Seeking to avenge an earlier-season loss to Escalon, things started poorly for host Ripon Christian on Tuesday night with an 11-turnover first quarter, leading to a seven-point deficit going into the second period.
That deficit did not last long as the Knights responded with a vengeance, outscoring the Cougars 18-2 in the second quarter and holding on in the fourth for a 56-48 Trans-Valley League boys basketball win.
“In the second quarter, we really challenged our toughness,” Ripon Christian coach Mark Hofman said. “There’s no drill for that. That’s your heart – I challenged them and they responded, that second quarter was an 18-2 run. There were some strong words said after the first quarter, but they deserved that.”
The Knights (7-1 TVL, 17-6 overall) scored only three points in the final three minutes of the game, seeing their 13-point lead shrink to five with 30 seconds remaining, but Hofman wasn’t worried.
“We were kind of using a lot of clock,” Hofman said. “At that point we went into a prevent defense and Escalon ran out of time. It wasn’t perfect, though. We made some more mistakes. You have to watch finishing like that in a playoff game, or you’ll get bit.”
Ripon Christian’s Jake Vander Veen scored just two points in the first half but came alive in the second, finishing with 18 points and a double-double with 10 rebounds.
“The first quarter was much like our first meeting with them,” Vander Veen said. “Turnovers, playing soft, making bad decisions – myself and everyone included. We told ourselves that we couldn’t let this happen again, that we couldn’t lose to them twice in one year because of the same stupid mistakes.
“We changed the mindset going into the second quarter. We knew we had to be stronger and smarter and take over the game from there.”
Jace Beidleman added 12 points, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals, but was not show up on the stat sheet is how he repeatedly force Escalon’s players to alter their path in the paint.
“We started off slow,” Beidleman said. The turnovers for us were not good. We came out slow and after the first quarter after coach talked to us, which we needed, and we picked it up.
“Luke (Crivello), Preston Zuidervaart and I – the seniors – we wanted this game. Throughout all of high school I have lost one league game, and that was this year to Escalon. I don’t like losing. If they were going to be physical we had to be more physical and I think that we showed we could do that after the first quarter.”
Crivello added 14 points for the Knights with Amos Cady chipping in eight points and 11 rebounds.
Ethan Garza paced the Cougars (5-3, 19-5) with 15 points and five steals. Logan Huebner added 10 points, six rebounds and six steals.
Ripon Christian remains half a game behind league-leading Ripon with four games TVL games remaining for the Knights and three for the Indians. Ripon Christian travels to Livingston on Thursday at 7 p.m.
