Sports
River Valley Raiders Upset Alexander Spartans
By: Maggie Shandrick
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After losing to the Alexander Spartans (11-12, 7-5) two times earlier this year, the River Valley Raiders (9-14, 3-9) were not going to allow that to happen for a third time and defeated seven-seeded Alexander 47-36 in the first round of the playoffs, sending the Spartans home.
The ten-seeded Raiders came out ready to play from tip off, and their defensive endless effort didn’t stop till the scoreboard hit zero. They scored the first bucket of the game, a three-pointer by Tre Craycraft, and didn’t trail the whole game.
It was a slow start on the offensive side of the ball for both teams as it took four minutes for the first team to hit a bucket, and they entered the locker room at halftime with an 18 to 14 score.
Jacob Dovenbarger was a huge force down low for the Raiders as he finished the game with 25 points and maintained opponent Chace Harris down low, only allowing the senior to finish with 13 points in his last game in red and white. Ryan Davidson also contributed 14 points with three three-pointers for Alexander.
It was a night of catch up for the Spartans. They were never able to get their offense going and forced too many passes and shots that led to easy buckets in transition for River Valley. The Spartans finished the game with 13 turnovers.
Alexander pressured the Raiders offense with a full-court press that caused 11 River Valley turnovers, but when River Valley got the ball on their side of the court, they capitalized and put points on the scoreboard.
The Spartans are saying farewell to four seniors, Jacob Coley, Genesis Williams, Wyatt Radford and Chace Harris and will return three starters to next year’s roster.
River Valley advances to Friday night’s game against Oak Hill at Jackson High School. Tip off is set for 6:00.