Rebels go 1-2 in Shoshoni

Riverside wasn’t at full strength for its appearance at last weekend’s Wrangler Invitational, but “a lot of guys stepped up and gained some experience” in the absence of starting point guard Josh Wildman, according to Coach Scott Winters.
The Rebels went 1-2, winning the game they expected to, 62-53 over Hanna Elk Mountain on Friday, before dropping their next two, 42-25 to Little Snake River and 64-36 to Cokeville to settle in at 2-4 heading into the holiday break.
Winters said HEM “gave us more of a game than I was anticipating,” crediting a pair of young and very quick ballhandlers for giving his team fits. “We started in a press and fell back into a 2-3,” said Winters. “We weren’t quick enough with our rotations and that hurt us. They were able to get some transition baskets and we were out of position and chasing their guys a lot.”
On the offensive end, Hayden Paxton filled up the score sheet, recording a double-double — 28 points and 14 boards — to go along with a team-high four steals. HEM tried switching to a zone, but Ryder Kozisek and Gavyn Cervantes made them pay, hitting some key outside shots for the Rebels.
Winters called the game “a good test” for his team, which outscored HEM 18-8 in the final frame.
The Rebels did some good things against Little Snake River -- just not enough to pull out the win. The game was close at the half, with the Rattlers clinging to a four-point lead.  But Riverside scored just four points in the second half.
Winters said it was his team’s “best defensive game of the season,” but credited Little Snake for clamping down on Paxton, who finished with five points. “Nobody else could make any shots in the second half.
“I’m not sure I remember a game where we were only able to score four points in an entire half. A lot of credit goes to their defense, but we also missed a lot of open shots. I think a big part of that was having a shorter bench and not as much of a rotation so guys were tired.”
Kozisek paced Riverside with 13 points.  Paxton led in boards with nine.
In their final game on Saturday, the Rebels faced Cokeville, which entered as the No. 2 ranked team in 1A.  “We could see why,” said Winters, noting that the Panthers “have several guys on the team that can shoot and they work hard on the defensive end.
“I was pleased with our defense. Despite them scoring over 60, I felt like we were able to force them to take tough shots that they just made. I wished we did a better job not giving them so many second chance opportunities because they scored off a lot of their offensive rebounds.
“Offensively we struggled again. Hayden and Ryder were able to get some of their shots to fall, but overall we didn’t shoot a high percentage and we had too many turnovers to really be competitive in this game.”
Paxton and Kozisek led Riverside with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
The Rebels will shut it down for the holiday break.  They’ll return with a Jan. 5 game against St. Stephens.
“It will be good to have these next two weeks to get in better shape and work on our shooting, defense, court awareness, and limiting our turnovers,” said Winters.

HEM    13 15 17   8 — 53
Riverside    17 11 16 16 — 62
RIVERSIDE — Hyson Hill 0-4 1-2 1, Hayden Paxton 10-17 6-10 28, Gavyn Cervantes 2-8 0-0 6, Avery Clifford 2-7 3-6 7, Wyatt Daly-Patterson 2-8 1-3 5, Ryder Kozisek 5-14 2-4 15.  Totals 21-58 13-25 62.
3-POINT GOALS — Kozisek 3, Cervantes 2, Paxton 2.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 39 (Paxton 14).  STEALS — Riverside 9 (Paxton 4).  ASSISTS   — Riverside 12 (Hill 4).   TURNOVERS — 17.
Little Snake    15 12 7 8 — 42
Riverside      8 13 0 4 — 25
RIVERSIDE — Hill 0-7 0-0 0, Paxton 0-8 5-8 5, Cervantes 1-3 0-0 2, Clifford 1-3 1-2 3, Daly-Patterson 1-1  0-0 2, Kozisek 5-16 0-0 13.  Totals 8-of-39 6-of-10 25.
3-POINT GOALS — Kozisek 3.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 26 (Clifford 5).  STEALS — Riverside 7  (Daly-Patterson 3).  ASSISTS — Riverside 6 (Paxton 3).  TURNOVERS — Riverside 20.
Cokeville    12 21 20 11 — 64
Riverside      4   9   7 16 — 36
RIVERSIDE — Hill 0-6 0-0 0, Paxton 4-10 6-8 15, Paul Stone 0-1 0-0 0, Cervantes 0-2 0-0 0, Clifford 1-4 0-0 2, Patterson 2-3 1-2 5, Kozisek 4-14 2-2 12, Cooper Zierolf 1-1 0-0 2.  Totals 28-of-41 9-of-12 36.
3-POINT GOALS — Kozisek 2, Paxton.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 25 (Paxton 10).  STEALS  — Riverside 8 (Kozisek, Clifford 2).  ASSISTS — Riverside 5 (Kozisek 2).  TURNOVERS — Riverside 23.