5A boys high school basketball: Riverton's defense suffocates Clearfield in 5A victory

WEST VALLEY CITY — Clearfield is a defensive-oriented team that likes to keep a game low scoring. In the opening round of the 5A state tournament on Monday, Riverton helped its opponent reach a new undesirable low.

The cold-shooting Falcons only made one shot in the first quarter, didn't make its second basket until midway through the second quarter and only scored six points in the third quarter. When it was all said and done, Riverton simply overwhelmed the Falcons rolling to a 52-30 first round victory at the E Center.

"You can't understate how big the early lead was," said Riverton coach Steve Galley, whose team led 25-3 at one point. "Getting an early lead is a bonus to avoiding an ugly dogfight. They've got a whole bunch of teams into that and you don't want to get in that type of game with them."

Clearfield's own offensive deficiencies prevented a dogfight from ever developing. It finished the game shooting 21 percent and turned it over 21 times. Riverton's size and defensive commitment obviously played a role in the lopsided outcome.

Riverton held Clearfield leading scorer Jordan Hanson, who averages 15 points, to a paltry five points on 1-of-10 shooting.

"We tried to take Hanson away which we did, and we tried to make them shoot shots they're not comfortable in shooting, and do things they haven't done all year," said Galley.

Riverton used a 19-0 scoring run during the first half to open up a 25-3 lead before Clearfield finally made its second basket with 4:20 remaining in the half. The Falcons settled down a bit after that and only trailed 28-11 at the half.

For a team that only averages 45 points to begin with, the fourth lowest total in 5A and lowest among the 16 playoff participants, a 17-point halftime deficit is virtually insurmountable.

"That's a lot to make up, especially in a state tournament game," said Galley.

Clearfield enjoyed a brief moment of success in the third quarter as a 5-1 spurt trimmed Riverton's lead to 29-16. Unfortunately for the Falcons they scored one point the rest of the quarter falling behind 38-17.

Riverton finished the game shooting 49 percent, with Scott Friel and Ryan Thomas leading the way with 12 points a piece. Friel added five assists and two steals while Thomas finished with a team-high seven rebounds.

Alex Nelson led Clearfield with 13 points, most of them coming in the second half with the outcome no longer in doubt.

Riverton advances to the Wednesday's quarterfinals and will face the winner of the Jordan-Lone Peak game at 4 p.m.

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com