Second quarter letdown costs Rebels against Meeteetse

A good week of practice had Coach Scott Winters feeling optimistic about his Riverside Rebels’ games against Meeteese and Dubois.

“We knew it would be a tough game (against Meeteetse),” Winter said, noting that the Longhorns lead the conference and have one of the top players in 1A in Max Potas, who is averaging nearly 28 points per game.  

Despite that, Winters said, “I felt like we were very well prepared going into it.  We started out strong and had a lead after the first quarter. Defensively, we were active and didn’t give them any wide-open looks.”

The Longhorns seized control in the second, however, outscoring the Rebels 24-4, and never looked back, winning 56-42.

Winters said his team “played a really good second half of basketball,”We were able to knock down some shots and our defensive intensity was good. We fought back and competed until the end so it was a good game for us.”

Brendan Powell led the Rebels with 13 points and “gave good defensive pressure on one of their guards,” Winters said. “Gavyn Cervantes hit some big 3s to keep us in it in the fourth quarter and lots of other guys contributed on both ends of the floor.”

The Rebels’ luck didn’t change Friday in Dubois, where they dropped a 69-55 decision.

“I don’t know if the high intensity game from the night before or the long bus ride had an effect on us but we came out looking lethargic,” Winters said. “I never felt like we played with the urgency we needed to win the game. 

“We shot the ball worse than we have all season (19 of 91 from the field, 15 of 36 from the line) and I think missing so many shots affected our motivation to play tough defense on the other end and Dubois got hot from outside and started to play with a lot of confidence. Ultimately we weren’t ever able to go on a run in the game and after their big run in the second we didn’t compete as well as I would have liked. 

“As coaches we’ve got to do a better job of helping the boys prepare mentally and be more disciplined in rebounding, not turning the ball over, and creating advantages for us to score.”

Gavyn Cervantes led the Rebels with 13 points.

The Rebels play Burlington and St. Stephens this week.

“We’ll have to work hard and mentally prepare if we want to compete against those teams,” Winters said.

Meeteetse 9 24 9 14 — 56

Riverside 10 4 7 21 — 42

RIVERSIDE — Brendan Powell 6 0-0 13, Kenneth McClure 0 1-2 1, Paul Stone 2 0-4 4, Gavyn Cervantes 3  0-0 8, Xander Dannar 1 0-0 2, Eli Jensen 2 3-6 8, Mason Brown 3 0-2 6.   Totals 17-of-50 (FGs) 4-of-14 (FTs) 42.

3-POINT GOALS — Cervantes 2, Powell, Jensen.  REBOUNDS — Riverside  27 (Cervantes 6).  STEALS — Riverside 10 (Jensen, Brown 3).  ASSISTS — Riverside 12 (Cervantes 4).  TURNOVERS — Riverside 19.

Dubois   9 21 21 18 — 69

Riverside 13 11 15 16 — 55

RIVERSIDE — Powell 4 4-4 13, McClure 0 3-8 3, Stone 2 1-9 5, Womack 1 1-4 3, Cervantes 5 2-3 13, Dannar 1 1-2 3, Jensen 3 3-4 9, Brown 2 0-2 4.  Totals 19-of-91 (FGs) 15-of-36 (FTs) 55.

3-POINT GOALS — Powell, Cervantes.  REBOUNDS — Riverside 41 (Stone 11).  STEALS — Riverside 15 (Powell 5).  ASSISTS — Riverside 0.  TURNOVERS — Riverside 21.