A disappointing road trip on Friday was avenged by a dynamic final few seconds Saturday as Riverton picked up a split in Class 4-A West boys basketball action. Friday a paltry defensive effort had the Wolverines falling to Rock Springs 78-64, but Saturday they pulled away in the final seconds for a thrilling 43-41 win over Kelly Walsh.
The split leaves the Wolverines a 2-1 in conference action and 7-7 overall.
Saturday’s game was one for the books. Riverton committed just two fouls in the entire contest and Kelly Walsh was perfect in two attempts from the line.
In the opening half, 3-point shots rained down for the Trojans on the lobby side of the gym while the Wolverines had trouble finding the range.
The hot-shooting Trojans eventually cooled off in the second half but not before taking a 24-16 lead into the intermission.
Much of Riverton’s offensive frustration came at the hands of 6-2 senior Kadon Boyce who dominated the paint on both ends of the floor. The physical rebounder had 22 unofficial rebounds including seven offensive caroms. Boyce didn’t score in the game but may have been Casper’s most valuable player.
The third period had the Wolverines chipping away at the lead highlighted by a half-court bullet pass from Darrick DeVries to Ty Sheets reminiscent of last football season for a quick transition basket that cut the Kelly Walsh lead to 32-31. Just 28 seconds later Sheets hit a pull-up jumper and Riverton had their first lead at 33-32.
Solid inside play from Eli Lucas and timely baskets and defense from junior Malachi Smith off the bench kept the Trojans at bay.
The game was tied three times in the final period, the last at 41-41 when Riverton head coach Beau Sheets called a time-out with 1:12 remaining in the game.
He set up a delay to work for the last shot. The Wolverines took the final shot on a hard drive down the lane by DeVries that had the crowd guessing whether it was a player-control foul or a block. DeVries leveled the Casper defender but another Trojan pushed him forward garnering the 6-1 senior two free throw attempts.
He cooly hit both for a 43-41 Riverton lead and Sheets called a final time-out. Riverton had only one foul in the final period and under the new five foul free throw rule Sheets told his players to foul in the backcourt, in effect running out the clock. They missed.
Boyce took the final off-balanced shot in what the Kelly Walsh fans considered a foul, but no whistle sounded and the Wolverines won the game.
RIVERTON 10 6 17 10 – 43
KELLY WALSH 11 13 8 9 – 41
Riverton – Darrick DeVries 4 2-4 10, Ty Sheets 2 (2) 0-0 10, Brodie Dale (1) 0-0 3, Parker Paxton 2 (1) 0-0 7, Hunter Hauck 1 0-0 2, Eli Lucas 3 2-2 8, Malachi Smith 1 1-2 3. Totals 13 (4) 5-8 43
Kelly Walsh Nicholls (3) 2-2 11, Eager 4 (1) 0-0 11, Becker (2) 0-0 6, Jace Nicholls (3) 0-0 9, Bowlanger 2 0-0 4. Totals 6 (9) 2-2 41