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Basketball Wrap - Boys Take Consolation Championship At Del Oro
1218 Lopez
Bruin Ylli Lopez breaks past the Ripon Christian defense during recent varsity basketball action. The boys won a pair of games in tournament play on the road this past week. Ric McGinnis/The News

In a busy weekend of play, the Riverbank Bruins varsity boys basketball team won two games and lost one at the Del Oro Tournament.

They lost the opener to Casa Roble by a 70-62 final, with coach Jeff Jennings noting that Casa Roble’s six-foot-nine center did a lot of damage. The Bruins countered with 32 points from Rolaun Dunham and 20 from Curtis Porter III. Casa Roble had a 33-27 lead at the half and was just a couple of points better than the Bruins over the final two frames, holding on for the win.

The opening round game was on Thursday, Dec. 12 and it was the only loss of the tourney for the Bruins, who came back on Friday with a 67-59 win over Whitney, paced by the sharp shooting of Dunham. He hit 11-for-11 in field goal shooting and was 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, pouring in 28 points. It was a slim 36-34 Riverbank lead at the half, and the teams traded points, 12-12, in the third before Riverbank pulled away with a 19-13 run over the final eight minutes. The Bruins got 20 points from Porter and six other players also scored in the game.

In the consolation championship, Riverbank beat Inderkum 52-50 on Saturday.

“It was a great tournament for us playing against Division Two and Division Three teams,” Jennings explained. “Rolaun Dunham was chosen as All Tournament.

“Our goal was to get out and to see some great competition and different styles of play. I really felt like we improved and it was a great team building experience for us staying the night on Friday.”

The Bruins have had a hectic pace early on, and have played eight games in the past two weeks.

 

VARSITY GIRLS

Riverbank’s varsity girls notched a pair of victories in their time on the court this week. The girls were 50-37 victors against Waterford on Tuesday, Dec. 10 and then came back with a tight contest the next day, defeating East Union by a 41-38 final. They are slated to host Bret Harte in action tonight, Wednesday, Dec. 18.