South Bend Riley boys basketball learns from its mistakes in victory over Washington
SOUTH BEND — Two things cost South Bend Riley's boys basketball team in its loss to Penn last week: Rebounding and playing against a 2-3 defensive zone.
The Wildcats learned from those mistakes Thursday against visiting city rival South Bend Washington.
After a back-and-forth first 13 minutes of action, the Wildcats surged to end the first half and never looked back in a 75-48 win over the Panthers.
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Riley ended up shooting 45% from the field and out-rebounded Washington, 40-24.
“It was good to go, ‘Hey, we want to concentrate on this,’ and see the guys go out there and do that,” said Riley coach Alex Daniel about rebounding and playing against a zone defense.
The biggest disparity on the boards came on the offensive end, with Riley grabbing 17 offensive rebounds compared to five for Washington.
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“In the Penn game, we were one-shot-and-done, and we can’t be that way,” Daniel said. “We talked about crashing the glass. Guys like Brandon Williams came in the second half and did a great job on the offensive glass. We just had multiple guys get in there. It was a concertation for us, and we knew against a zone, there are opportunities to go get the ball.”
The 15-5 run by the Wildcats to end the first half proved to be the tipping point. It was punctuated by a 3-pointer from senior Mancell Hill at the buzzer, putting Riley up, 32-22, at the break.
The onslaught from the Wildcats continued from there, as they outscored the Panthers by a 21-6 margin in the third period.
“Once we got going, I thought we did a good job,” Daniel said. “In the second half, we did a really good job of executing, and then a bunch of the misses we had, we got offensive rebounds, which was huge. We were able to steal some extra possessions.”
Riley had four players score in double-figures, led by senior Ayden Kent’s 18. Senior Payton Baird and junior Marvin Schindler had 14 points each and Hill 13.
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The victory helps the Wildcats (16-4, 8-1 Northern Indiana Conference) keep pace in the loss column for the conference championship. Both Penn and Mishawaka Marian won Thursday night, improving its NIC records to 7-1 and 4-1, respectively.
Daniel has been impressed by his team’s ability to bounce back after a loss this season.
“There hasn’t been a time where we’ve lost two in a row,” Daniel noted. “We’ve been able to come back, regroup and figure things out. I was hoping things would be the same (Thursday), and it was. They played with a lot of heart.”
Another loss for a young Washington team
It felt like Washington was going to make it a game early Thursday, alternating the lead with Riley multiple times in the first quarter. A jump shot from sophomore Steven Reynolds III evened the game at 17 with 3:49 to go in the first half, giving the game its fourth and final tie.
“I thought our effort was different in the first quarter,” Washington coach Ryan Varga said. “The belief was different. To be mentally tough is a skill. I thought we were mentally tough in the first half.”
After a promising 6-1 start to the season, the Panthers have hit a rough patch. They’ve lost eight of nine overall, including six in a row to run its record to 7-9 overall and 5-4 in the NIC.
“We just need to continue to build,” Varga said. “Obviously we’re young, but we’ve got some kids to build around. We’ve got guys that have gone from playing eighth grade to playing varsity — it’s different, so it takes some time to get used to. We’re going to keep getting better and better and keep going back to work.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Riley boys basketball learns from its mistakes in victory over Washington
