River Ridge boys winning streak now at six
By A.J. Gates
Forcing their opponent into 31 total turnovers, the host Timberwolves got defensive last Thursday night, and handily defeated visiting Highland 68-41 in Six Rivers West boys basketball action.
With the win, coach Jim Wagner’s squad improved to 6-2 in league play and 12-4 overall, while the Cardinals fell to 4-4, 7-7.
Coming away with 23 total steals, the Timberwolves turned 31 Highland turnovers into 31 points, while committing just 13 turnovers on their end of the court, which led to 15 points for their opponent.
With nine different players scoring for River Ridge in the first half, the Timberwolves held a 41-23 lead at intermission. They then outscored the Cardinals 27-18 in the second half, as all 11 players scored for coach Wagner.
Scoring a team-high 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor and 5-of-7 from the free throw line was sophomore point guard Brandon Davis, who also dished out a team-high six assists and came away with a team-high five steals.
Junior Drake Barrineau scored nine points for the Timberwolves, followed by eight from junior Ty Adrian and seven from junior Elliott Thornton. Matthew Nies pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds and five steals to go along with six points.
As a team, River Ridge made 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) shot attempts, including 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from 3-point range. They were 13-of-21 (62 percent) from the free throw line, and were out-rebounded 40-32.
“We didn’t shoot well at the start, but our defense created some turnovers that turned into some layups for us,” said coach Wagner. “I felt we did a good job shutting down some of their scorers in the first half.”
“It was nice to see everyone get some valuable minutes and contribute at both ends of the floor,” Wagner added. “I have seen improvement, and we need to continue this to be successful.”
Since the holiday break, coach Wagner and his Timberwolves have won six straight games going into this past Tuesday night’s contest against visiting Shullsburg. On Friday night the Timberwolves will host Pecatonica in their annual Six Rivers East/West crossover contest
