RIPON — The fact that Ripon High’s boys basketball was in the double-bonus before halftime is a pretty good sign that the Indians were aggressive on the court.
But it was that aggressive approach that helped the Indians easily cruise past Hilmar 69-40 Tuesday in their first Trans Valley League game.
Head coach Rod Wright, however, said that the team was suffering from the “Modesto Christian Hangover” that comes from adjusting the speed and tempo of play after coming out of what has become the premier holiday tournament in Northern California, MC’s Crusader Classic.
“What happens is that we’re expecting other teams to be the quality of the teams that we got done playing, and sometimes it takes a while to adjust,” Wright said. “But we are an aggressive team. We play fast and try and in get in your face with a close-contact game.
“Tonight we had solid play from Jake (McCreath) and Andy (Bunting), and when you combine good inside play like that with an aggressive and fast team you’re going to win some games.”
The Indians (1-0, 6-7) opened up their offense early with McCreath’s inside play and the sharp-shooting of Kyle Wengel in a 23-9 first quarter that set the tone for the rest of the night.
With senior point guard Jared Ratto running the offense, Ripon showed the fast-paced play that they’ve made their trademark this season in an attempt to not only keep up with perennial TVL champion Modesto Christian, but tire out all of the league opponents that they face during the year.
“We have all of these young kids, and coaches like to push up the ball and let them go for the easy buckets on the fast break,” said Bunting. “I really like the offense that we run and the tempo because it wears down our opponents and lets us do what we came to do.”
Standout Daniel Greenleaf was able to post impressive numbers but didn’t have enough support to elevate Hilmar (0-1, 6-8) to a victory.
Greenleaf finished the game with 19 points and four rebounds.
It was Ripon’s big men, however, that did the damage for the Indians.
McCreath led the team in scoring with 15 points, and also pulled down four rebounds and dished out an assist. Bunting had 12 points with two rebounds and two steals. Conner Jones finished with eight points, and Dante Machado rounded out the leading scorers with seven.
Ripon takes on Johansen Thursday for a non-league contest.
Waters finished the TVL opener with a team high 17 points from the point guard position.
“She was able to just drive the ball to the hole tonight,” Ripon head coach George Contente said. “When they started to zero in on her, she’d dish the ball to Rachel (Rodriguez) and she would take it in or give some good looks from outside.”
Rodriguez finished the game with 14 points for Ripon (1-0, 10-3).
Contente praised the defensive play of Kendra Contente, and said he was happy that his team didn’t appear to skip a beat from the last time they were on the court.
“Defensively we looked pretty good tonight and that was good to see,” he said. “We were able to hold their scorers to a max of eight points. It looks like we picked up right from the West Coast Jamboree.”
But it was that aggressive approach that helped the Indians easily cruise past Hilmar 69-40 Tuesday in their first Trans Valley League game.
Head coach Rod Wright, however, said that the team was suffering from the “Modesto Christian Hangover” that comes from adjusting the speed and tempo of play after coming out of what has become the premier holiday tournament in Northern California, MC’s Crusader Classic.
“What happens is that we’re expecting other teams to be the quality of the teams that we got done playing, and sometimes it takes a while to adjust,” Wright said. “But we are an aggressive team. We play fast and try and in get in your face with a close-contact game.
“Tonight we had solid play from Jake (McCreath) and Andy (Bunting), and when you combine good inside play like that with an aggressive and fast team you’re going to win some games.”
The Indians (1-0, 6-7) opened up their offense early with McCreath’s inside play and the sharp-shooting of Kyle Wengel in a 23-9 first quarter that set the tone for the rest of the night.
With senior point guard Jared Ratto running the offense, Ripon showed the fast-paced play that they’ve made their trademark this season in an attempt to not only keep up with perennial TVL champion Modesto Christian, but tire out all of the league opponents that they face during the year.
“We have all of these young kids, and coaches like to push up the ball and let them go for the easy buckets on the fast break,” said Bunting. “I really like the offense that we run and the tempo because it wears down our opponents and lets us do what we came to do.”
Standout Daniel Greenleaf was able to post impressive numbers but didn’t have enough support to elevate Hilmar (0-1, 6-8) to a victory.
Greenleaf finished the game with 19 points and four rebounds.
It was Ripon’s big men, however, that did the damage for the Indians.
McCreath led the team in scoring with 15 points, and also pulled down four rebounds and dished out an assist. Bunting had 12 points with two rebounds and two steals. Conner Jones finished with eight points, and Dante Machado rounded out the leading scorers with seven.
Ripon takes on Johansen Thursday for a non-league contest.
Girls basketball
Ripon 54, Hilmar 25
The Yellowjackets (0-1, 9-4) just didn’t have any answer for Ripon’s Ruth Waters Tuesday night.Ripon 54, Hilmar 25
Waters finished the TVL opener with a team high 17 points from the point guard position.
“She was able to just drive the ball to the hole tonight,” Ripon head coach George Contente said. “When they started to zero in on her, she’d dish the ball to Rachel (Rodriguez) and she would take it in or give some good looks from outside.”
Rodriguez finished the game with 14 points for Ripon (1-0, 10-3).
Contente praised the defensive play of Kendra Contente, and said he was happy that his team didn’t appear to skip a beat from the last time they were on the court.
“Defensively we looked pretty good tonight and that was good to see,” he said. “We were able to hold their scorers to a max of eight points. It looks like we picked up right from the West Coast Jamboree.”
