Rebels drop three in Upton

Rebels drop three in Upton

By Nathan Oster

It was a rough opening weekend for the Riverside Rebels, who went 0-3 at the Bobcat Invitational in Upton. The Rebels lost to Hulett 69-35, Custer, S.D. 59-32, and the host Bobcats 55-17. 

Coach Scott Winters said the three games “gave us a lot of motivation and understanding of what we need to adjust in order to get better this season.”

The Rebels saw the Hulett game slip away when they were outscored 28-4 in the second quarter.

“We started out in a zone defense and it seemed to work well, but we started to get tired and we weren’t able to rotate on their shooters in the second quarter,” said Winters. “They hit seven 3s and we weren’t able to make any of our shots on the offensive end. 

“Part way through the second quarter we switched to a man defense and used that throughout the rest of the game to get more pressure on their shooters.”

Brenden Powell paced the offense with 13 points.

Riverside’s second game followed the same script as the Rebs were competitive in the first, blitzed in the second (this time, to the tune of 25-4) and held their own in quarters three and four.

Winters called Custer “the best team we faced,” describing the Wildcats as “big and athletic” and a team that “played really well together.”

That said, “I thought we competed hard with them despite being overmatched in a lot of ways.”

Powell finished with 10 points while Kenneth McClure had nine.

“After halftime I thought we did a great job of keeping our composure and coming out and competing despite being down big,” Winters said.

The Rebels finished with Upton, the No. 2 ranked team in 1A.

“We found out why pretty quickly,” Winter said. “They are very fundamentally sound defensively and put a lot of pressure on us on the perimeter which frustrated our guards. They also rebound well. I didn’t think they shot particularly well, but they got a lot of offensive rebounds and were able to get out in transition in that second quarter and we weren’t able to respond. 

“We struggled with our shooting and when we were able to get to the free-throw line, we couldn’t put them in.”

Paul Stone led the Rebels with six points, followed by McClure with five.

Hulett 14 28 13 14 — 69

Riverside   8   4 11 12 — 35

RIVERSIDE — Brendan Powell 5 1-2 13, Kenneth McClure 2 1-4 6, Paul Stone 3 0-2 6, Jaxon Womack 1 0-0 2, Gavyn Cervantes 2 0-0 4, Xander Dannar 0 0-2 0, Alan Landis 1 0-0 2, Mason Brown 1 0-0 2.  Totals 15-of-47 2-of 10 35.

3-POINT GOALS – Powell 2, McClure.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 21 (Dannar 5).  STEALS — Riverside 9 (Powell, Stone 3).  ASSISTS — Riverside 4 (Stone 2).  TURNOVERS — Riverside 19.

Custer 14 25 14   6 — 59

Riverside   5   4 10 13 — 32

RIVERSIDE — Powell 3 1-1 10, McClure 4 1-3 9, STone 2 0-0 4, Womack 1 0-0 2, Cervantes 2 0-0 5, Dannar 1 0-0 2.  Totals 14-of-43 2-of-4 32.

3-POINT GOALS — Powell, Cervantes. REBOUNDS — Riverside 22 (McClure, Stone 5).  STEALS — Riverside 12 (Dannar 4).  ASSISTS — Riverside 1.  TURNOVERS — Riverside 24.

Upton 15 25 9 6 — 55

Riverside   2   6 3 6 — 17

RIVERSIDE — Powell 1 0-0 2, McClure 2 1-6 5, Stone 2 1-2 6, Womack 1 0-0 2, Dannar 1 0-2 2.  Totals 7-of-16 2-of-14 17.  

3-POINT GOALS — Stone.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 14 (Stone, Mason Brown 5).  STEALS — Riverside 10 (Powell 5).  ASSISTS — Riverside 1.  TURNOVERS – Riverside 11.