Rebels win one of three at Bobcat Invite

The Riverside Rebels got an up close and personal look at the top-ranked team in 1A at last weekend’s Bobcat Invitational. It did not go well as the Rebels struggled against Upton’s pressure defense and didn’t shoot well in the 67-18 setback.
“We were all disappointed,” said Coach Scott Winters. “Upton was a good team, but we should have been able to compete better than we did.”
Winters took the blame, saying, “The boys weren’t mentally strong” and “I need to do a better job at getting them better prepared to play from start to finish regardless of what the score is.
“I think a few calls didn’t go our way early on and we weren’t making any shots and we gave up and were just kind of going through the motions after that.”
Fortunately for the Rebels, it got better as the weekend progressed.  Game two, a matchup with 2A Sundance, also ended in a loss, 50-23, but the Rebels were more competitive, forcing steals and creating deflections with regularity.
“ I was pleased with how we competed in the fourth quarter even though the game was already decided,” he said. “The boys showed a lot of heart.”
Putting the day behind them, the Rebels took out their frustration on Arvada-Clearmont in their only game on Saturday.  Riverside players connected for 10 3-pointers and dominated the boards en route to the win.
“(A-C) only had seven boys so it wasn’t super competitive,” said Winters, adding, “The bright spot was that our bench players got to play the entire second and fourth quarters and get some varsity experience there.”
Winters said his takeaways from the weekend were that, “We aren’t playing defense with the intensity that we need to.  Our on-ball defense has to give the other team pressure. Their pressure affected us but we didn’t give enough pressure to affect their shots or offense.
“We will spend a lot of time in practice this week working on defensive rotations and being active on the pass/dribble. We were able to get some of the shots that we wanted, but we just didn’t knock them down. I think a lot of that had to do with being the first games of the season and guys adjusting to their roles.”

This week
The Rebels will get another test at this weekend Shoshoni tournament, facing Hanna-Elk Mountain at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and following that up with Saturday games against Little Snake River at 10 a.m. and Cokeville at 4 p.m.
Winters views the matchup with HEM, believed to be rebuilding, “as an opportunity to practice good habits on both ends of the floor” in preparation for Saturday’s games which figure to be much more  challenging.

Upton     16 20 19 12 — 67
Riverside      4   8   1   5 — 18
RIVERSIDE — Josh Wildman 2-7 0-0 5, Hyson Hill 1-4 0-0 2, Hayden Paxton 0-5 4-6 4, Gavyn Cervantes 1-5 0-0 2, Avery Clifford 1-2 0-0 2, Wyatt Daly-Patterson 0-3 0-0 0, Ryder Kozisek 1-12 0-0 3. Totals 6-of-38 4-of-6 18.
3-POINT GOALS — Kozisek, Wildman.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 20 (Paxton 5).  STEALS — Riverside 7 (Hill, Paxton 2).  ASSISTS — Riverside 4 (Kozisek 2).  TURNOVERS — Riverside 21.
Sundance    13 14 13 10 — 50
Riverside      5   3   5 10 — 23
RIVERSIDE — Wildman 2-10 1-2 6, Hill 1-8 0-0 2, Paxton 3-10 5-8 13, Cervantes 0-2 0-0 0, Clifford 1-3 0-0 2, Daly-Patterson 0-0 0-2 0, Kosisek 0-9 0-0 0.  Totals 7-of-42, 6-of-12 23.
3-POINT GOALS  — Paxton 2, Wildman.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 25 (Clifford 6).  STEALS — Riverside 5 (Wildman, Daly-Patterson 2).  ASSISTS— Riverside 2.  TURNOVERS — Riverside 23.
A-C     2   3  1 2 — 8
Riverside    26 7 22 4 — 59
RIVERSIDE — Wildman 4-10 0-0 10, Hill 1-3 0-0 3, Paxton 3-11 2-3 9, Paul Stone 1-5 1-2 3, Cervantes 0-4 1-2 1, Clifford 5-10 0-1 11, Daly-Patterson 1-9 0-0 2, Kozisek 5-14 1-2 15, Eli Jensen 1-9 0-0 3, Cooper Zierolf 1-6 0-0 2.  Totals 22-of-81 5-of-10 59.
3-POINT GOALS — Kozisek 4, Wildman 2, Hill, Paxton, Clifford, Jensen.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 60 (Clifford 13).  STEALS — Riverside 15 (Paxton 3).  ASSISTS — Riverside 13 (Wildman 4).  TURNOVERS — Riverside 10.