Rivercrest secures seat in state tournament

By DAVID PIERCE

Osceola Times

MT. VIEW – The upstart Rivercrest Colts ousted 3A Region 2 top seed and host Mountain View from the regional tournament Feb. 22.

Colts guard Kolby Turner penetrates for two in the Colts win over Mountain View. Turner scored six points in the game. (Photos by Kristy Kennemore)

The Colts (10-16) punched their ticket to 3A State Tournament with the 62-55 win over the 3A-2’s regular season and district champion. The Yellowjackets were riding a nine-game winning streak entering the tourney but failed to qualify for the state tourney with the opening round loss.

Behind 20 points from ninth grader Jayden Young, the Colts benefited from solid second and fourth quarter play to upend the favored Yellowjackets.

The Colts outscored Mt. View, 22-12, in the second period to hold a 33-24 advantage entering the break.

Rivercrest’s Jayden Young seems to hang in the air on this drive to the hoop. Young led the Colts with 20 points in the upset win.

Young’s stat line in the quarter read two points, three assists, two steals and rebound, while backcourt running mate Koby Turner scored six points, grabbed two rebounds, a steal and an assist. In all, Rivercrest had five steals in the period which led to 10 points off turnovers. Buddha Harris collected the other two and assisted on two ensuing baskets – one each from Michael Rainer and Frantavis Robinson.

However, Mt. View rallied with a 10-point margin in the third frame to take a one-point lead heading into the final period of play.

Camyn Vickers, who scored a game-high 23 points, outscored Rivercrest on his own in the quarter. He accounted for 12 of his team’s 18 points which bested the Colts 8-point output.

Yet, as RHS had done in the second quarter, they outplayed the Yellowjackets in the final frame.

The game was back and forth in the first five minutes of the quarter before Turner drew a foul and promptly hit both free throws. The two freebies gave Rivercrest a 53-51 lead with 3:22 left in the game.

Following Turner’s two from the charity stripe, Robinson and Young scored on back-to-back drives to the goal.

But Trevor Downs launched a three which caught nothing but the bottom of the net on an out-of-bounds play. With 1:44 remaining, Mt. View trailed 57-54.

The Yellowjackets could’ve trimmed it to one point, but on its next possession missed on four attempts at the basket – all within point-blank range of the goal.

Cavonta Washington finally secured the rebound for Rivercrest. Mt. View was subsequently whistled for a foul which sent Jakavian Williams to the free throw line.

Williams was unable to convert and Vickers snatched the board.

Beck Morrow was fouled and went to the line where he missed the front end. He canned the second and the host team trailed by only two, 57-55, with :49 remaining.

Following a Mt. View timeout, Rivercrest worked the shot clock all the way down before Young launched a three from the top of the key. The shot fell and pushed the Colts lead to five with 11 seconds left.

Mt. View then turned the ball over and Washington sealed the game with two free throws.

In addition to his 20 points, Young tallied 6 assists, five steals and collected six rebounds. Washington was second on the team in scoring with nine, while Harris, another ninth grader, finished with eight, three boards, three assists and three steals. Turner, one of the smallest players on the court, led his team with nine rebounds, while adding six points. Love and Robinson, a third ninth grader who played substantial minutes, both scored six.

Collin Johnson followed Vickers 23 points with nine of his own. He also grabbed six rebounds. Samuel Fletcher added six points and four rebounds.

Rivercrest advanced to play Osceola in the semifinals.