Banged-up Rebels no match for Huskies, St. Stephens

The Riverside Rebels were battling more than just the Huskies and the Eagles last week.

“Three of our five starters have been dealing with sprained ankles and half of our team has been in and out of practice with the sickness going around,” said Coach Scott Winters. “Despite that we were able to compete to the best of our abilities given the circumstances so I was proud of the boys for giving their best effort.”

The Rebels dropped both contests, losing at home to Burlington Friday night, 69-27, and on the road at St Stephens Saturday, 95-57. Fourteen games in, they are still on the hunt for their first victory.

“We just got outmanned in both games,” Winters said.

Riverside played a “solid” first quarter against Burlington and trailed by four at the stop, but was outscored 19-3 in the second and 30-11 in the third. Winters said his team “ran out of gas” and that some appeared to check out mentally because of the way the game was officiated.

“As the game went on Burlington’s depth showed. They were able to get out in transition and our defense wasn’t where it needed to be to get some stops. In the second half Paul and Kenneth fouled out so several of our guys got minutes off the bench. Offensively we got the shots that we wanted to, we just couldn’t make them.”

Brendan Powell was a bright spot for the Rebels, knocking down three 3-pointers and finishing with 14 points, but he was the only player in double figures.  Rebounding was a focus in practice during the week and Winters said he was proud of the way Gavyn Cervantes, with a team-high 11, stepped up.

“I think the most telling stat of the game was Burlington had 29 offensive rebounds. They didn’t hit a lot of outside shots, but they had a lot of putbacks so we need to do a better job boxing out and going for rebounds going forward,” Winters said.

Paul Stone, Kenneth McClure and Cervantes all scored in double digits at St. Stephens, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Eagles’ press forced 26 turnovers and lit up the scoreboard, finishing just five shy of 100.

Winters said, “Despite the scoreboard I thought we did a better job adjusting during the game and competing until the end.”

The Rebels host games against Greybull today and Bridger, Mont., Saturday.  In between, they play at Ten Sleep Friday.

“We are going to need to rebound better, turn the ball over less, and shoot with more confidence in order to give ourselves a chance to win this week,” Winters said.

Burlington 14 19 30 6 — 69

Riverside 10   3 11 3 — 27

RIVERSIDE — Brendan Powell 5 1-2 14, Paul Stone 1 0-0 2, Gavyn Cervantes 2 0-0 5, Xander Dannar 0 1-2 1, Eli Jensen 2 0-0 5. Totals 10 2-4 27.

3-POINT GOALS — Powell 3, Cervantes, Jensen.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 35 (Cervantes 11). STEALS — Riverside 5.  ASSISTS — Riverside 7 (Cervantes 2).  TURNOVERS — Riverside 20.

St. Stephens 26 24 24 21 — 95

Riverside 16 13 14 14 — 57 

RIVERSIDE — Powell 3 0-2, 6, Kenneth McClure 4 4-6 13, Stone 7 0-1 14, Cervantes 5 2-6 13, Dannar 1 0-0 2, Jensen 1 5-8 7.  Totals 21-of-67 13-of-25 57.

3-POINT GOALS — McClure, Cervantes.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 36 (Cervantes 14).  STEALS — Riverside 13 (Jensen 8).  ASSISTS — Riverside 14 (Powell 5).  TURNOVERS – Riverside 26.