Leesburg, Va. — As snow fell onto Loudoun County, high school basketball games were postponed for days, up until, the snow stopped and roads were clear to have the Riverside and John Champe High School basketball teams compete on January 8. Riverside junior forward Mason Ridgeway (19 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists) and Riverside junior guard Max Lawson (17 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals) propelled the Rams easily past the Knights, 92-47.
“The focus was about us and just us,” Riverside head coach Mike Koscinski said. “We wanted to get to the rim, and go inside-out scoring, but we also wanted to hit the floor and get the fastbreak going.”
Riverside senior forward Joell Basue (11 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists) rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Rams with 11 points. However, Riverside dominated the court with at least two points from 12 players. Senior guard Josh Ntiamoah (7 points, 7 assists) added a game-high 7 assists, while sophomore guard Noah Blubaugh (9 points, 2 assists) knocked down 3 three-pointers.
The Rams started the game aggressively by forcing turnovers, jumping out to a 10-3 lead less than four minutes into the game. On the next possession, Riverside imposed their defense on John Champe, creating another turnover, before Ridgeway knocked down a three-pointer from the wing to increase the Riverside lead, 13-3.
John Champe responded with a three of their own after sophomore forward Ethan Anthony (6 points, 1 rebound) made the basket from the top of the key to cut the deficit to 13-6. A couple of possessions later, John Champe junior guard Bradee Frazitta (10 points, 3 rebounds) knocked down a three-pointer from the corner to keep the Knights in a 16-9 ballgame.
Then, Riverside went on a 8-0 scoring run to close out the first quarter with a 24-9 lead. The Rams defense forced 8 turnovers and shot 58% on their field goal attempts.
“We’re really good, and it’s not fun to play us,” Koscinski said. “Hats off to [John Champe] for trying to get into the post and trying different looks to slow us down. We put up 94 [points]today, and the defensive end was being tenacious and putting pressure on the ball and just attacking.”
John Champe junior guard Zay Joyner (6 points, 4 rebounds) opened up the second quarter with a contested layup, but Riverside senior forward Brady Peterson (6 points, 3 rebounds) made a layup on the other end of the floor for a 26-11 Rams lead.
After some back and forth by both teams, Ridgeway poured in another open three-pointer from the wing. Not to be detoured, Riverside forced a turnover and Blubaugh was open in the corner for a three to push the Rams lead to 32-12.
With missed shots from both teams, Lawson pounced on an offensive rebound and made a quick putback while drawing a foul. Subsequently, the Riverside defense forced another turnover which led to Lawson being open for a three from the wing to give the Rams a 37-12 lead.
Trying to gain some momentum, the Knights pushed the ball upcourt, finding freshman guard Malakeye Walton (5 points) for a wide-open three-pointer from the wing to cut the John Champe deficit to 37-15.
Riverside dominated the second quarter—outscoring John Champe 28-14—to go into halftime with a 52-23 lead. The Rams forced 5 turnovers in the second frame and never gave the ball up themselves.
Frazitta opened up the third quarter making an open three, but Lawson responded with back-to-back threes to give Riverside a 60-28 lead with just over two minutes into the quarter.
John Champe forced 4 turnovers in the third quarter, with senior guard Luke Zachariasiewicz (5 points, 2 assists) and junior guard Zach Teague (5 points) knocking in huge threes off turnovers. However, Riverside had a hot shooting hand in the third quarter, making 77% of their field goal attempts and going 3-for-6 from behind the arc.
“So we were in here getting the work in [on the snow days],” Basue said. “Doing the basics and just getting the rust off for every new game coming up. Today, everybody was tired from all the snow days.”
After outscoring John Champe 17-8 in the fourth quarter, Riverside cruised to an easy 92-47 win over the Knights.
“With seven newcomers, where do we fit them in,” Koscinski said. “We’ve been doing that gradually over the break, and today’s priority was to get heavier minutes for those guys. We want to focus on developing and making that happen for the bench guys.”
Riverside (0-0, 11-1) returns home on January 10 against Heritage. John Champe (0-0, 1-8) will travel to Leesburg on January 15 to try to get back into the win column against Tuscarora.
“We’re really excited to see how the competition is and see where we stand in the [Potomac] District,” Basue said. “We really think we’re at the top.”