Raiders drop games to Liberty Bell and Riverside Christian

The Raiders losing streak extends to four games as last week they lost on the road to Liberty Bell on the 31st and at home last Saturday to the South - leading Riverside Christian Crusaders. These losses hurt LR’s chance of a berth to Districts as now they find themselves in 4th place in the North behind Bridgeport who has the head to head win advantage over LR.

At Liberty Bell, the Raiders had the bad luck of playing the Mountain Lions on a night when they hit every shot. “They shot the lights out of us, they didn’t miss a shot,” Head Coach Jeff Brisbois commented, “We scored a season high of 57 points which is usually enough to win but Liberty Bell just had a higher shooting percentage.” The 71-57 loss put the Mountain Lions in a tie with Manson at 6-3 in league play at the top and for LR, put them down to 4th at 4-4 in league play.

On Groundhog Day at Gailord Nelson Gym the Raiders took on the juggernaut of the Riverside Christian Crusaders who were coming off a 64-41 victory over White Swan the night before. Early on, both squads had trouble getting the shots to fall. Then, late in the first quarter the Crusaders went on a scoring streak that gave them the lead going into the second quarter, 14-6. LR would not get back into the game as the Crusader lead grew to 17 points at halftime, and after a third quarter which saw Riverside Christian go on a 14-0 run and LR scoring only 2 points on a Kendall Piccolo basket, the lead grew to 32 points. Being behind 51-19 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Raiders played with a surge of enthusiasm which led to steal and points. But it was too little too late as the Raiders fell for the 4th time in two weeks, the final score was Riverside Christian 66, LR 35.

Coach Brisbois said it was the low shooting percentage that hurt the Raiders as defensively they played a tough first half and put themselves in a position to compete. The Raiders need to win both games this week if they are to have a chance at making Districts. Last night was senior night for the Raiders as they took on the Oroville Hornets. Tomorrow the Raiders travel to Bridgeport for a must- win game against the Mustangs who hold an advantage over the Raiders because of their head to head win two weeks ago. The game starts at 7:30 pm at Bridgeport High School.

Standings for Central Washington

2B North

Manson 6-3 11-6

Liberty Bell 6-3 11-7

Bridgeport 5-3 10-7

LAKE ROOSEVELT 4-5 6-12

Oroville 1-8 4-14