The River Falls High School boys’ basketball team came up just short in its upset bid on the road against Eau Claire Memorial on Friday, Dec. 16, which would have been the first time since the 2020-21 season that the Wildcats defeated the Old Abes.

Eau Claire Memorial responded to adversity well, even as the Old Abes trailed by double digits in the second half. That’s when Memorial senior guard Mason Stoik took the game over. Stoik scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half en route to a 5748 comeback victory over the Wildcats.

For River Falls head coach Zac Campbell, Friday night’s loss against Eau Claire Memorial was bittersweet. His team finally shot it well from three-point range – hitting at a 38% clip against the Old Abes – but ultimately came up short against a team that is picked to win the Big Rivers Conference this season. He spoke about balancing the process with the final result.

“Definitely a game we should have won, especially after our start to the second half. That’s a very good team that has a lot of experience,” Campbell said. “It was great to see our guys dictate the flow of the game for periods against an experienced group who is picked to win the conference while being on the road. As much as we want to win games, we need to stay focused on the process and the process has allowed this group to get a lot better over the past seven days. If we can keep our mindset there, good things will happen for this group.”

Through the first five games of the year, River Falls shot approximately 20% from beyond the three-point arc. However, River Falls senior guard Joey Butz almost single- handedly changed that on the road against Eau Claire Memorial on Friday night.

After burying two corner three-pointers in the first four minutes, Butz hit a straightaway three to keep the Wildcats in the game. A couple of possessions later, Butz drained a heat-check wing three-pointer that cut the Old Abes’ lead to five points, 19-14, with eight minutes to play in the first half. Coach Campbell spoke about Butz’s four first-half threes.

“Our team did a great job of attacking in transition off of their missed jumpers,” Campbell said. “They are a team who has 50% of their field goal attempts as threes this season and we really wanted to counterattack off of rebounds. Joey (Butz) does a great job running in transition and his teammates did a great job of finding him.”

Although River Falls shot it well throughout the first half, turnovers and easy buckets led to Memorial’s 24-21 halftime lead. The Old Abes regularly double-teamed River Falls’ guards as they crossed half-court, which created turnovers and transition layups. Campbell spoke about costly mistakes that gave Memorial too many easy points.

“We expect to see pressure every game. It’s a weakness of our team. It was this summer, it has been in practice, and has now lost us a game this season,” Campbell said. “It’s something we work on daily through all 19 of our practices so far this season and it’s something I need to do a better job putting our players in position to be successful.”

The Wildcats played arguably their best five-minute stretch of the season to start the second half against Memorial. River Falls put together a 16-2 scoring salvo that included 10 points from the aforementioned Butz which featured two layups and a couple of three-pointers.

River Falls sophomore point guard Preston Johnson made a couple of slashing layups and sophomore center Eli Johnson used a post move to create space for another easy Wildcat score. By the time River Falls’ scoring surge ended, the Wildcats had built an 11-point lead, 37-26, with just over 13 minutes to play in the second half. Coach Campbell spoke about the electric first five minutes.

“Energy,” Campbell said. “We played defensively with better activity, we were able to play through transition, and in turn were able to put on our best run of the season.”

Just as it appeared as if River Falls was going to secure the upset, Eau Claire Memorial’s Mason Stoik quickly put that notion to bed. After the Wildcats’ 16-2 run, Memorial responded with a 10-2 scoring surge that culminated in a Stoik three-pointer from the top of the key to make it a one-possession game, 39-36, still favoring River Falls.

Both teams continued their offensive brilliance throughout the next several minutes as Butz and the Wildcats battled Stoik’s oneman show. With just under five minutes to play, River Falls clung to a 48-47 lead. That’s when Stoik hit a deep wing three-pointer that gave Memorial its first lead, 50-48, since the beginning of the second half.

On the ensuing possession, Stoik jumped a pass, picked it off, and drove down for an uncontested layup to make it 52-48, which proved to be the beginning of the end for River Falls. Stoik and the Old Abes cruised to a 57-48 victory. Coach Campbell spoke about Stoik’s 21-point second-half performance that included four three-pointers.

“Stoik won the game for them, no doubt. He’s a great player who has been forced into a screener role in their ball screen offense with the injury to Schroeder this year,” Campbell said. “Friday night was the first game Schroeder has played this season and it allowed Stoik to move to a perimeter role, something he’s much better at, and he made a lot of big plays for them.”

Coach Campbell spoke about what led to Stoik’s success shooting the three on Friday night and how some defensive miscues led to the offensive explosion.

“He’s a top-tier player in our conference and showed it Friday evening,” Campbell said. “They did a good job of locating him off of our role coverage on ball screens which allowed him more open jumpers than we’d like, part of which was due to our poor hand activity in periods of the game.”

With the loss, River Falls dropped to 3-3 overall for the season and 1-2 in Big Rivers Conference games. The Wildcats currently hold a tie for fifth place in the league standings with Eau Claire North and Rice Lake.

River Falls is back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 20, when the Wildcats go on the road to face the Chippewa Falls Cardinals. That game is slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.