Menu
BCT: Risco showing versatility in path to 5th-place challenge
Sunday, December 29, 2024
Veteran Risco High School varsity basketball coach Brandon Blankenship watches his team compete against Bloomfield in the opening round of the B Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Thursday.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
BLOOMFIELD – The Risco High School varsity boy’s basketball squad has six seniors guiding it through this season, and with that amount of experience, comes the benefit of knowing how to win games in several different manners.
The No. 6-seed Tigers opened this week’s Bloomfield Christmas Tournament by stifling the host Wildcats defensively in a 51-31 rout, before falling narrowly to No. 3-seed Dexter 69-67 in the championship quarterfinal round.
On Saturday, Risco again had to execute down the stretch, as it survived No. 7-seed Van Buren 94-89 in double overtime.
“It’s toughness,” veteran Tiger coach Brandon Blankenship said of his team’s ability to adapt and succeed. “We’ve got a little bit of everything. We’ve got some size, and we’ve got the ability to execute.”
The Tigers trailed the Bulldogs 59-58 early in the fourth quarter but did two things well in the final minutes of regulation, which were getting the ball to senior guard Sammy Smith and don’t allow Van Buren to score at the free-throw line.
Smith scored eight of his game-high 34 points in the final quarter, three at the free-throw line.
Defensively, the Bulldogs only attempted a couple of free throws (making one) in the second half.
“No matter what,” Blankenship said, “you’ve got to play defense.”
The game was tied at 71 at the end of regulation and 80 at the end of the first overtime period.
In the second overtime, Risco got to the free-throw line nine times and sank seven of those shots, compared to four attempts (and two makes) for the Bulldogs (3-5).
“You never want to give up that many points,” Blankenship said. “I know (Bulldog coach Jacob Black) is saying the same thing. Some of this was probably the product of being the third night and three games in a row.
“We both had tough games (on Friday), so maybe we didn’t have as much legs as we normally would.”
Aside from Smith’s performance, Tiger junior Owen Fortner added 28 points while junior guard Eli Rodgers (nine points) and senior forward Landon Baker (seven points) also contributed.
Van Buren senior Elijah Van Wagner paced his team with 28 points while sophomore wing Carter Freeze had 22 points, junior wing Hayes Townsley chipped in 20 points, and senior forward Nathan Smith added 14 points.
The Tigers (9-2) advance to face No. 8-seeded Richland (Essex) (7-3) in the fifth-place game on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Despite the workload, Blankenship said he was still going to bring his team in for some light work on Sunday.
“You’ve got to get them back in (the gym),” Blankenship said. “As much as you’d like to give them a full day off, I think you get them in and shoot some free throws and talk a little bit about (Richland).”