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1-31-2008 By ERIC AHLQVIST Editor The win avenged a lopsided loss to the Redskins earlier this season, and when the final seconds ticked off Richfield players and fans celebrated like they had won a championship. "That's front page news," a smiling Richfield man said to a reporter on his way out of the gym. "This was a big win for us," said Richfield head coach Bill Stevens, who saw his team improve to 15-2 on the season. "They beat us pretty good at our place, but the thing about this team is they have gotten better day by day and we were ready to play tonight." The Indians jumped out to a 14-6 first quarter lead, before Cooperstown fought back to tie the score at 18 apiece after one quarter of play, which featured both teams pressing and a furious pace. Cooperstown, 14-3 overall, started to take control in the second quarter behind senior forward Quinn Snyder, who scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the opening half. Snyder scored four straight points to put his team up, 26- 20, and the Redskins led 33-30 at the half. Richfield freshman phenom Fred Russ (13 points, 18 rebounds, 5 blocks) scored inside midway through the third quarter to put the Indians ahead 39-37, but picked up his third foul moments later. With Russ on the bench, Cooperstown scored the game's next six points, four by senior Luke Tirrell (13 points) to go up 43- 39. But Stevens put Russ right back in and the Indians took a 48-46 lead after three quarters. Richfield senior Alex Sovocool scored his team's final three points of the third quarter, and first seven of the fourth quarter to put Richfield up 55-50. "They had to pay so much attention to Russ inside that it opens up things for other players," Stevens said. "Alex did a good job of being aggressive and rebounding." CCS junior Ryan Davine hit a three-point shot with just over three minutes left to make it 55-53, and Tirrell stole a pass and scored to tie it at 55 with 2:50 remaining. Richfield's Todd McNair, who was 6-6 from the foul line in the final quarter, hit two free throws and Kyle Bridger hit two big baskets to put the Indians up 61-55, and the Redskins managed just two points the rest of the way. "We switched to a half court press in the second half, and that really seemed to give them problems offensively," Stevens said. Cooperstown dropped to 14-3 on the season and has lost two of three games since winning a big league game at Mt. Markham two weeks ago. They play at Sauquoit on Friday night, and a win there would clinch at least a tie for first in Division II of the Center State Conference. They host Sherburne in the final league game of the season on Tuesday. "We had good energy tonight, we just didn't execute our offense very well," said Cooperstown head coach Dave Bertram. "Winning the league is always out big regular season goal, and we still have a great chance to do that." |
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