Red Lake County leans on experience to advance to 1A semifinals

Class 1A quarterfinals

It’s all about the experience.

Red Lake County showed what having been there before means in a state tournament environment. The Rebels played efficiently and confidently in an 85-63 victory over Liberty Classical Academy in the final Class 1A quarterfinal at Target Center.

The Rebels made their first state tournament appearance last year, losing to Dawson-Boyd in the semifinals after building a big lead early.

On Thursday, it was their turn to school their opponents. Liberty was making its maiden voyage in a state tournament.

Red Lake showed no signs of jitters, making 33 of 54 shots from the floor (61.1%) and building a lead that reached double digits in the second half.

Will Gieseke was a perfect 11-for-11 from the floor, finishing with a team-high 25 points. Fellow guard Connor Duden added 24, including six three-pointers.

“It makes a huge difference,” coach Steve Philion said of the experience gained last year. “We come from up north where, who knows what’s going on down here? But now they know that we can compete down here for sure.”

For the Lions, their first trip to the tournament wasn’t what they hoped for, but coach John Towle thought his team didn’t play the game they hoped.

“We got sped up, we got beat on the boards, and we didn’t play the game we wanted,” Towle said. “They were cool, calm and collected. We had a little bit of jitters, but we did take a little bit of lead. I thought we were the better ball club, but we just didn’t play the way we can play.”