After struggling early, the River Falls Wildcats’ defense played more physical, got multiple stops and won the rebounding battle, which led to a 57-51 victory at home over New Richmond in the Big Rivers Conference opener on Friday, Dec. 2.

The Wildcats quickly fell behind 26-12 in the first nine minutes of action. Throughout the following nine minutes, River Falls allowed just six total points and went into the halftime locker room trailing 32-26. The Cats outscored New Richmond 31-19 in the second half to secure the six-point win.

For River Falls head coach Zac Campbell, Friday night’s win over the Tigers was a result of the defense, hustle and overall effort in all phases of the game. Coach Campbell spoke about how his boys got the job done in the league opener.

“The way we got the win feels the best. We got down early and had to really dig in,” Campbell said. “The boys made some very tough-nosed plays late in the first half to swing momentum back our way and came out of the locker room and controlled tempo the second half. We still are making far too many simple mistakes in the game but when you play with the amount of heart the boys showed Friday evening, you can mask a lot of fundamental ills.”

While making tough-nosed plays throughout the latter part of the first half was important, having New Richmond’s three-point shooting cool off after the opening scoring salvo didn’t hurt either. New Richmond junior guard Reis Hidde made four three-pointers in the first eight minutes and then scored just three points the rest of the game.

At the same time the Tigers’ offense went cold, the Wildcats’ began getting hot and it started with a deep three-pointer by senior guard Aidan Carufel. Then with approximately five minutes left in the first half, sophomore center Eli Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and made a putback layup to continue chipping away at New Richmond’s lead.

Shortly thereafter, junior guard Joey Butz joined the offensive fun with a three-point play the old-fashioned way. Then with two minutes left in the first half, the aforementioned Johnson grabbed another offensive rebound and made a layup to cut the Tigers’ lead to four points, 28-24.

Johnson, who made his first start of the season against New Richmond on Friday night, has proved to be River Falls’ most physical interior presence. The 6’4” sophomore sparked the Wildcats’ comeback against the Tigers with his work on the glass and inside finishing.

“Eli (Johnson) has had a strong start to our season in practice and has earned what he’s gotten,” Campbell said. “He’s an individual with a tremendous frame and plays with a physical mindset. He’s tossing guys around in practice (including our coaching staff) and he’s somebody that’s play thus far allows others to feed off of his presence.”

After chipping away at New Richmond’s lead early in the second half, River Falls grabbed just its second lead of the game, 36-34, when Carufel found sophomore point guard Preston Johnson cutting to the bucket for a wide-open layup.

The Wildcats and Tigers continued to battle back and forth with the game hanging in the balance. Then with just under five minutes left in regulation, Eli Johnson converted a tough and-one play after getting fouled while making a layup. Eli Johnson’s threepoint play gave River Falls a 50-42 lead and helped seal the victory. He finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Although there are still areas to clean up for River Falls after Friday’s game, it was a marked improvement compared to the Monday night season debut against La Crosse Central, a 62-39 loss. Coach Campbell spoke about what changed between Monday and Friday.

“Our team played with a lot of purpose on the offensive glass Friday evening. We need to clean up some things on the defensive glass but when you shoot 4/24 from three you usually put yourself in a difficult spot,” Campbell said. “However, we were able to clean up so many of those misses to make productive possessions out of them that the shooting percentage didn’t affect us as badly as it could have. The physical mindset the boys played with on Friday was completely different than Monday versus La Crosse Central. Film often humbles all of us and I feel the boys took it to heart after watching a series of clips from Monday evening.”

Leading scorers for the night included Eli Johnson and Preston Johnson, who both scored 17, Carufel and Butz each had eight points and junior forward Jonah Severson rounded out the scoring with seven points.

With the win, River Falls improved to 1-1 for the season and 1-0 in Big Rivers Conference action. The Wildcats were back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 6, for a non-conference game against St. Paul Johnson. That game was slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.

River Falls sophomore Eli Johnson buries a three-pointer during the six-point win over New Richmond in the conference opener on Friday night. Johnson had success in the paint and stretching the floor with a three-point, which helped him finish with 17 points and 11 rebounds.Photo by Journal Staff