Riverside Picks Up Big Win To Advance At State

In a dominating second-half performance, Riverside cruised to a 67-48 victory over Exeter-Milligan to advance in the Class D2 State Tournament in Lincoln on Thursday night.

The #2 seed, they will play #3 Osmond in the semifinal matchup at 8:45 p.m. Friday in the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

After the Chargers opened up the game with a 4-0 lead, the Timberwolves clawed their way back into the contest and took a 15-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Withstanding several runs by E-M and putting together a 23-point second quarter, Riverside regained the lead at halftime, 35-30.

After a sluggish start, Coach Joe Imus said he was proud of his team’s perseverance.   

“That’s what we talked about at halftime,” Imus said. “We didn’t feel like we played our best going in, but we felt like Exeter was playing really well and we were able to put together a better second half that we are capable of.”

In the second half, the Chargers outscored the Timberwolves 31-18 to win their first-round state tournament game and improve to 23-0 on the season.

Junior Tredyn Prososki led Riverside with 32 points, including five 3-pointers.

“Coach said if you find some space, pull it, so that’s what I did,” Prososki said.

Coach Imus said Prososki has been starting since he was a freshman, so was comfortable playing in his seventh state tournament game.

“Another thing that we talked about at the half is that the lights are kind of too bright for a couple of our guys, but the lights are never bright enough for him,” he said.

The coach said E-M’s defensive game plan was to collapse on 6-7 post player Joseph Bloom. However, he said Bloom made a huge impact on defense, blocking seven shots in the contest.

“He gave us so much on defense and rebounding and even shots he didn’t block, he contested them,” Coach Imus said.

Bloom added 10 points for Riverside and Michael Bernt drained 13. Rounding out the scoring for the Chargers were Trey Carraher and Ty Martinsen 4 apiece and Trent Carraher 3.