Rainy River Dominates at Home Against Norse

Over on the Rainy River Campus, the Voyageurs Men’s Basketball team was at home last night to continue conference play against Mesabi Range. Braedon Gomez (10), Rodney Mozard (18), and Austin Howe (19) would each put up double-digits to lead the team to a dominant 35-29 lead at halftime, and finish the game even stronger with a 81-59 win over the Norse. After the game, I got to speak with Rodney, Austin, and Tyheim Williams about the feeling after the game, asking about the previous scrimmage they had with Mesabi Range in the preseason.

Tyheim Williams would come off the bench with 8 points to help contribute to the win, and the home crowd was electric towards his back-to-back 3-pointers.

So was finally having a home crowd something that contributed to the players and their energy?

Rodney had another monster performance as his 18 points was one of the highest on the squad, and he finished with 22 boards, 10 offensive and 12 defensive rebounds. This being his second double-double in a row.

Austin Howe was the team leader in scoring putting down 19 points, with 12 of them scored from outside the arch.

So were there very big adjustments defensively?

The Voyageurs will next be on the road on Saturday to take on Gogebic Community College, and that tip-off is at 1pm.

Rodney, Tyheim, and Austin (joined by numerous teammates) also wanted to share a few shoutouts.

The players were also very excited to share their thoughts on last Monday’s College Football National Championship.

The Voyageurs moved up to 4-1 in conference, and 11-6 overall, sitting in second in the North Division behind Central Lakes. After my players interviews, I then spoke with Head Coach Ernest Collins where our discussion got a little off track at the end.

As mentioned before, the Voyageurs will be at Gogebic on Saturday for a 1pm tip-off to carry on their momentum.