With its first winning season in 17 years on the line against a team that had beaten them earlier this year, the Riverland Community College men’s basketball team found its sense of urgency in the second half Wednesday.

After trailing by two at the half, the Blue Devils dominated the second frame to beat Minnesota State-Fergus Falls (8-16 overall, 3-8 MCAC South) 91-77 in Riverland Gym.

With the win, RCC clinched just its third winning season in the past 40 years and it now has a solid chance at making the postseason.

“For us it’s one step closer to that Regional tournament, which we’ve only been to once in forty years,” RCC head coach Scott Koenigs said. “That was a goal of ours going in is to try and develop the program into bigger and better things like we did with the baseball program. Build a foundation and then go from there. We’ve got some great players here, it’s just a matter of staying cool, calm and composed.”

Marcus Myers, a freshman guard from Milwaukee, Wis., gave the Blue Devils (14-10 overall, 4-3 MCAC South) all he had in the win. Myers logged in 40 minutes, he scored 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting, and he tallied five rebounds, three assists and two steals, while committing just one turnover. Myers carried RCC’s offense in the first half.

“I just wanted to go to the playoffs and coach said if we win this game we have a better chance at the playoffs,” Myers said. “I think our defense was better tonight [than the first meeting against Fergus]. We played more intense defense and they couldn’t handle the pressure.”

The Blue Devils forced 20 turnovers and they also showed some versatility on offense. With Myers and Devonte Miller, who had 15 points, doing work inside, RCC’s sharp shooters Jeremy Stuart, who had 14 points and was 4-for-8 on 3-pointers, and Nate Emge, who had eight points, and was 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, did the damage outside.

RCC point guard Dearionte Hudson had 12 points, six assists and just one turnover and Robert Parker had 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“I was really impressed in the second half with how we moved the basketball and made the extra pass. Everybody that stepped on the floor played well for us tonight and it was one of our better halves of the season,” Koenigs said. “Marcus never came off the floor and he’s hard to guard. He’s lightning fast, he’s got quick hands and he does a lot on both ends of the floor for us. He played extremely well. He’s fun to watch when he gets going.”

RCC center Ricky Landers has been in bed sick all week and he had just one point while playing sick on Saturday. On Wednesday, Landers, who was averaging 13 points per game, was able to give RCC 14 minutes, seven points and four rebounds in the win over Fergus Falls.

RCC’s two previous seasons with winning records in the last 40 years were in 1998 and 1973.

FF 40 37 —  77

RCC 38 53 — 91

RCC scoring: Marcus Myers, 25; Devonte Miller, 15; Jeremy Stuart, 14; Dearionte Hudson, 12; Robert Parker, 10; Nate Emge, 8; Ricky Landers, 7; field goals: 48 percent (33-for-69); 3-pointers: 35 percent (8-for-23); free throws: 74 percent (17-for-23); rebounds: 33 (Parker, 7); turnovers: 11