Corralling the Cubs: Riverton shocks top-ranked Humboldt

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Sports

March 1, 2017 - 12:00 AM

HUMBOLDT — It is both the most magical and the cruelest part about the postseason.
No matter how good a team is all year, one game is all it takes for it to come to an end, just like that.
That was Humboldt’s fate on Tuesday night when it hosted eighth-seeded Riverton in the first game of the substate tournament. The Rams stunned the Cubs with a 48-44 victory.
“If losing doesn’t hurt, then winning doesn’t mean anything,” Humboldt coach David Taylor said. “Rankings don’t mean anything, you still have to play the game.”
On paper, the 4-14 Rams appeared to be no match for a 19-1 Cubs team that has risen through the rankings all season and just this week earned the No. 1 spot in 3A.
But a huge question has hung over the Cubs all season: What if Rayce Hoepker’s shot is off?
Throughout the season it seemed like this may be a question that never needed answering. The senior guard has been unstoppable this year, averaging 28.4 points per game going into Tuesday and while hitting 57 percent of his shots and 44 percent from behind the arc.
He has been Humboldt’s ‘Superman’ all season and coach David Taylor built a team around his star which perfectly complemented him.
The plan worked all season, Hoepker’s lowest scoring output all season was 16 points and he was only held under 20 twice all year — the other time being 19 points in Humboldt’s only other loss of the season against Erie early in the year.
The Rams came into the game with a focus on limiting Hoepker… No problem, that is every team’s strategy.
They put their top defender — sophomore Carson Shockley — on him and just had him shadow the all-state shoe-in… Another obvious strategy.
Riverton was incredibly physical with Hoepker any time he got near the lane… Again, nothing new — Hoepker shot 173 free throws this season.
On Tuesday, Hoepker was just off and the Cubs could not find any offensive footing.
“We were never in any rhythm all night, nobody,” Taylor said.
Riverton jumped out to a 6-0 lead and eyebrows began to rise as this may develop into a ballgame.
The Cubs cut it to 8-6 at the end of the first quarter and it looked like they would recover from the sluggish start and get going.
The second quarter wasn’t any better, Hoepker was forced to the locker room for a short time with a bloody nose and the Cubs couldn’t find their traction.
Hoepker got back on the floor late in the half and grabbed an offensive rebound before getting fouled trying to put it back up. The 86 percent foul shooter hit both to cut the lead to 19-16 and score his first points of the night.
And the thought was that this isn’t ideal, but they are right in the game and the second half will be a different story. Survive and advance.
Shockley had two points for Riverton to open the third quarter, but Humboldt sophomore Bo Bigelow finally got some offensive flow going for the Cubs with seven-straight points and gave Humboldt its first lead at 23-21.
“Bo is going to be a good player,” Taylor said. “As he matures and gets older, he is going to be a good player.”
The lead bounced around for a brief time and grew to 33-29 on a pair of Hoepker free throws, but Riverton junior Bayley Lansford closed the quarter with an ‘and-one’ play and the Cubs’ lead was just one going into the final quarter.
The lead was stretched out to 39-32 with two Hoepker foul shots capping a 6-0 run.
Whew, finally some breathing room… Not so fast.
Riverton answered with a 7-0 run capped by another three-point play by Lansford.
Humboldt came right back with baskets by Hesston Murrow and Bigelow to retake the lead, but two more Lansford baskets, including yet another three-point play,  gave Riverton back the lead before Teryn Johnson tied it with a free throw.
Riverton junior Travis Comer hit the eventual game-winning pair of free throws with :42 seconds left and after a Johnson miss from three, Lansford appropriately sealed the game with two of his own from the charity stripe.
The Cubs had no answer for the Rams’ big man who finished with a game-high 18 points.
“We weren’t very effective in the paint, either offensively or defensively, tonight,” Taylor said. “
Bigelow led the Cubs with 13 points — the first time this season someone other than Hoepker was the top scorer.
Hoepker finished with 10 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the foul line, but went 0-10 from the field and 0-7 from beyond the arc.
That is only the second time all season that Hoepker didn’t have a three in a game. The first was in 71-8 victory over Altoona-Midway.
The Cubs didn’t make a single three-pointer as a team.

TIP OF THE CAP
This team came into the season with Hoepker as the only returning starter  and the first word of my preseason preview for the Cubs was “Rebuilding.”
Taylor and this team didn’t want anything to do with that and went on a magical run that culminated on Monday with being ranked No. 1. No matter the result of the final game, these Cubs put together an amazing season and Taylor credits his three seniors — Hoepker, Daylon Splane and Joe Kline — for that.
“I am extremely proud of what they have done,” Taylor said. “To win 19 games is a great, great, great thing. I was hoping  we could be successful and win 11 or 12 this season. They surpassed my expectations by more than you can know.”
Next season, the Cubs will again appear to be on the rebuild, but with Tucker Hurst, Lance Daniels, Murrow, Johnson and Bigelow having more experience than anyone on this year’s Cubs — outside of Hoepker — had coming into the year, don’t count Taylor and his Cubs out.
“We played a lot of young kids,” Taylor said. “People don’t realize how young we are.”

BOX SCORE
Riverton 48,
Humboldt 44
Humboldt (19-2)
(2pt/3pt-FTM-FTA-Points) Rayce Hoepker 0/0-10-12-10; Lance Daniels 1/0-0-0-2; Bo Bigelow 6/0-1-1-13; Daylon Splane 4/0-0-0-8; Joe Kline 1/0-0-0-2; Teryn Johnson 0/0-3-4-3; Tucker Hurst 1/0-0-0-2; Hesston Murrow 2/0-0-2-4. TOTALS: 15/0-14-19-44. FOULED OUT: Kline.

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