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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Playing shorthanded again and barely 18 hours after their previous game ended, Carson Paulik led the Rochester boys basketball team to a win over visiting Tri-County at the RHS gym Saturday.
Paulik scored a career-high 19 points, and Drew Bowers added 18 as the Zebras hung on to beat visiting Tri-County 59-48 at the RHS gym Saturday.
Paulik’s previous career high was 12 against Manchester last year, and his previous season high was seven against North Judson Dec. 13. Paulik scored more points in this game than in his previous six games combined (18).
Tanner Reinartz added 12 for the Zebras (8-3), who were playing approximately 18 hours after their 70-45 loss to Manchester Friday.
Against Manchester, they never led. This time, Rochester never trailed after the first quarter. They started the second half with a 10-2 run to expand their lead to 42-27, and the lead would get as big as 19 in the fourth quarter.
The Zebras committed six turnovers in the fourth quarter against the Cavaliers’ pressure defense, and Tri-County would climb within 57-48 on a Drew Foster transition layup before Bowers would complete the scoring with two free throws with 14.3 seconds left.
The Zebras played their second straight game without seniors Owen Prater and Xavier Vance. Prater had an ankle injury, and Vance was ill. Prater is one of the team’s top ballhandlers.
So the weekend turned into a showcase for players like Jonas Kiser, Grant Clark and Jack Reffett.
“Well, there’s no doubt not having Owie (Prater) is big when it comes to some ballhandling,” Rochester coach Rob Malchow said. “He’s kind of our backup point guard. And so the ballhandling aspect, when teams pressure us here… but I tell you, what I’m pleased with is how Jo (Kiser) had a great weekend. We’ve been trying to see if we can get him to turn a corner, and I thought he had a great weekend, and hopefully he’s going to go nothing but forward. Obviously, Clarkie, getting a couple of starts, he’s getting opportunities and showing some things. Jack had a nice shot tonight when we needed it at the end of the third quarter.”
Drew Foster led Tri-County (6-7) with 13 points, and Trey Foster added 12. Each Foster hit three 3-pointers.
“We had way too many turnovers, and we knew going into this matchup that their zone defenses were going to be an issue,” Tri-County first-year coach Trev Parker said. “They rotate very well, and we did not expose the baseline enough and hit the baseline high post enough. They were in the passing lanes, and we were careless with the ball as well.”
Paulik carried Rochester through the first quarter and a half. He hit three 3-pointers and had a 3-point play and had 14 of the Zebras’ first 26 points.
Still, Tri-County, a Class 1A team that will seek its third straight sectional title in March, stayed within four before Reinartz hit a pullup 15-footer, Bowers scored in transition, and Kiser hit a post banker. The lead was in double digits for the first time at 32-22.
Drew Foster hit a 3 to keep the halftime deficit at seven, but to start the second half, Clark found Paulik cutting from the weak side for a layup, and Reinartz hit an off-balance 14-footer in the paint.
Grayson Schneider hit two free throws for Tri-County, but Bowers buried a 3 and then scored in transition after Kiser yanked a steal out of a Tri-County player’s hands. Kiser then split a pair of free throws at the 4:10 mark to complete the run.
The lead was 45-33 in the fourth when Rochester went on another 7-0 run. Paulik hit another trey, Reinartz made two free throws, and Bowers leaked out behind the Cavalier defense for a layup.
Tri-County continued to press however. Like Rochester, Tri-County had played the previous night, winning 48-43 over Frontier.
“Tri-County deserves a lot of credit,” Malchow said. “They play within themselves. They’ve got a couple good shooters. They’ve got a couple guys that can bang down low. Every time we were about to separate, they’d hit a big shot.”
Rochester also rolled to a 56-31 win in the JV game. Mitchell Clark had 14 points, Brady Coleman had 12, Trenton Meadows and Alex Chapman had six each, Aiden Wilson had five, Parker Casper had four, and Grayson Miller, Carlos Plascencia and Ashton Musselman had three each.
Rochester 59, Tri-County 48
TRI-COUNTY (48) (6-7)
Trey Foster 4 1-2 12, Noah Pratt 3 1-4 8, Drew Foster 5 0-0 13, Grayson Schneider 2 4-5 8, Clayton Atkinson 1 0-0 2, Nick Foster 0 1-2 1, Noah Dahlenburg 2 0-0 4
TEAM: 17 7-13 48
ROCHESTER (59) (8-3)
Drew Bowers 6 5-6 18, Carson Paulik 7 1-1 19, Bryce Baugher 0 0-2 0, Tanner Reinartz 5 2-2 12, Grant Clark 0 0-0 0, Jonas Kiser 3 1-2 7, Jack Reffett 1 0-0 3
TEAM: 22 9-13 59
Three-point field goals:
Tri-County 7 (D. Foster 3, T. Foster 3, Pratt),
Rochester 6 (Paulik 4, Bowers, Reffett)
Total fouls: Tri-County 15, Rochester 17
Turnovers: Tri-County 20, Rochester 14
Score by quarters
Tri-County 12 13 5 18 – 48
Rochester 15 17 13 14 – 59
JV: Rochester 56, Tri-County 31
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