Rivercrest downs Osceola again, wins region title

MANILA - The Rivercrest Colts certainly have rival Osceola’s number and that number is four.

For the fourth time this year and the third time in just a little over two weeks, the Colts (27-3) defeated Osceola, 72-50, thereby capturing the Class 3 Region 2 championship Saturday.

Rivercrest earned a number one seed and drew Harmony Grove (28-4) in the opening round of the 3A State Tournament Wednesday in Elkins.

Robinson for two - Rivercrest’s Fran Robinson goes up for two of his 19 points in the Colts 72-50 win over Osceola in the Class 3A, Region 2 championship game.

“Round four,” responded Rivercrest head coach Hunter Robinson of the ongoing prize fight between the two rivals. “It’s tough. It just shows how good our conference is. I’ll tell you what we beat a really good ball team; super athletic, high basketball IQ guys, too. I don’t know how we keep doing it, but we do.

“We’re good, too, though,” he added of his team which has won five straight postseason games, “and I have some real coachable kids. Hopefully, we’ll keep it going next week.”

Osceola, meanwhile, will try to bounce back as the number two seed and faced Lakeside (13-14) Wednesday, too, in their half of the bracket.

Colts defeat Seminoles - Kash Span shoots while Osceola’s Keenan Jackson offers resistance. Rivercrest beat the Seminoles for the fourth time this season Saturday at Manila. (Photos by Kadan Newson)

“I feel like we’ll see (Rivercrest) again when it counts,” said second-year Osceola head coach Bryanth Basemore, “and that’s with all due respect to the other teams in the tournament.

“Our problem when it comes to this team is we need to overcome self,” he continued dissecting his team’s weakness. “The five letter word pride is destroying us because we can’t remove self and play the game collectively as a team.”

Early on it appeared the Seminoles (19-12) were going to write a different story for chapter four of this rivalry as they took an early 9-3 lead. And their head coach still had a good feeling as the Seminoles only trailed by three at end of the first period and by five at 27-22 at the break.

“You couldn’t tell me that after the first quarter we were going to lose that game,” Basemore commented. “If we would’ve sustained that same effort we had in the first quarter through the rest of the game, I think it would’ve been a different outcome.”

But Rivercrest began to inch away in the third period scoring 15 of the first 22 points in the frame behind Fran Robinson’s three field goals from beyond the arc. And as the Colts flourished, Osceola struggled hitting just 3-of-13 shots in the quarter.

Richard High, who had scored a total of 43 points in the first two regional games, had just six points through three quarters with four of those coming on free throws.

“Right,” replied Robinson of the game plan to limit High’s and Washington’s looks at the baskets. “We wanted to take High and Washington away and I felt like we did. Our kids played phenomenally.”

And the Rivercrest head coach pointed to one Colt player specifically for his defensive contribution. Buddah Harris drew the High defensive assignment.

“(Buddah) is the most underrated player in our conference, probably the state when it comes to 3A basketball,” complimented Robinson. “Every night he draws the best offensive player from the other team, shuts them down and gives you 14-15 points on the offensive end. What more can you ask of an individual? And he’s just a super kid, too.”

High and Washington combined for just 13 points considerably down from their 40 points in the semifinal game against Gosnell.

“We settle for too many jump shots,” explained Basemore. “That’s us just choosing to play soft. We even mentioned it in a timeout and what do we do when we get back on the court? Shoot a jump shot. We can be a physical team if we choose to. For some reason, we chose not to tonight.”

And as the game got further out of reach and facing an 11-point deficit, Osceola was whistled for two technical fouls in a minute’s time.

“We have to be disciplined, poised,” said Basemore. “You know one bad play, decision becomes two and then it snowballs. You look at that red and white team over there Rivercrest. They never got rattled.”

The unshakeable Colts outscored Osceola 45-28 in the second half behind 16-of-24 shooting on two and three-point shots. They were also 11-of-15 from the foul line.

Jayden Young continued his stellar postseason play with 22 points, three assists and three steals, while Fran Robinson chipped in 19, including three three-pointers in the third quarter alone. He also grabbed nine rebounds. Koby Turner chipped in 11, had three steals and three assists. In addition to his defensive effort, Harris tallied seven points and five rebounds.

Tyler Bell and Jeriyan Long both had 12 for Osceola and High finished with 10. Long also accounted for 12 rebounds to finish with a double-double.

“I wanted us to win tonight for psychological reasons,” concluded Basemore. “Hopefully there’s no other Rivercrests over there. Time for us to see a different color jersey.”