Both teams entered the contest after victories in their season openers and will finish the round robin tournament Monday night in Prophetstown.
The first quarter was intense as both teams had their defenses in mid season form frustrating the early season offenses. Riverdale’s matchup 1-2-2 zone press did a good job of creating turnovers and speeding up the tempo for an early season game. The Panthers had 9 turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the contest. A jumper by EP’s Gus Schultz and a 3-ball from Evan Steimle knotted the score at 11 with 2:35 left in the first quarter but the Rams finished with the last 5 points to make it 16-11 after one.
The Rams led 21-17 midway through the second stanza before Keegan Winckler hit a layup on a nice pass from Derek Naftzger who then scored on his own short jumper to tie the score at 21. The first half ended with the Rams connecting on an off balance 3-pointer to lead 28-24 at the intermission.
Riverdale led 34-31 midway through the third when Connor Keegan connected on his first bucket of the night, a 3-pointer from deep in the corner. He made a 2-pointer on the next possession followed by a free throw to give EP their first lead since early in the game at 37-36. A Sawyer Copeland baseline drive made it 44-43 Panthers just before the end of the quarter.
A Steimle jumper and another 3-ball by Keegan on a nice pass from Winckler gave the Panther’s their largest lead of the night at 49-43 with just under 5 minutes left but unfortunately EP did not score again. Two quick jumpers and a 3-pointer by the Rams made it 50-49 with 3:14 remaining prompting the Panthers to call timeout. Missed free throws and turnovers down the stretch allowed the Rams to close out the battle with the 14 unanswered points.
Head coach Ryan Winckler was disappointed with the outcome but happy with the competitive effort put out all night long. ”Foul trouble hurt us. We also missed too many open shots and free throws. It was a good early season battle and we will get better!” Connor Keegan who didn’t score in the first half for the second straight game still led the hosts with 12 points. Winckler and Steimle added 9 for EP. The Rams were 14-19 from the free throw line while EP hit only 10 of 19. The Sophomore Panthers lost another close one 57-51.
The Saturday tournament games have already been postponed until Monday night in Prophetstown.
Revised Tournament Schedule
5:00 Rock Falls FS vs. EP FS (Ptown old gym)
BV varsity vs. Riverdale varsity (Ptown new gym)
7:00 Rock Falls varsity vs. EP varsity (Ptown new gym)
BV FS vs. Riverdale FS (Ptown old gym)
