Pride and pain for Riverton hoops

WEST VALLEY CITY — The Riverton High boys basketball team earned the Silverwolves' first piece of hardware for the school's trophy case.

Unfortunately, it is not the trophy the team hoped to take home from its 5A championship game against region-rival Bingham Saturday night at the E Center.

"It's a very cruel, abrupt end," said Silverwolves coach Steve Galley after the Miners defeated Riverton 61-59 on a last-second shot by Brett Sommerville. "Not only the season, but the actual game. It was a great game between two very good teams. I've never been more proud of a group of guys."

Galley's guys played a season in which the team finished 19-4 — three of those losses were to Bingham. They were the best when it mattered most — this week's 5A tournament. Most important to Galley, they did what they set out to do at the beginning of the season — and it wasn't win a championship.

"Our number one goal was to bring love and respect for each other back into Riverton basketball," said the coach while fighting tears. "That had been missing for a while."

How did they do it?

"Their attitude," he said with a smile. "It's just these kids. We would never even have been a few seconds from a title without their hard work. It all started this week last year."

It ended with a championship game that had Silverwolves fans believing the third time might be the charm against Bingham as they owned a 13-point lead in the second quarter and a seven-point lead at halftime. In the second half, Bingham came back, and the two teams exchanged baskets, great defensive stops and the lead of the game.

Senior Riverton guard Eric Dearden, playing with a sprained ankle, hit the first of his free throws with 10 seconds left in the game to tie the score. It looked like overtime, but Sommerville hit a jump shot at the buzzer to break the hearts of the Riverton faithful. It was not the ending they'd envisioned, but it certainly was the trip.

"We have a quote we've used this year," said Dearden. "It is, 'Above all, enjoy the struggle.' I'll remember that the rest of my life. I love every single one of these guys, and I'm so grateful to everyone for their support."

For 24 hours, the Silverwolves basked in the potential of a 5A title. Their student body showed up en masse to cheer and jeer every play. Their community rallied around them, filling thousands of seats with purple and black.

"It's been a great experience for all of our student body to be a part of this," said principal Steve Park. "We sold 1,200 tickets Friday to our student body. It's something they'll remember for the rest of their lives."