River Ridge Timberwolves dominate Chieftains
Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/06/2025 - 13:43
By A.J. Gates
Perhaps the hottest team in southwest Wisconsin, coach Jim Wagner’s River Ridge boys basketball team concluded the regular season last Thursday night with a convincing 58-33 victory over Potosi, and ride into the WIAA tournament on a 10-game winning streak.
Last Thursday night’s victory over the Chieftains created a three-way tie for this year’s Six Rivers West conference title, as River Ridge, Potosi and Highland all concluded conference play with a record of 17-2.
While coach Mike Uppena’s Chieftains defeated the Timberwolves, 58-53, in their first meeting on Jan. 21, River Ridge dominated last Thursday night with a 25-point victory.
The aggressive ball-hawking defensive pressure of the Timberwolves tipped the scales in their favor, as the Timberwolves appeared to be a step quicker than their opponent, and made things difficult for the defending league champs.
The only lead held by the Chieftains during the entire contest was at 2-0 to start the game, as River Ridge held Potosi in check, thanks in large part to their defense.
Uncharacteristic of the Chieftains, they committed eight turnovers in the first eight minutes, and concluded the contest with 17 total miscues, as River Ridge had 13 steals to their credit.
During the first half of action, the Timberwolves held a slim lead of 16-12 with 6:09 to play in the session, then used a 5-0 scoring run to take their largest lead of 21-12 with 3:12 showing on the clock.
The half ended with River Ridge holding a 23-15 lead.
“It was all about defense for us,” said coach Wagner. “The last time we played we gave up way too many second-chance points from offensive rebounds. In the first half we played well on the defensive end, and even created some turnovers.”
“We showed patience on the offensive end for the most part in the first half,” coach Wagner added. “It’s hard, as our kids like to run the floor and get shots up quick, but you can’t always do that.”
Any momentum that River Ridge held in the first half, carried over into the second, where they outscored the Chieftains 35-18
The Timberwolves used a 15-6 scoring run during the first eight minutes of the second half, to extend their lead to 38-21. They improved on their lead throughout the next five minutes, where they held a 46-25 advantage with 4:32 to play in the contest.
After making 8-of-26 (30.8 percent) shot attempts in the first half, the Timberwolves were an impressive 12-of-25 (52 percent) in the second, including 3-of-6 (50 percent) from 3-point range.
The Chieftains, who averaged 65.3 points per game coming into the contest, were limited to just 33, making 14-of-49 (28.6 percent) shot attempts, including 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) in the second half.
While being outscored 32-20 in the paint, Potosi was also 1-of-15 (6.7 percent) from 3-point range, their only basket from downtown coming from Isaiah Groom with 2:29 to play in the contest.
“We came out strong in the second half and showed patience that helped us get some points in the paint,” said coach Wagner of the Timberwolves.
“I would say we are playing our best defense right now and that carries us when we struggle on offense. It also creates offense for us,” Wagner added.
Leading the Timberwolves with 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from the line was point guard Brandon Davis, who also had five rebounds, four assists and six deflections.
Elliott Thornton was close behind with 13 points to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds, while Ty Adrian chipped in 11 points and Carter Copsey six.
Dawson Weber led the Chieftains with 14 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor. He also pulled down four rebounds to go along with four deflections and three steals.
Aidan Uppena added seven points and four rebounds, while Aaron Edge and Isaiah Groom each had five points in the loss. Groom also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, as did Oliver Post, who had a team-high four assists.
With the regular-season schedule now in the rear-view mirror, the Timberwolves and Chieftains now gear for the postseason tournament, where Potosi (20-4) holds the No. 1 seed in their division 5 sectional bracket, and the Timberwolves (22-2) the No. 5 seed.
With the No. 1 seed, Potosi will have the luxury of playing at home throughout the regional tournament, while River Ridge is assured of only one game at home, where they have been 12-0 this season.
“I credit our home record to our fans and surroundings,” Wagner said “The spectators and teams are close to the floor and even though the courts we play on are the same size, ours feels tighter.”
“I think we feel slighted in the seeding,” Wagner admitted. “I always felt it was more important how you played during the end of the season than the beginning.”
“I can see where schools and communities get upset. The kids work hard for that advantage, and to lose out on that opportunity is disappointing, it even costs the district and community money,” Wagner added.
“We just need to settle in here and try to take care of what we can control. Regardless of how this ends for us, we have had a successful season, and we certainly won’t make excuses or feel sorry for ourselves,” Wagner concluded.
Rate this article:
