Rebels defeat Cougars of Rector

RECTOR -- The Riverside Rebels played the spoiler here last Friday night as

they defeated the Cougars, 55-45, on their Homecoming night.

The Rebels scored first in the contest and never trailed, but did have to

fend off a late Cougar threat that was led by an 18-point fourth quarter

performance by Rector's Justin Goodman. Goodman connected for four fourth

quarter threes as the Cougars cut a once 16-point deficit to eight with just

over a minute to play.

"We pulled away good at one point," Rebel head coach Buster Campbell said

about building a 16-point, 40-24 lead. "But we led Goodman go nuts on us

there in the fourth quarter. He hit some tough shots."

Goodman tallied 18 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Coach Campbell said that the Rebel defense was a big key in the win.

"I thought we played good defense all night long up until that fourth

quarter, then we just kind of fell apart."

The Rebel win sets their season record at 7-10 (3-1 in conference play).

Rector shot a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line while Riverside

converted only nine of 19 attempts from the charity stripe.

"That's been about par for us this year," coach Campbell said. "We've been

struggling a bit at the foul line. That's one of the areas we need to work

on."

Rector coach Tony Davis said, "Hitting those free throws kept us in the

game, it gave us a chance.

"We played hard all night and I was glad to see that. Our kids never gave up

-- they kept that 'never say die' attitude right up to the very end."

Both teams struggled early offensively. Rector did not put their first

points on the board until the 1:15 mark of the first quarter when Jonathan

Pratt hit a jumper in the lane setting the score at 7-2. Goodman's

turnaround jumper on the baseline ended the first quarter with the Rebels on

top, 7-4.

Another basket by Pratt opened the second quarter of play and cut the

Riverside lead to one, 7-6. Rebel buckets by Jacob Couch, Matt Owens and

Dustin Kelems saw the Riverside lead extend to nine, 17-8. Riverside led at

the halftime intermission, 19-12.

Leading a well-balanced Riverside scoring attack was Joe Ellis with 17.

Jacob Couch and Dustin Kelems tossed in ten points apiece. Steven DeWitt and

Matt Owens each tallied seven points in the win. Jeremy Eldridge and Blaine

Wilkinson contributed with two points each.

Justin Goodman had a game-high 26 points for the Cougars. Jonathan Pratt and

Wes Harmon tallied six points each while Billy Scott tossed in four. Ryan

Carpenter finished the night with three points.

The Riverside juniors were also victorious in the night's opening game,

winning by a score of 48-37. K. Winford led Riverside with 15 points.

Jay Beacham led Rector with 13.