Draw a line down the middle of Wyoming just west of Center Street in Casper and the Riverton Wolverines will be the best boys basketball team on that side of the state. Riverton dropped their opening round tournament game to Sheridan but swept Rock Springs and Star Valley to claim their second consecutive Class 4-A Consolation trophy.
Saturday after Riverton combined their usual stellar defense with their best shooting performance in the last for weeks to easily handle Star Valley 59-38.
The Braves led early, but Wolverine senior Tanner Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers late in the opening period and Riverton never looked back.
Leading 11-10 after Johnson’s second trey, the Wolverines tallied a buzzer beater by junior guard Jason Vincent that left his hands just a millisecond before the horn sounded. Lucas Engle swatted an earlier Riverton shot out to the perimeter for Vincent and he pulled the trigger in less than a second for a 14-10 Riverton lead.
Riverton scored just four points in the second period, but their defense held the Braves to two points and they led 18-12 at intermission.
Long range, 3-point shots by Parker Paxton and Johnson highlighted the third period, with another buzzer beater breaking the Star Valley spirit. This one came on a pull up jumper by Paxton over the outstretched arm of 6-4 Star Valley forward Jacob Hodges. The ball ticked the twine after the buzzer sounded for a 34-23 Wolverine lead.
The final period was a flurry of offense by Riverton. The 25 points scored were among the highest of the entire season and featured points from Paxton, Engle, Johnson, a trey from Vincent, and scores by Darrick DeVries, Derick Lange, and Ace Sage.
Johnson paced Riverton with 23 points, including five 3-pointers. Paxton tallied 19, with nine-of-11 shooting from the line.
Riverton dominated the Class 4-A West this season, rolling to a 10-0 mark during the regular season against west teams, then sweeping the 4-A West tournament in three games before finishing the season with impressive wins over Rock Springs and Star Valley.
Riverton graduates four seniors in Lange, Johnson, Lucas, and Sage but has a strong nucleus returning for head coach Beau Sheets.
Riverton 14 4 16 25 – 59
Star Valley 10 2 11 15 – 38
Riverton – Jason Vincent (2) 0-0 6, Darrick DeVries 1 1-2 3, Parker Paxton 2 (2) 9-11 19, Ace Sage 1 0-0 2, Derick Lange 1-2 1, Tanner Johnson 3 (5) 2-2 23, Lucas Engle 2 1-2 5. Totals 9 (9) 14-21 59
Star Valley – Jacob Hodges 2 (1) 2-2 9, Kortlen Hilton 4-4 4, Dylan Johnson 1 (1) 2-2 7, Tate Frome 2 (1) 0-0 7, Croix Jenkins 1 (1) 1-1 6, Ridge Nield (1) 0-0 3, Taft McClure 1 0-0 2. Totals 7 (5) 9-9 38
