River Valley boys basketball team heads to regional play

The River Valley High School boys varsity basketball team had four away games last week. The first was at Fennimore. River Valley led at the half 29-27, but Fennimore pulled ahead to take the game 61-45 in the end. Top scoring Blackhawks were Preston Hying with 11 points and Zach Gloudeman with 10.  “This was an incredibly tough week for us,” said River Valley head coach Luke Thatcher. “Four games, all on the road is not an easy task. We had a tough time matching up with Fennimore’s size.  While we were able to run with them to start, their size, and shooting were too much for us.” Tuesday night the boys traveled to Prairie du Chien to face the Blackhawks. After a close game Praire du Chien took the lead in the end to win 52-47. Top scorers for the Valley were Hying with 17 points and Landen Alt with 14 points.  “Prairie du Chien was a very winnable game for us,” said Thatcher. “I believe this was the turning point in our season. We had a seven point lead with five or so minutes to go.  We were rattled by a call, and PdC was able to score five points on the next possession (bucket and one, missed FT, made a three on offensive rebound). Prairie took control from there, and were able to put us away. They stepped up and made plays.” After a Wednesday night break the Hawks returned to play on Thursday with a game against Dodgeville. At the half the Hawks had the lead 34-26, but the Dodgers caught the win 70-66. Top scoring Hawks were Tyler Nachreiner with 18 points and Hying with 17.  “Dodgeville was the best we have played for 33 of the 36 minutes,” said Thatcher. “I thought we played great team offense for the first time all year. However, the last two minutes of regulation we turned the ball over and didn’t capitalize from the FT line. We were unable to regain the momentum, and Dodgeville executed down the stretch and overtime to put us away.” Friday closed the week out for the boys with a game in Lancaster. River Valley had the lead at the end of the half 27-24 and kept going for the win 59-52 over the Flying Arrows. Top score for the Blackhawks were Nachreiner with 14 points and Alt with 10 points. “I can’t tell you how proud I was of our guys at Lancaster,” beamed Thatcher. “It could have been very easy to rollover after a touch overtime loss, but the boys showed their resiliency and competed. I was very pleased how we closed this game out.  We handled Lancaster’s pressure much better than we did against Dodgeville, and hit FT’s to close the game out. We will look to use this game as our springboard into the tournament.” This week the boys began their regional tournament Tuesday night with a home game against Westby. They will head into the tournament with an SWC record of 4-6 and an overall record of 4-10.