Hot Rebels slow Raptors' roll

Things could not have gone any better for the Moose Lake/Willow River boys basketball team in their matchup against Carlton/Wrenshall Friday night. The Rebels shooting was beyond hot as they opened up a massive halftime lead on their way to an 84-40 win in Willow River.

"We had a big start to the game and shot the lights out," said Rebels coach Paul Dewey. "I was a little surprised, because we hadn't been shooting that well and then we came out in that first half and lit it up."

The Rebels rolled to a 52-20 lead and couldn't seem to do anything wrong against a good Carlton/Wrenshall squad.

"We used two timeouts in the first six minutes hoping to slow them down," said Raptors coach Shawn Filipiak. "They came out hot. They were physical, they made quick cuts off their screens and then added to that was that we came out super-cold and missed 20 shots by halftime."

The Rebels got a strong 1-2 offensive punch from Adam Neumann and Nolan Nelson, who both scored 21 points, while Luke Dewey and Eli Youngs were also in double-digit scoring with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

"Physically, we were a little stronger that night," coach Dewey said.

Luke Korpela was the lone scorer in double digits for the Raptors with 16.

"We just came into the game off a big win over Cromwell-Wright and the Rebels were hot. We were a shell of what we normally are," Filipiak said. "As the first half wore on, our guys got a bit deflated. Plain and simple, they outplayed us, but we'll come back and use this to get better."

Rounding out the scoring for the Rebels were Layne Radzak with 9 points, Kaden Robbins with 4 and Chase Clausen with 2 points.

"We are about where I thought we'd be prior to the season," Dewey said. "When we don't play selfishly, we can be a pretty good team."

Also scoring for the Raptors were Sam Ojiway with 6 points, Zander Rubesh and Jack Korpela with 5 points, and it was 2 points for Carter Woodall, Gavin LeBrasseur, Judah Sjodin and Uriah Loucks.

"There are peaks and valleys during a season and we saw the peak with a big win over Cromwell and now this tough loss to Moose Lake/Willow River," Filipiak said. "Overall, we're pleased with the season so far and now we need to rebound and try to pick up three big wins during the next week."

On Tuesday, the Raptors couldn't get by Ely, losing 66-56. The Rebels lost to Grand Rapids 73-65.

The Rebels were 12-4 heading into the weekend while the Raptors were 8-5.