Red Oak nets 61-51 victory over Shenandoah

 The Red Oak boys’ basketball team overcame an early first quarter deficit to rally back and defeat the Shenandoah Mustangs 61-51 at Shenandoah High School Friday night.

The win was the second of two wins for the Tigers during the week.

“More than anything, I’m just happy for our guys and our fans and all the people that support us. It’s a lot of fun,” Red Oak boys basketball coach Theo Fundermann said. “I know how much is asked of these guys and how demanding I can be  and they’re doing a good job. They’re staying the course here that I’ve asked them to stay, but you know we’ve got a long ways to go yet.

Red Oak struggled out of the gates early in the first quarter, falling behind by seven points.

The guards for Red Oak, Ryan Lundgren and Brendon Birt, took over the ball game as the duo started sinking three-pointers. Lundgren and Birt each scored 20 points to lead the Tigers.

“We got a lot of options, so it can be very difficult to guard us,” Fundermann said.

With Red Oak on a run and Shenandoah struggling to score points, the Tigers took the lead for the first time with 2:49 to go until halftime thanks to a Lundgren three-pointer, giving giving the Tigers a 28-27 lead.

Shenandoah scored four more points, but Red Oak went into halftime with a 35-31 lead.

“I don’t think we panicked,” Fundermann said. “We knew we were going to have to weather the storm. They were going to come out and be aggressive and they were.”

Red Oak’s defense shut down the Mustangs in the third quarter, allowing just seven points. In the meantime, Red Oak continued to add to its lead with points by Lundgren, Weston Rolenc, Conner Jansky and Gavin French. After three quarters, the Tigers were up 47-38.

The Tigers were able to use the cushion to hold on and get the victory.

Rolenc finished with eight points for Red Oak, while French and Jansky each scored four. Oscar Vega finished with two points.

Red Oak 65, 

Thomas Jefferson 51

The Tigers picked up its other win of the week last Tuesday at home.

Birt set the hoop ablaze with seven three-pointers on his way to a season-high 26 point night.

Lundgren scored 14 points, thanks to going 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Jansky meanwhile had a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.

French had three points, but grabbed 13 rebounds. Rolenc had nine points.

Creston 77, Red Oak 33

The lone loss came Saturday evening at home versus the Creston Panthers. Creston jumped out to a 21-7 lead early on and never looked back, holding Red Oak to single-digit points in three of four quarters.

Birt finished with a team-high 10 points in the loss.

Red Oak is now 4-6 for the season.

Red Oak will spend the next couple of weeks playing road games. It all starts Tuesday night when the Tigers travel to Clarinda to take on the Cardinals. 

In the last meeting, Red Oak won 60-53 Dec. 19. The game will be part of a varsity doubleheader and the boys will start around 7:30 p.m.

Red Oak wraps up the week Friday with a road game at Kuemper Catholic. The varsity game starts at 7:30 p.m.