Riverside shoots down Burgettstown
By Luke Campbell
Staff writer
lcampbell@observer-reporter.com
WEXFORD – It didn’t take much time for Riverside to get dialed in from long range in the postseason as it connected on six three pointers in the first half to roll over Burgettstown, 65-42, in Class 3-A, first-round game at North Allegheny High School Saturday.
“I thought they just shot the ball really well,” said Burgettstown head coach Rich Tranquill. “On the flipside of that, I don’t think we shot the ball well at all. We had a lot of shots that rattled out, especially early, and if those fell I think we would have had a lot more confidence going forward. That might have made a big difference, but a lot it has to do with Riverside being good.”
Riverside (16-7) got three early three-pointers from the corner from Justin Baust in the first five minutes. He concluded his first-half scoring by firing another shot from several feet behind the arc with 5:30 left in the second quarter to extend the Panthers lead to 26-12.
Out of the Panthers’ 14 first-half field goals, eight of those successful possessions resulted in at least three points as they took a 36-19 lead into halftime.
“It’s a long game,” Tranquill said. “It wasn’t out of hand in the first quarter. You just try to do what you worked on and execute your offense, then play a little better defensively. You can’t get out of your game simply because the score changes. The shots just didn’t fall for us.”
Leading Riverside was Dylan Speicher whose numerous acrobatic layups added up to a game-high 16 points. Baust, which did much of his work early, finished with 14 points. Austin Dambach added 10 points.
The lone form of consistent offense Burrgettstown (11-12) could find was Max Shaw coming off the bench to have a team-high 14 points. Cole LaRocka also finished in double figures with 11 points, scoring eight in the final quarter.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” Tranquill said about the Blue Devils, who started the season 0-5 before playing their way into the postseason.
“I told them yesterday that I was proud of them. We’d like to write a different ending here but it’s all about building on this now.”