Trinity Lutheran’s boys basketball team defeated Rising Sun 57-45 on Friday evening at the Bollinger Athletic Complex.

Cougars coach Brian Stuckwisch was happy with his team’s performance.

“I think we got a good win going into sectionals and I think overall we had a pretty good game,” he said. “We started out a little behind, but once we got the lead we stayed on top.”

Stuckwisch said the team has struggled keeping leads this season and it was good to see them close the season with a win.

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The first quarter showed both teams equally matched as neither team was able to build much of a lead.

The Cougars (6-17) trailed the Shiners 10-7 midway through the quarter.

The quarter ended with Cougars’ senior Colton Wischmeier scoring four points to give Trinity the 14-13 advantage.

The start of the second quarter was much more rocky for the Cougars as they let the Shiners go on an 8-0 run to begin the quarter.

The Cougars were able to settle in and use a 7-0 run of their own powered by another four points from Wischmeier.

Jacob Rowe added a basket and Kendall White also made a free throw during the stretch.

Both teams exchanged a basket and the Shiners took a 25-23, but then the Cougars went on a 10-0 run to end the first half.

Trinity used a different player for each score in during the 10-0.

Scoring for the Cougars during the run was White, Wischmeier, Rowe, Sam Marksberry and Chad Stuckwisch.

Coach Stuckwisch said the strong second quarter helped the team with confidence, but also made them cautious with the ball.

“That’s a situation where we haven’t led at halftime much this season and we knew they had a big run here in the first half and we didn’t want that to happen again,” he said.

The Cougars led 33-25 at the half.

The third quarter was a big one for the Cougars as they outscored the Shiners 10-4.

The Shiners’ Brent Turner was the only player to score for Rising Sun and he did not score until the 3:53 mark in the quarter.

The Cougars were able to tighten their grip on the Shiners and led at the end of the quarter 43-29.

“The (third) quarter really woke us up and we reminded ourselves there was still a quarter left and we have to finish this game,” Stuckwisch said.

The Cougars were able to set things on cruise control in the fourth quarter as they opened up by exchanging baskets with Rising Sun.

The Shiners could not build back any momentum with the Cougars’ pesky defense and scoring.

Wischmeier led the Cougars with 23 points to go along with four rebounds.

The Cougars wrapped up the season and Stuckwisch said he was proud of the way the team played throughout the year.

“Overall there have been a lot of close games that we felt like we should have won, but hopefully this will give us momentum and we can win a sectional,” he said.