After first opting out of season, Riverstone basketball rallied for its best year ever
Riverstone didn’t have a basketball team through December.
The private school in East Boise originally opted out of all winter sports this season due to the coronavirus. But the Otters reversed course in January. And by March, they wrapped up the best season in program history with a second-place finish at the 1A Division I state tournament.
Riverstone fell 82-60 to Lapwai in the state title game Friday. While the Otters (15-1) didn’t take home a championship banner and lost their perfect season, they set a new high-water mark.
“It was very impressive,” Riverstone senior Charlie DeBoer said. “We weren’t going to have a season for months, so it was awesome to even get here. Being in the top two teams in the state is something our school has never done.”
Riverstone had never even reached the state semifinals before this week, going a combined 1-8 in its previous four trips to state. But the Otters showed they belonged in Saturday’s championship, jumping out to a 16-8 lead and holding a 24-20 lead after the first quarter.
It was all Lapwai (20-4) the rest of the way though. Riverstone only scored five points in the second quarter while Idaho’s most potent offense in any classification never slowed down, finishing 27-of-52 (52%) from the floor and 14-for-31 (45%) behind the 3-point line.
“Fouls caught up with us, and their shooting was very impressive,” DeBoer said. “They didn’t miss. It was hard to keep up with, obviously. We kept it close for the first half, and then it fell apart.”
Riverstone senior Ethan Hunt (18 points) fouled out with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter. Then senior Nick Liebich (23 points, 13 rebounds) followed with 2:26 left, handicapping the Otters’ seven-man rotation.
Riverstone didn’t host its first practice until Jan. 3 and didn’t play its first game Jan. 7. Despite the limited court time, the Otters rolled through their Western Idaho Conference schedule undefeated and won the first district title in program history.
That sent Riverstone back to state for the fifth straight year. Little was expected of the Otters, who had never won a state tournament trophy of any kind before Friday. But they proved the doubters wrong with a surprise run to the Ford Idaho Center.
Not bad for a team that didn’t exist in December.
“We have 11 seniors on our team graduating this year, and this was their last chance,” Bowen said. “It meant the world to them. And then to get to this position was just incredible.”
Kase Wynott scored 23 points to lead Lapwai, the state’s No. 1-ranked team all season. Kross Taylor added 22 on 7-for-14 shooting behind the 3-point line, and Terrell Ellenwood-Jones finished with 17 on 5-for-8 shooting behind the arc.
The state title is Lapwai’s 11th, tying them with Moscow and Idaho Falls for the second most in Idaho history behind Borah (13).
This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 7:05 PM.
