Rebels overcome slow start, rout Dubois
The Rebels had two conference games last week.
First up was Meeteetse. The Rebels had a hard time getting the pieces lined up and had to contend with the Longhorns hitting all of their outside shots and the Rebels fouling a bit too much. The Rebels managed to claw their way back up from 3-18 to end the first quarter at 13-25. They switched up their strategy in the second half, focusing more on a zone defense and setting traps. The Longhorns top player went out in the third quarter with a knee injury and the Rebels were able to make a comeback but ultimately ran out of time before they could gain the upper hand.
“I was proud of the boys for the way they battled back and never gave up,” said Coach Scott Winters. “We did a lot of things well in the second half, such as running the 2-3 defense and the 1-3-1 and press. We also did a much better job of attacking the basket and finishing.”
“Eli Jensen also came off the bench and hit some big shots for us and several other guys stepped up with some of our starters in foul trouble.”
The Rebels hosted Friday’s game and the town was out in force, showing up and cheering for the home team. The opponent was the Dubois Rams, and the home team knew that it was a must win if they wanted to compete for one of the top spots in their conference. There were hints of flavor from the last game with the defense starting off slowly, but the offense came out of the gate well.
The Rams were strong right off the bat, sinking five 3-pointers in the first quarter and repeated that in the second. The Rebels switched to a man defense in the second half and had more success at slowing down the Rams offense. By the end of the third quarter the Rebels had pulled ahead of the Rams with 57-65 and by the end of the game they had solidly put themselves into the win column with a 66-91 score. Offensively this was the best game of the season for the Rebels so far.
“Lots of guys contributed to the win with their defense and ability to transition and run the floor,” said Winters. “We’ll need that same intensity and hustle in order to give us a chance to win this week against Burlington on Friday and a rematch with St. Stephens Saturday.”
Ryder Kozisek scored a career high 34 points, Wyatt Daly-Patterson scored 14, Paul Stone had his highest scoring game of the season with 13, and Gavyn Cervantes had a season high 12 points as well.
Avery Clifford contributed with 12 rebounds and quick outlet passes. The game at Burlington on Friday, Jan 31 will be at 7PM and the Rebels will host the Saturday, February 1 game at 3 p.m..
Meeteetse 25 16 18 8 – 63
Riverside 13 11 21 17 – 27
RIVERSIDE – Hyson Hill 4-13 4-5 14, Kenneth Mcclure 0-0 0-0 0, Brenden Powell 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Paul Stone 1-3 0-0 2, Jon Mendenhall 0-0 0-0 0, Lane Owen 0-0 0-0 0, Gavyn Cervantes 3-9 2-2 8, Avery Clifford 4-13 3-4 12, Wyatt Daly-Patterson 2-3 1-2 6, Ryder Kozisek 5-14 1-1 13, Eli Jensen 3-6 0-0 7, Mason Brown 0-0 0-0 0,
3 POINT GOALS –Hyson Hill 2, Ryder Kozisek 2. REBOUNDS – Riverside 20 (Ryder Kozisek 6). STEALS – Riverside 5 (Kozisek 2). TURNOVERS – Riverside 17.
Dubois 23 23 11 9 – 66
Riverside 16 23 26 26 – 91
RIVERSIDE – Hyson Hill 1-5 0-0 3, Kenneth Mcclure 0-0 0-0 0, Brenden Powell 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Paul Stone 6-10 1-2 13, Jon Mendenhall 0-0 0-0 0, Lane Owen 0-0 0-0 0, Gavyn Cervantes 5-10 0-0 12, Avery Clifford 4-8 1-2 9, Wyatt Daly-Patterson 5-9 2-2 14, Ryder Kozisek 13-23 3-5 34, Eli Jensen 1-4 3-4 6, Mason Brown 0-0 0-0 0,
REBOUNDS – Riverside 32 (Avery Clifford 12). STEALS – Riverside 14 (Paul Stone 4). TURNOVERS – Riverside 10.