By KARLA POMEROY
The season for the Riverside Rebels ended Thursday just as it had started, with a loss to the Big Piney Punchers. Riverside opened the season with a loss to Big Piney at home as part of the Big Horn Basin Shootout, 61-31. On Thursday, in the play-in game for the 2A West Regional Tournament in Riverton, Riverside fell, 57-33.
Coach Brent Winters said it was frustrating and disappointing to end the season with a loss in the play-in game, especially under the new format of traveling to Riverton, and then having to come home after one game.
As for the season, Winters said the game with Big Piney was a good test since it was the team Riverside opened the season with. “You look at where you started and where you ended. I believe we made improvement on both offense and defense,” he said.
Winters said having played Big Piney before they knew what the Punchers were capable of but admitted, “They improved more than we thought they had.”
He said he was proud of the team as they played hard all four quarters, despite being down in the second half.
Riverside hung with the Punchers early, trailing just 10-7 after the first quarter and 26-11 at halftime. Big Piney extended the lead to a comfortable 25-point margin after three, 49-22.
He said the team handled Big Piney’s pressure early but the Punchers made adjustments and the Rebels struggled with the changes.
The pressure, Big Piney’s height and physical play all proved to be factors in the game, Winters said.
Brynnt Wood had a strong game to end the season, with 18 points, 13 rebounds and three steals.
Winters said the game was an opportunity for some other underclassmen to get some tournament experience as he brought up Damion McKim, Bryce Johnson and Ricardo DeNiz (who was brought up the previous week).
“It’s something to be said for our freshmen and sophomores playing against mostly juniors and seniors,” Winters said, adding that even with talented underclassmen, experience will win out most of the time.
Next year, he said, if the players stay excited about Riverside basketball, work out during the summer, the team should come back stronger and more experienced.
The Rebels finished the season averaging 33.1 points per game while allowing 68 points per game. Wood was the team’s top scorer with 167 points for 9.3 points per game average. Jared Jares, in just eight games this season, averaged 6.5 points per game and Clint Getzfreid averaged 6.2 points per game.
Wood grabbed 141 rebounds, 94 defensive and 47 offensive. He averaged 7.8 rebounds per game. Mike Miller had 85 boards for a 5.0 rbg average. Getzfreid led the team in steals with 26. Miller led the team in assists with 36, while Jordan Herman added 33 and Getzfreid 31.
The team committed 611 turnovers in 19 games and had 114 steals. The Rebels had the ball stolen 347 times during the season.
RIVERSIDE (33)
Clint Getzfreid 2 0-1 4, Dan Koch 0 0-1 0, Zach Christopherson 0 0-0 0, Jordan Herman 2 3-6 8, Mike Miller 0 0-2 0, JL Miller 1 0-1 2, Brynnt Wood 7 4-11 18, Ricardo DeNiz 0 1-1 1, Damion McKim 0 0-0 0, Bryce Johnson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 12-39 8-23 33. 3-POINTERS 1-7, Herman.
REBOUNDS 23, Wood 13, Herman 3. STEALS 12, M. Miller 3, Wood 3. TURNOVERS 34. ASSISTS 7, M. Miller 5.
BIG PINEY (57)
TOTALS 22-53 11-17 57. 3-POINTERS 2-5. REBOUNDS 25. STEALS 19. TURNOVERS 33, ASSISTS 10.
Riverside 7 4 11 11 — 33
Big Piney 10 16 23 8 — 57