'm just glad we play Saturday," Pap said before knowing whether SWC's opponent would be Fulda or Ellsworth. "Whoever we play, we're going to have to drag them off the floor because they aren't going to want to go away."
Southwest Christian is 2-0 versus rival Ellsworth this season, defeating the Panthers 74-64 Dec. 19 and 77-75 Jan. 17.
R-T-R 24 29 -- 53
SWC 38 39 -- 77
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Kor 1-3-2-11, DeRuyter 0-5-1-11, Vercruysse 0-2-0-4, Peterson 0-4-4-12, King 0-4-3-11, Madsen 1-0-1-4. Total 2-18-11-53.
Southwest Christian (3FG-2FG-FT-TP)
Huisken 1-6-4-19, Nibbelink 2-3-4-16, Top 1-2-5-12, Talsma 0-7-1-15, Knutson 0-4-0-8, Sampson 1-1-0-5, Schelhaas 0-1-0-2. Total 5-24-14
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Daily Globe Sports Editor Chris Murphy can be reached at 376-7328.
