Men’s basketball: Blue Devils score a huge win over NIACC
Published 11:40 pm Wednesday, December 10, 2014
When Riverland Community College men’s basketball coach Scott Koenigs lost to North Iowa Area Community College by one point in overtime four years ago, he figured he may have missed his chance to beat NIACC.
Riverland’s Ricky Landers gets a putback against NIACC in the first half Wednesday night at Riverland Community College. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Luckily for Koenigs, a great group of freshman came along this season and the Blue Devils scored their first win over NIACC (9-6 overall) in at least a decade when they held on for an 86-81 victory in Riverland Gym Wednesday.
The Blue Devils (7-1 overall), who rely mostly on first-year players, led by as many as 11 points in the second half and they closed out the win by going 5-for-6 from the free throw line in the last minute of the contest.
“We talked about coming in and getting a win against a scholarship team and how big of a step that would be,” Koenigs said. “Teams have to worry about us now and they haven’t had to for the past few years. We haven’t had a lot of these types of wins in the last few years.”
The Blue Devils were led by strong guard play as they committed just 14 turnovers against NIACC’s full court pressure. Freshman Marcus Meyers, who is from Milwaukee, Wis., poured in 19 points off the bench as he went 7-for-10 from the field to go with his five rebounds and just one turnover.
Meyers hit a baseline 3-pointer to pull RCC within 10-8 on the first play he touched the ball.
“I feel like coach can trust me and I just try to do what I can do when I get in there,” Meyers said. “That three got me really going and I think it got the team going too. It was a spark.”
Riverland’s Jeremy Stuart looks to dump inside during the first half against NIACC Wednesday night at Riverland Community College. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Dearionte Hudson, a freshman from Germantown, Wis., had 15 points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals for RCC and Ricky Landers, a center from Wauwatosa, Wis., had 21 points and nine rebounds.
“We’ve got some electricity in our backcourt and that’s huge. Teams have a tough time pressing us,” Koenigs said. “Overall, it was a very well played game on our part and we needed to play like that to beat these guys. It was a big win for us.”
Hayfield grad Jeremy Stuart had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in the win. Stuart hit a key 3-pointer to put RCC up 64-55 with 10:54 left in the game and he added a free throw to put the Blue Devils up 84-81 with 17.3 seconds left.
“It meant a lot [to win this one],” Stuart said. “We knew they were a good team. We knew if we came out and gave everything we had, it would be a good game and it was, right down to the very end. Riverland’s been bad for the past few years, but this win will really show what we’re made of.”
The Blue Devils showed a lot of scoring balance in the win, just as they have all season. Four players were in double figures scoring and six players had at least seven points.
“We’ve had games were we’ve had six guys in double figures and pretty much every game we have four guys in double figures,” Koenigs said. “We don’t have a big twenty five point a game scorer. We’re very balanced and it’s a different guy every night.”
NIACC 43 38 — 81
RCC 45 41 — 86
RCC scoring: Ricky Landers, 21; Marcus Meyers, 19; Dearionte Hudson, 13; Jeremy Stuart, 10; Robert Parker, 8; Devonte Miller, 7; Gary Cook, 4; Nate Emge, 3; Gionni Hickman, 1; field goals: 45 percent (31-for-69); 3-pointers: 35 percent (8-for-23); free throws: 53 percent (16-for-30); rebounds: 49 (Landers, 9); turnovers: 14
