Randolph boys earn trip to D2 State Tourney

SHELBY — The Randolph Cardinals needed dramatic fashion to do it, but they extended their winning streak Monday to advance to next week’s State Class D2 Boys Basketball Tournament.

The Cards, 17-7, have now won seven games in a row and 12 of their last 13. In fact, RHS has only tasted defeat twice in 2020.

Their post-season run began Tuesday in Wisner, where they defeated Emerson-Hubbard, 61-24, in first-round SubDistrict action.

The Cards then defeated Wynot, 54-44, in the SubDistrict title game to set up Monday’s District D2-8 title showdown with Deshler.

Monday’s contest was an edge-of-yourseat affair from the start. Defense dominated in the early going as the teams battled it ou, with Deshler taking an 8-7 first-quarter lead.

The Dragons used the long ball to pull ahead 17-10 in the second frame for a 25-17 halftime advantage.

Deshler opened the second half with more of the same as they continued to bomb away from downtown, building a double-digit lead.

The Dragons went up 35-22 when they connected on their eighth trey of the night with 4:30 left in the third quarter.

Momentum shifted after that as the Randolph defense began to put the clamps on and the Randolph offense began to click.

The Cards closed out regulation with a 15-2 run to knot the contest at 37-37 and send the contest into overtime. The Big Red then put together a 10-2 run in the extra period to seal the victory.

The run was fueled by a disruptive Randolph defense, which forced 21 Deshler turnovers and collected 15 steals.

Senior Carter Schnoor did most of the heavy lifting in this one, dropping in 23 points. Keaton Backhaus helped the cause with his 11-point effort.

Deshler 8 17 10 2 2 — 39

Randolph 7 10 12 8 10 — 47

SCORING

Randolph - Carter Schnoor, 23; Keaton Backhaus, 11; Justin Haselhorst, 8; Jamison Svehla, 5. Deshler Holden Ruhnke, 9; Adam Roth, 12; Trenton Buescher, 9; Coltin Hansen, 6; Cayden Loomis, 3.