From Deseret News archives:

Team effort nets Riverton win

It took overtime, but Silverwolves improve to 5-0 on the season

Published: Friday, Dec. 9, 2005 10:15 p.m. MST
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WEST VALLEY CITY — The Riverton Silverwolves are reminding Utah sports fans that basketball is a team game. They're also letting the rest of the prep hoops crowd know that they are a team to take seriously.

With all five starters scoring in double figures, and only three points separating all five, the Silverwolves edged the talented Orem Tigers 71-66 in overtime on Friday night to win the Green Bracket of the Utah Holiday Prep Classic at the E-Center. The victory ups Riverton's record to 5-0. Orem's only two losses this season have come in overtime, with the other being to Davis — another 5A power.

"That's the kind of scoring that a coach likes to see," Silverwolves coach Steve Galley said. "And that's been typical of how we're playing. There's only been one game in which we didn't have several guys in double figures."

Stephen Baker was high for Riverton with 15, Morgan Grimm had 14, Eric Dearden and Mike Larsen each scored 13, with Quin Campbell tossing in 12. The Silverwolves outscored the Tigers 12-7 in overtime, with eight of those coming from the foul line. Grimm scored the first six of Riverton's overtime points, and his off-balance layup a minute into the extra period gave the Silverwolves the lead for good.

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Every part of Riverton's game Friday looked good, with the exception of making only 14 of 23 foul shots. But the Silverwolves scored by posting inside, their guards penetrated the paint, a host of players torched the nets from outside, they made Orem work for every shot and they rebounded well. Second-chances points turned out to be the difference in the game, where Riverton topped Orem 19-8 in that category.

"This group of kids just pursues the ball well," Galley said. "In every game so far we've done a great job rebounding."

Riverton controlled most of regulation — leading by six after one period and by seven at halftime. The Silverwolves built a 14-point lead midway through the third period and appeared to be running away with the game.

"You see a lot of teams die in this arena with the three, but we did a good job of scoring inside and out and we have guys who can do both," Galley said.

The Tigers clawed back behind some tough hoops by Tanner Lamb and Craig Cusick, and when Mike Hall made a put-back basket at the third-quarter buzzer Orem had finished an 18-4 run to tie the game 47-47.

The game again looked like it belonged to the Silverwolves at the end of regulation when a driving layup by Campbell gave them a 59-54 lead with 1:25 remaining. A long jumper by Cusick, with his toe on the line, and a no-doubt 3-pointer tied the game with 30 seconds remaining. Cusick's half-court game-winning attempt at the buzzer almost banked in.

With Orem trailing by five with 50 seconds left in overtime, Cusick again nailed another tough 3-ball to give the Tigers hope. But he and Lamb both missed tough attempts late that would have kept the game going. Lamb finished with a game-high 25 and Cusick scored 21.

"I don't know if anyone is going to shut those two down because they are such good players, but we wanted to make it as difficult as we could for them and I think we did," Galley said.


E-mail: jimr@desnews.com

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