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Reinartz, Baugher, Bowers, Paulik, Prater all score in double figures
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Tanner Reinartz scored 15 points to lead all five starters in double figures, and the Rochester boys basketball team forced 18 turnovers in handling visiting Northfield 76-54 at the RHS gym Friday.
Bryce Baugher added 12 points, Drew Bowers and Carson Paulik had 11 each, and Owen Prater added 10 for Rochester, who improved to 6-6 overall and 3-1 in the Three Rivers Conference.
Carter Rodgers, a 5-9 junior point guard, had a double-double for Northfield (18 points, 10 rebounds). Tyson Baer added 11. Northfield (4-12, 1-5 TRC) made nine 3-pointers but lost to Rochester for the seventh consecutive year.
“I give Northfield a lot of credit,” Rochester coach Rob Malchow said. “They really did a good job knocking down the 3 tonight when they got it. Some pretty good shooters on their team kept them in the game. But we were able to turn up the heat on defense and get some offense from it.”
Northfield has no seniors and no starter taller than 6-2. None of the 10 starters were seniors.
Rochester relied on two large runs. The first was a 14-3 run covering the first and second quarters that Reinartz capped when he grabbed an offensive rebound off a Paulik missed free throw to give the Zebras a 26-12 lead.
The second was a 14-2 run covering the second and third quarters that pushed the lead to 47-25. Bowers hit a pullup jumper; Reinartz scored on a driving layup; and Dylan Hook, who had nine points off the bench, scored in the post to start the run.
Tyson Baer scored on a driving layup and was fouled but missed the ensuing free throw to make it 39-25. Then Prater drove left baseline for a layup, and Reinartz had a steal and layup to make it an 18-point halftime lead.
Northfield committed 11 first-half turnovers as compared to the Zebras’ four. Northfield’s live-ball turnovers led to five Rochester transition baskets in the first half.
Northfield scored the first four points on a Rodgers driving layup and a Ty Leming flash to the post, but a Bowers layup, a Baugher bucket on the break and a Reinartz screen-and-roll layup sparked an 8-0 run.
“About half of those were probably unforced, just us not taking care of the ball, silly passes, throwing it into their hands and them going down and getting easy baskets,” Northfield coach Rex Reimer said of the turnovers. “Their transition game was really good tonight. We didn’t do a good job of getting back. We tried to adjust in the first half where we only sent two guys to rebound and we were sending three back defensively, and then their post effort … Their guards are bigger than my guards, and we didn’t do a very good job of defending them in the post.”
A Reinartz 18-footer from the left wing and a Prater putback off a Reinartz steal and miss in transition completed the run.
The lead got as big as 63-37 on a Jack Reffett 3-pointer late in the third quarter after an offensive rebound and again at 76-50 after another Reffett trey.
Rochester also had a 17-7 advantage in bench points with Hook, Reffett and Luke Malchow all contributing.
“The depth that we’re building here, if you get a little foul trouble, it’s not a big deal right now,” coach Malchow said. “Everybody stepped up. We tried to show more patience offensively there in the second half. We did a little better job getting a little better shot, but the shot chart looked pretty good tonight.”
Zebra game notes
Rochester won the JV game 44-26.
Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser, a cousin of Rochester’s Jonas Kiser, was among those in attendance.
The Rochester youth cheerleaders performed with the varsity cheerleaders at halftime, inflating the attendance. The crowd thinned out considerably for the second half.
Rochester had a 17-7 advantage in bench points.
Rochester is in fourth place in the TRC. They trail Manchester (5-0), Maconaquah (4-1) and Wabash (4-1).
Rochester’s next four games will be on the road. They include North White tonight, Southwood at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, Lewis Cass at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 3 and Plymouth at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6. Malchow said that North White will be dropped from the schedule after this year.
Rochester 76, Northfield 54
NORTHFIELD (54) (4-12, 1-5)
Carter Rodgers 7 2-3 18, Jaden Baer 2 0-0 6, Tyson Baer 4 0-1 11, Ty Leming 3 1-2 8, Isaac Burkhart 2 0-0 4, Ryder Schram 1 0-0 3, Jake Perney 0 0-0 0, Parker Oswalt 2 0-0 4
TEAM: 21 3-6 54
ROCHESTER (76) (6-6, 3-1)
Drew Bowers 5 0-1 11, Owen Prater 5 0-0 10, Bryce Baugher 3 4-4 12, Tanner Reinartz 7 0-0 15, Carson Paulik 4 3-4 11, Davis Renie 0 0-0 0, Dylan Hook 4 1-4 9, Luke Malchow 1 0-0 2, Hunter Honkomp 0 0-0 0, Jonas Kiser 0 0-0 0, Grant Clark 0 0-0 0, Jack Reffett 2 0-0 6
TEAM: 31 8-13 76
Three-point field goals:
Northfield 9 (T. Baer 3, Rodgers 2, J. Baer 2, Leming, Schram),
Rochester 6 (Baugher 2, Reffett 2, Reinartz, Bowers)
Total fouls: Northfield 14, Rochester 15
Turnovers: Northfield 18, Rochester 11
Score by quarters
Northfield 12 13 14 15 – 54
Rochester 23 20 21 12 – 76
JV: Rochester 44, Northfield 26
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