Ridgewater opened the second half on a scoring run to break open a tie game Wednesday night and send the Riverland men's basketball team to its sixth straight loss.
The two teams were tied at 29-all heading into the second half, but the visiting Ridgewater Warriors then pulled away from the Riverland Blue Devils. It was a slow drain at first and then the Warriors raced off for a 71-55 win.
In the first half, the Blue Devils took a 21-20 lead on a steal and transition basket from Chris Jahr. A short time later, they expanded on their lead.
Jahr snagged a defensive rebound, threw the outlet pass to Jordan Jorland, who in turn fired ahead to Nicco Montgomery for an easy basket. It was a 23-20 lead with 6:44 to play in the first half.
The visitors came back to tie the score, but DeAaron Hearn answered for the home team. Hearn hit back-to-back baskets to make it a 29-25 lead with 1:30 left. Ridgewater then scored the final four points of the first half.
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Despite a three-pointer from Montgomery and a putback hoop from Jahr, the Blue Devils were down by nine at the 12:33 mark of the second half. Nathan Nietfeld, who led all scorers with 26 points, had a tip-in to give the Warriors a 52-41 lead with 12 minutes left.
The Blue Devils made some inroads on their deficit over the next few minutes. Jarland hit a three-pointer to make it a 54-49 deficit with 7:50 to play, but the Blue Devils got no closer. The loss left Riverland with a 3-8 record in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference, South Division.
Hearn led the Blue Devils with 13 points. Montgomery and Richard Burch were also in double figures for scoring in the home loss. The season ends on the road against Fergus Falls on Saturday.
Ridgewater 71, Riverland 55
RIDGEWATER (71)
Nathan Nietfeld 26, Tyler Pendleton 11, Andy Kalenberg 11, Elijah Swen 9, Tyler Stein 5, Jamie Rolnic 4, Breck Weber 3, Jamison Wall 2.
RIVERLAND (55)
DeAaron Hearn 13, Nicco Montgomery 12, Richard Burch 10, Josh Davis 6, Chris Jahr 5, Denzel Smith 5, Jordan Jarland 3, Taylor Oetken 1.
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Halftime:Riverland 29, Ridgewater 29.
Free throws:RIDGE 11-17, RIV 5-12.
Three-point goals:RIDGE 2-12 (Swen 1, Pendleton 1). RIV 2-15 (Hearn 1, Jarland 1).
Rebounds:RIDGE 50 (Nietfeld 16); RIV 40 (Hearn 8, Davis 8).
