RENVILLE - A hot start for Justin Schrupp and Renville County West couldn't hold up on Tuesday night.
Schrupp buried seven 3-pointers in the first half as the Jaguars held a lead going into halftime, but No. 7 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton had the final say in a 75-63 win at RCW High School.
Knights forward Westin Kirk matched Schrupp for a game-high with 24 points as RTR outscored the Jaguars 35-21 in the second half.
Schrupp came out scorching the bottom of the net, hitting his first seven 3-point attempts of the game before halftime. Four of those came in the first in the first six minutes as RCW held a 19-5 lead with 12:12 to go in the half.
The fierce full-court pressure of the Knights quickly got them back in the game, however, as they rattled off 12 consecutive points as a part of a 19-3 run over 3:37 to claim a 24-22 lead.
ADVERTISEMENT
While the Jaguars battled back to reclam the elad at 42-40 going into the locker room, the Knights proved why they are ranked so highly over the final 18 minutes.
RTR held RCW to just 21 points and kept Schrupp without a made 3-pointer to pull away for its eighth win of the season. The Knights forced the Jaguars into 24 turnovers on the night and kept them largely off the boards by allowing only five offensive rebounds.
Nathan Serbus was a solid presence in the paint for the Jaguars, finishing with 22 points.
RTR 75, RCW 63
RTR (8-0) 42 21 - 63
RCW (5-5) 40 35 - 75
RUSSELL-TYLER-RUTHTON - Scoring: Westin Kirk 24, Jared Hauswedell 2, Cooper Hansen 4, Garrett Kern 15, Carter Hansen 18, Brett Kelley 5, Jonah Johnson 7 ... 3-point shots: Kern 3, Kelley 1 ... Rebound leader: NA ... Assist leader: NA ... Steal leader: NA
RENVILLE COUNTY WEST - Scoring: Justin Schrupp 24, Nathan Serbus 22, Tony Froland 6, Trent Kjersten 6, Riley Ashburn 6 ... 3-point shots: Schrupp 7, Ashburn 2, Froland 1, Kjersten 1 ... Rebound leader: Ashburn 6, Froland 5 ... Assist leader: Schrupp 4, Castillo 4 ... Steal leader: Schrupp 2
