CRANE — RUSH guard Tanner Engel and his cousin, Ozark forward Ryan Engel, have been summer ball teammates, but never played school ball together and likely never will.
“The stars never aligned,” Tanner said. “I’d love to play with him, of course. I watch most of his games and think he’s great at what he does. I never thought we would play together. I want to play (against) him and Ozark.”
RUSH, a home-school team based out of Nixa featuring a slew of Christian County players, is eagerly taking on all challenges in its first season facing Missouri State High Schools Athletics Association opponents.
RUSH could be on its way toward its first championship of a tournament hosted by MSHSAA school, after downing Aurora 79-46 in a semifinal at the Crane Tournament on Thursday.
RUSH will take on Marionville in the title tilt at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Last month, RUSH lost to Seymour in the Walnut Grove Holiday Tournament championship game.
Engel helped RUSH overwhelm Aurora from the get-go by pouring in a career-high 27 points. Center Joseph Graves netted 14 points and guard Garrett Rudy contributed 11.
Engel, Graves and Rudy are all from Ozark.
RUSH has taken advantage of its opportunity to play school-affiliated teams by also taking part in the Carthage Tournament and the 12 Courts Of Christmas Tournament. Upcoming are entries in the St. James Tournament and Conway Tournament.
RUSH (14-5) also owns wins against the likes of Marionville, Billings, Fair Play and Nevada and its other losses came at the hands of Greenwood, Joplin, and Leavenworth, Kansas.
When coach Greg Ray announced to his players prior to this school year that MSHSAA would allow RUSH to play games against public and private schools, it was much welcomed news.
“I was ready for it,” Graves said. “We love playing in these tournaments (and how) they match us up with these teams.”
“It meant so much to us,” Engel said. “Last year, we played all home schools. We’d been itching to play public- (and private-) school teams.”
Graves expects Marionville to give RUSH its best shot, after the Comets fell to RUSH 66-50 earlier this season.
“Since we beat them last time, I bet they were wanting to play us again pretty bad,” he said.
