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The River Falls High School boys basketball team has won three straight games and six of its last seven contests, with victories over Medford on Tuesday, Feb. 15, and Menomonie on Thursday, Feb. 17, to improve to 18-4 for the season.

The Tuesday night home game against Medford was a non-conference matchup with a Division 2 Raider team that has had success this year and entered the game with a 15-5 record. The Wildcats haven’t been short on success either and entered the contest with a 16-4 record. River Falls took advantage of size matchups and positioning to win the rebounding battle by 17 which helped propel the Wildcats to a 50-44 win.

In the first half, River Falls struggled to maintain possession of the ball. Medford took advantage of the Wildcats’ turnovers in the opening dozen minutes and led nearly the entire half because of it. With just under five minutes to go in the first half, River Falls eliminated a four-point deficit with a 6-0 scoring run to end the first half and take a 24-22 lead going into the break.

The run began with a pick and roll and the top of the key by senior guard Michael Schurman and senior forward Ethan Campbell. A great screen by Campbell freed Schurman to attack the rack for a layup. Less than one minute later Campbell hit a mid-range jumper to tie the game 22-22. Another Schurman layup with one minute to play in the half gave River Falls the aforementioned two-point lead.

While River Falls head coach Zac Campbell was happy to take a lead going into the second half, turnovers were the main reason that the Wildcats’ lead was only two instead of potentially eight or ten points.

“It’s a matter of focus for us,” Zac Campbell said. “We want guys to be able to make plays, but we get too many guys trying to make plays at one time and it leads to turnovers. It’s that balance as a coach of not wanting to take a foot off of the gas pedal but also understand our strengths and what we’re trying to accomplish.”

The second half was much clearer in respect to turnovers for River Falls. The Wildcats

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started the half with a five-point scoring run that featured a threepoint play the old-fashioned way by Ethan Campbell and another Schurman driving layup to take a 29-22 lead over the visiting Raiders.

The Raiders made a run midway through the second half that came primarily on the back of junior forward Logan Baumgartner, who made multiple threes, got to the line, and fought to keep his team in the game. A lot of his open looks came at the top of the key as he got free from stagger screens near the free-throw line. Zac Campbell spoke about trying to defend that offense designed to get Baumgartner open looks from deep.

“They run that stagger action and they run it really, really well,” Zac Campbell said. “They’re disciplined and will have guys that will be sore tomorrow because of the way they set screens. We were chasing off and did a fairly decent job. We had drilled in practice switching (those screens). We’ve seen teams (switch) and jump it. We did three possessions of that, but you can’t keep going to that well because they will slip to the basket and get layups.”

Zac Campbell credited the Raiders’ ability to work off of those screens and get open looks. A quick 6-0 run by the Raiders, in large part thanks to that offensive scheme, gave Medford a 33– 31 lead with just over 11 minutes to play in regulation.

River Falls responded with a scoring barrage of its own. This time it was a 9-0 run with under 10 minutes to play. It featured a three-pointer from sophomore guard Joey Butz, two free-throws from Schurman, a Butz running floater and a Schurman steal and transition layup to take a 40-33 lead with nine minutes to play.

It was a game of scoring runs and, in the end, River Falls held on to get the 50-44 non-conference victory. While turnovers were an issue, River Falls controlled the glass, especially offensively, which contributed to the six-point win. Zac Campbell spoke about the game and getting the win, even without a team-best performance.

“To be able to get them without our best was pretty darn good,” Zac Campbell said after the game. “That’s a team that can shoot the ball and they haven’t been held in the 40s for a long time. We made three really big runs — late in the first half, early mid-second half and then down the stretch. The way we ended the two halves was the difference in the game.”

Schurman and Ethan Campbell led the Wildcats in scoring with 13 and 14 points respectively for the night. Ethan Campbell shot an efficient 62% from the floor, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out one assist. Schurman’s 50% shooting from the floor, two steals and one block helped seal the game for River Falls.

River Falls defeats Menomonie 63-62 in OT

The Wildcats had a short turnaround this week, which included traveling to Menomonie for a Big Rivers Conference game on one day’s rest for River Falls. The Wildcats were up for the challenge, as they defeated the Mustangs 63-62 in a thrilling overtime victory.

River Falls came out of the gate and earned a 30-21 halftime lead on the road against the Mustangs. However, the second half went differently. Senior 6’10” forward Noah Feddersen took the game over and got Menomonie back into the game. His final stat line included 26 points on 73% shooting, as well as seven rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Feddersen’s effort pushed the game into overtime, where the Wildcats outscored the Mustangs 10-11 to secure the 63-62 victory. The win improved the Wildcats’ record to 18-4 for the season, including a 10-3 record in the Big Rivers Conference, which trails only Eau Claire Memorial’s 12-1 record.

After the aforementioned Medford win, Zac Campbell spoke about playing close games and his quote seems applicable to both of the last two games they’ve played.

“I wanted to put the (Medford) game away early in the first half when we got up eight points,” Zac Campbell said. “But you’re accurate, having to execute down the stretch is something we haven’t had many opportunities to do this year.”

Despite winning three straight and six of the last seven, Zac Campbell said that this team can play even better than it has this season, and he hopes to see that come tournament time in the next 10 days or so.

“We’re not in a bad spot,” Zac Campbell said of his team. “But we have better in us, and that’s not coach speak. Our buy-in at practice needs to get better. It starts with practice habits.”

River Falls senior guard Jack Hirstein plays tough defense on Medford senior guard Joey Sullivan. RFHS senior Ryan Langer (#2) provides help-side defense. ______________________ ___