By By STEVE MORRISON / Niles Daily Star
An agile, fast-paced South Bend Riley Wildcat boys' basketball team scored early and often in a 71-35 victory over host Niles Wednesday night.
Led by senior forward Larry King's career-high 31 points, the Wildcats stormed out to an 18-0 edge to begin the game.
In fact, King scored 23 of Riley's first 33 tallies mostly on smooth jumpers and penetrating drives for lay ups. For the night, he made a meticulous 13-of-15 field goal attempts and 5-of-7 free tosses.
Meanwhile, Niles succumbed to intense full court pressure by the Wildcats to turn over the ball 15 times in the first half.
With 6-foot-8 Cody Henson and 6-6 Marcus Moody inside the paint, the Riley team dominated both the offensive and defensive boards with superior height.
Terrell Farrow scored Niles' first points on a three-ball with just 2:30 left in the first quarter. Zach Pearson added two baskets in the second quarter to lead the host scorers.
Riley was able to easily penetrate the Niles zone defense, as it kept its onslaught going with 19 points in the second period.
King hit five field goals and was 2-of-2 at the free throw line. Coupled with their 21 points for the first quarter, the Wildcats boasted a 40-12 halftime lead.
At the outset of the third quarter, the Vikings showed some early spark. Pearson led off the initiative with a high jumper over Henson. Guards David Garner and Zach Payne narrowed the deficit with two straight threes and the Vikes were showing some life.
Off of the bench, freshman Myles Busby, in his first ever varsity action, displayed some flash with two treys and a third bucket for two. With 16 points for the quarter, Niles had a slight chance, down 46-28.
Then Riley went on another 12 point run to put the game away.
Riley forward, Nick Achille dropped in nine points to lead second half scorers for the visitors. Achille's 17 points was second to King's 31 for Riley. Between them they had done enough damage, at 48 points to win the game alone.
A.J. Moore came off the bench to sink two picture-perfect 3-pointers for Niles in the final eight minutes. He provided Niles with some steady hustle on both ends of the court.
Niles coach Todd Pawielski was obviously concerned with his team's offensive effort.
"That's a powerful South Bend Riley (team)," he began. "They made the final four last year. They're 7-3 (now 8-3). They're certainly a very good, well-coached team," he assessed, in respect for Riley head coach Mark Johnson.
"I'm certainly very disappointed in our execution tonight. We ran around, defensively, without a purpose, and offensively we just turned it over numerous times without any cause. Riley plays good defense, but there's just no reason to turn around and throw the ball away," Pawielski continued.
"Myles (Busby) played a great game off of the bench. We're very proud of the way he played. He showed a lot of poise for a freshman. I thought A.J. Moore played very well for us coming off the bench and making two threes for us," Pawielski added.
Niles' junior varsity squad pulled off a remarkable comeback victory over their Wildcat opponents. Down by six, with two minutes remaining in the game, they finally took a 44-43 lead on two clutch free throws by Matthew McLaughlin. With 9.1 seconds on the clock Nick Lucero rejected a Riley shot, and Austin Parks dropped two resulting free throws to finish off the 48-43 Niles victory.
McLaughlin scored 15, Lucero 13 and Parks had 12 to head Niles in the scoring column.
RILEY 71
Raphael Smith 2 0-0 4, Larry King 13 5-6 31, Nick Achille 7 1-2 17, Cody Henson 1 1-2 3, Delvon Brown 1 0-0 2, Dominique Brazier 0 0-2 0, Pierre Burdette 1 2-2 4, Karl Columbus 1 2-2 4, T.J. Grant 1 0-0 2, Marcus Moody 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 29 11-16 71
NILES 35
David Garner 1 0-0 3, Andrew Brawley 0 1-2 1, Asaad Ali 0 1-2 1, Zach Payne 1 0-0 3, Zach Pearson 3 0-0 6, Terrell Farrow 1 0-0 3, Myles Busby 4 0-2 10, Conrad Muhumza 1 0-0 2, Javier Smith 0 0-0 0, A.J. Moore 2 0-0 6, Mitch Peterek 0 0-0 0, Jordan Potthoff 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 2-6 35
Riley 21 40 60 71
Niles 4 12 28 35
3-point goals: Riley 2 (Achille 2), Niles 7 (Moore 2, Busby 2, Garner, Payne, Farrow. Total fouls (fouled out): Riley 11, Niles 16. Varsity records: Riley 8-3, Niles 1-8