The Big Rivers Conference boys’ basketball season is ramping up. 2025 has been 20-20 “Thrive” for River Falls Head Coach Zach Turpin and his Wildcats so far in the new year.
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The Big Rivers Conference boys’ basketball season is ramping up. 2025 has been 20-20 “Thrive” for River Falls Head Coach Zach Turpin and his Wildcats so far in the new year.
Rivals Hudson and River Falls were both 2-2 in BRC play and squared-off in Hudson Friday night, trying to keep pace with Memorial and Rice Lake. The Wildcats were riding a four-game win streak coming into the big match-up.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 12-0 lead with 11:31 left in the first half.
“It’s a game of runs and Hudson is a really good team,” said Zach Turpin. “I knew they were going to come back and it was going to be a grind.”
Turpin was correct. Less than three minutes later, the Raiders had a 17-16 lead. The Wildcats had a slim two-point lead at the break, 28-26. Hudson was led by junior Jace Mataczynski with 13 points in first half. Junior Brody Graetz had 11 points and fellow junior Cal Dumond had seven for the Wildcats heading into halftime.
The second half is when the Wildcats’ “Big Three” flexed their muscles. Seniors Preston Johnson and Eli Johnson combined for just seven points in the first half. Johnson and Johnson erupted in the second stanza, Preston finishing with 12 points and Eli with 18 points. Eli Johnson grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds on the night. Graetz led all scorers with 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting and 3 of 5 from the three-point line. The Wildcats held on for the 68-67 win.
“Preston cares so much and he does so much for us,” said Turpin. “He does all the little things and he earns his respect. He does so many things that don’t show up in the box score.”
“We just didn’t want to lose this game tonight,” said Preston Johnson, who also chipped in with six rebounds and five assists.
Preston Johnson and the Wildcat defense clamped down on Mataczynski, who was held scoreless in the second half. With 3:19 remaining in the game and the Wildcats up by five, 52-47, Graetz picked off an errant Raider pass and, with the confidence of a gambler playing poker with a royal flush, Graetz pulled up on the fast-break and drained a three-pointer.
“Coach Turpin tells Preston and I to work on that shot in practice,” said Graetz. “It’s a shot we’re used to shooting.”
Eli Johnson had eight points after Graetz’s three put the Wildcats up by eight. During the last three minutes of the game, the big man heading to Iowa to play football next year strapped the Wildcats on his back scoring 10 of their last 12 points to help close out the Raiders.
“Eli got some big buckets for us down the stretch,” said Turpin. “When he wants to go get it, he goes and gets it. He’s a special athlete.”
If Green Bay Packer play-by-play announcer Wayne Larrivee would have been calling the game, he would have said Eli Johnson’s thunderous dunk in the waning minute was the dagger.
“It was a good pass from Cal (Dumond),” said Eli Johnson about the rim-rattling dunk. “It was wide open and I just put it down. My mindset is to just do what it takes to win for our team.”
Hudson, down seven points with just over 20 seconds remaining, somehow found a way to come roaring back. After a three-point Raider basket tickled the twine with exactly 5.8 seconds remaining, it brought the score to 68-65. The Wildcats were not able to inbound the ball within the referee’s five-second count.
With the clock still showing exactly one-second remaining and the ball underneath their basket, the Raiders inbounded the ball and opted to shoot a wide open two-point lay-up, sealing the win for River Falls.
“Anytime we can come into our rival’s gym and get a win versus Hudson, it feels pretty good,” said Graetz, who is shooting 44% from beyond the arc in 10 games this season.
Wildcat junior Cal Dumond finished an ultra-efficient 5 of 9 from the floor for 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Wildcats have won their last five games and improved to 8-2 over-all on the season and 3-2 in BRC play. The Raiders dropped to 6-6 over-all and 3-2 in the conference after Friday’s loss to River Falls and Saturday’s loss to Marshfield. Hudson has lost four of their five games.
River Falls will host Rice Lake at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16.