It was a historic weekend for the Riverton Wolverines. First, they moved into the top position in the Class 4-A West with a pair of five-point wins. Friday they handled a late Rock Springs rally at home for an 80-75 win then Saturday they broke a six-game skid against Kelly Walsh in a come-from-behind 60-55 win over the Trojans.
Friday’s win was the eighth in a row over Rock Springs dating back five seasons, and the present Wolverine win streak also moved to eight.
Riverton puts that streak on the line in Cheyenne this week in a game against the top-ranked Cheyenne East Thunderbirds.
Other firsts for the Wolverines came in 29 and 21-point performances by Parker Paxton and Jason Vincent, both are career highs for the pair of talented guards.
Riverton opened up an early lead on Friday behind a 28-point first-period performance that featured a long-range shooting exhibition by the Wolverines.
Vincent, Nathan Hutchison, and Ty Sheets all hit solo treys in the period and Paxton converted a pair of them, including a four-point play on his first shot when he was fouled.
Paxton hit four 3-pointers on the night, and his hot shooting extended to the free-throw line where he hit all 11 attempts.
As a team, the Wolverines were impressive from the line hitting 24 of 30 attempts for an impressive 80%.
Holding a comfortable 13-point lead late in the game, the Wolverines became perhaps a little too comfortable, letting Rock Springs back into the contest, also via the long ball.
Darrick DeVries, a consistently leading scorer with Paxton had only two points entering the final period, but Riverton’s balanced offense was on display for head coach Beau Sheets with seven players scoring six or more points.
It wasn’t as easy Saturday in Casper. Kelly Walsh led 29-20 late in the opening half but a brief run closed the gap to 29-26 at the half.
Riverton opened on another run to take a five-point lead and held off the Trojans for the remainder of the contest.
Riverton is currently ranked third in Class 4-A with an 11-2 overall record, and a 2-0 conference record.
Riverton 28 15 21 16 – 80
Rock Springs 16 17 18 24 – 75
Riverton – Jason Vincent 6 (1) 6-8 21, Darrick DeVries 2 1-2 5, Ty Sheets 2 (1) 0-0 7, Dre’Vin Monroe 2 (1) 2-4 9, Kade Gabrielson 1 4-4 6, Parker Paxton 3 (4) 11-11 29, Nathan Hutchison (1) 0-0 3. Totals 16 (8) 24-30 80
Rock Springs – Stauffer 1 (1) 3-4 8, Debour 2 (3) 2-2 15, Thomas 9 3-5 21, Anderson 3 (2) 0-0 12, Newman 2 3-4 7, Butcher (1) 2-4 5, Lionberger 3 0-0 6. Totals 20 (7) 14-20 75