Loyola 51, USC 41

Published 9:03 am Friday, December 19, 2008

The United South Central boys basketball team had a long ride home last night after lossing ot their neighbors to the north, Mankato Loyola.

“We got off to a slow start offensively,” head coach Rob Stevermer said. “And we just had to many turnovers early on in the game.”

The Rebels turned the ball over 12 times in the game but most of them came in the first half.

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Jake Sonnek was the only Rebel who was in double figures with 12 points. Sonnek also went 4-for-7 from the foul line.

USC was able to out rebound Loyola 32-26 but it was Loyola’s 86 percent free-throw shooting that kept them in the game giving them the 10-point spread at the end of the game.

USC was able to keep it close through much of the second half as they were within two points with 10 minutes to go.

“We just couldn’t get up on them later in the game,” Stevermer said.

Sonnek, Stenzel and Swearingen accounted for 27 of the Rebels’ 41 points with seven of those points coming from free throws.

The Rebels play Friday against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton in Janesville.

Loyola 51, USC 41

USC 20 21– 41

Loyola 27 24– 51

USC scoring: Jake Sonnek 12, Riley Stenzel 8, Riley Swearingen 7, Matt Stiernagle 4, Taylor Ovrebo 2, William Huper 4, Kyle Bauman 2, Nick Fure 2

Mankato Loyola scoring: Trieu Ho 14, DJ Wesley 9, Jackson Bartlett 8, Bo Schmidt, Toby Turbes 8, Rob Tanoff 7