River Valley pulls off comeback win to end regular season
By: Louis Marko
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McARTHUR, Ohio (WOUB) – The River Valley Raiders (8-13; 4-7 TVC-Ohio) travelled to face the Vinton County Vikings (7-14; 6-5 TVC-Ohio) for a regular season conference finale, where River Valley would pull off a comeback and win, 65-56.
In their last matchup, The Raiders beat the Vikings for the first time in school history after an overtime thriller in Bidwell. In this rematch, both teams looked to go into the playoffs on a high note.
In the first quarter, The Vikings started off strong, especially on defense as they held River Valley to three points at the end. The likes of Josh Montgomery and Briggs Prater hit their first few shot attempts as VC held a 13-3 lead after the first.
In the second, the Vinton County offense kept rolling as Nash Yates got involved, scoring seven points in the quarter. River Valley’s offense started to get going as well, but heading into halftime, the deficit grew by one as the Vikings led 26-15.
Early in the third, it would look to be more of the same, but all of a sudden, a switch would flip in the final couple of minutes. River Valley started to catch fire offensively and began to tighten up on defense. Vinton County also began to give away unforced turnovers.
The effect would be immense as the Raiders outscored the Vikings 26-18 in the quarter and cut the lead all the way down to three, with VC on top 44-41 heading into the final eight.
River Valley would continue this momentum and then some, as it wouldn’t take long for them to take the lead in the fourth.
Braden Bennett and Landon Burns led the charge, hitting clutch shots and getting important rebounds. At the end, River Valley would pull off the comeback and come away victorious, 65-56, getting the season sweep and their second win over Vinton County in school history.
Despite the defeat, Yates showed out being the Vikings leading scorer with 21 points, hitting five threes on the night.
Montgomery was also efficient, getting 16 points and going 6/11 from the mid-range. For the Raiders, Braden Bennett took over as he led them with 26 points, going 4/6 from deep, and going 10/12 from the line.
He was accompanied by Burns who had 10 points on the night, and he racked up 12 rebounds, half of the team’s total of 24.
Overall, this was a classic tale of two halves. River Valley turned it up in the second half, while the Vikings went cold.
The River Valley Raiders end the regular season 9-13 overall, 5th in the conference with a 5-7 record, and go on to the playoffs where they face Waverly.
While the Vinton County Vikings end the regular season 7-15 overall, 4th in the conference with a 6-6 record, and go to the playoffs where they matchup against Gallia Academy in Division IV’s Region 15.