Riverside was able to overcome a slow start Friday to rally for a narrow 53-51 win against visiting Bethel in the Three Rivers Conference opener for both squads.
The Pirates (3-1, 1-0) trailed by as many as seven points in the first quarter as Bethel (0-2, 0-1) controlled the opening minutes of the contest.
Following a Riverside timeout midway through the first quarter, however, the Pirates launched into an extended scoring run well into the second quarter that proved just enough to hold on to for the narrow win.
The Bees swarmed early, grabbing a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter. The Pirates had an answer though, closing 11 the gap to just one point, 14-13 at the end the first quarter.
The Pirates pulled ahead in the second quarter.
Riverside’s extended scoring run reached 25-9 by the middle of the second quarter as the Pirates pulled ahead 27-18 in the waning minutes before halftime.
Slow start dooms Chiefs in loss to Hillclimbers
Bellefontaine’s boys basketball team found itself in a big early hole and it could not climb out against host Urbana on Friday.
The Hillclimbers jumped out to a 14-2 lead after one quarter, led 21-12 at halftime and went on to win 62-37.
The Chiefs fall to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the Central Buckeye Conference.
Urbana improves to 2-0, 1-0.
Lakers’ fast start dooms Falcons
A torrid shooting first quarter Friday from Indian Lake was more than enough to ground the Graham Falcons 64-24 in a Central Buckeye Conference Mad River contest.
The Lakers (2-0, 1-0) poured in 23 first quarter points on their way to a double-digit lead that Graham (3-1, 0-1) could not overcome.
The Lakers held the visiting Falcons to two points in the opening quarter Friday, and led 23-2 heading into the second quarter.
Dominant second half lift Tigers over Indians
West Liberty-Salem trailed at halftime Friday, but came back to to defeat Mechanicsburg 62-37 Friday in an Ohio Heritage Conference game.
The Tigers (1-1, 1-0) dominated the second half, outscoring the Indians (0-3, 0-2) 41-15 over the final two quarters to cruise to what eventually turned into an easy win. Most of the WL-S damage was done right after halftime, as the Tigers outscored Mechanicsburg 27-4 in the third quarter to put the game away.
The first two quarters were a much different story.