By Scott Zerr, Saskatchewan Rush,

The Saskatchewan Rush exploded for 14 goals in the second half, including 10 straight at one point, as they picked up their fourth win a row with a 21-12 pounding of the Rochester Knighthawks on Saturday night in upstate New York.

The victory was also the Rush’s ninth straight regular-season win over the Knighthawks.

Robert Church (4 goals, 7 assists) and Mark Matthews (4 goals, 6 assists) paced the high-powered Rush offensive outburst that was ignited early in the third quarter after the Knighthawks had taken a 9-7 lead. Saskatchewan proceeded to score three goals in a span of 1:18 and they never looked back. Matthews brought the Rush closer with his third goal of the night, and just 15 seconds later off the ensuing faceoff, they were even at 9-9 as defenceman Ryan Dilks cruised in and slung a sidearm shot past Rochester goalie Matt Vinc. The Rush then jumped ahead to stay when Matt Hossack finished a scramble around the K-Hawks net, taking a pass from Matthews in tight and tucking in his shot.

Saskatchewan’s onslaught took off from that point. Mike Messenger battled past two defenders and fired in a shot to make it 11-9 and was shortly followed by Ben McIntosh standing in front of the net and putting a shot under the crossbar on a Rush power play. Marty Dinsdale, who opened the scoring 37 seconds into the game, made it 13-9 before the third quarter wrapped as he used a screen to beat Vinc which sent the five-time NLL Goaltender of the Year to the bench for the rest of the night.

The Rush didn’t let off the gas pedal as Curtis Knight scored just 28 seconds into the fourth quarter, and then Church put away a pair. Church’s second of the game was a rocket from outside on a Rush power play that Rochester backup goalie Angus Goodleaf couldn’t handle, and he then collected his hat trick just over a minute later with another hard shot as Saskatchewan struck on a delayed penalty call. Matthews notched his fourth of the game on another Rush power play to make it 17-9 before the K-Hawks finally ended Saskatchewan’s scoring binge.

McIntosh got the Rush offence rolling again, and Church picked up his fourth of the game with an unassisted shorthanded tally. Knight’s second of the night plus a goal on a fastbreak from Adrian Sorichetti closed out the scoring barrage as the Rush reached the 20-plus goal mark for just the second time in franchise history. The Rush hit the 20-mark for the first time last season when they defeated the Vancouver Stealth 24-16.

Adam Jones, with a pair, and Chris Corbeil also got in on the Rush scoring outbreak.

Josh Currier had four goals for the Knighthawks, but the home team was held to just four goals in the second half by Rush goalie Aaron Bold. The Saskatchewan netminder finished with 35 saves.

The Rush are back at home next Saturday when they take on the Colorado Mammoth at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.