Rainy River Community College sent two basketball teams to the MCAC state tournament this weekend. One was a surprise and the other was not.
The men’s team played a solid conference season, finishing tied for third with a 9-5 record. It won the tiebreaker over Vermilion, giving the Voyageurs the No. 3 seed, and they play Rochester, the No. 2 seed from the Southern Division, at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
“We’re very similar,” RRCC head coach Dieter Humbert said. “They have a lot of balance and we have a lot of balance, too, but we are a little more offensive than they are.”
RRCC (13-13) rode its offense all the way to state, averaging 82.1 points a game. That’s third in the division and fourth amongst the eight teams that qualified.
“We can score with anybody, it’s just a matter of our defense,” Humbert said. “But I feel good about our defense. We’ve solidified it here down the stretch.”
The Voyageurs have given up a tournament-worst 81.4 points a game this season. Only Vermilion joins RRCC in the 80s, giving up 80.8, while only three other teams in the tournament have surrendered over 70 points a game. The rest of the field is in the 60s.
No men’s basketball team in RRCC’s history has won the state tournament and advanced to nationals.
“We’d like to make some history here,” Humbert said.
With no consolation bracket, the Voyageurs must win three games to win state and advance to nationals. The first game was yesterday (results weren’t available prior to Friday’s press time), with the following games today at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. if the Voyageurs continue to win.
On the women’s side, RRCC was a surprise state tournament entry after opening the conference season 0-6.
However, the Voyageurs capped the comeback by winning eight of nine, including a Minnesota Twins-like play-in game Monday.
The Voyageurs opened the tournament yesterday at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls and continue through today and Sunday if they win. The women’s tournament includes a consolation bracket.
RRCC enters the tourney seventh in scoring at 67.2 points a game and last in defense, surrendering 69.7 points a game.
