The last time the Ripon Christian High boys basketball squad saw action was about nine days ago.
On Monday, the No.2-seeded Knights, who received a first-round bye in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V play, needed a strong defensive effort and team-wide contributions on offense against pesky Bear River.
RC (20-7) did just that while rolling past the visiting Bruins (12-17) of the Pioneer Valley League, 50-38.
"That was an ugly win for us," said Knights coach Mark Hofman.
He's looking for a cleaner effort from his team come Wednesday against No. 11 Bradshaw Christian, which posted a 64-49 upset victory over No. 3 Fortune Early College.
The inside play of 6-foot-8 junior Thys Van Der Hoek played a big role in RC's second-round triumph over Bear River, according to Hofman.
"He gave us a lot with his defense and rebounding," he said of his big man.
Van Der Hoek grabbed 20 boards to go with a pair of steals while handling the Bruins' Harrison Alexander.
"It was important to get (weak-side) help from my teammates," he said while focusing on defense.
The Bear River offense, for most part, consisted of feeding the ball inside to Alexander, a 6-5 senior who led all scorers with 18 points.
On offense, Eli Terpsma paced the Knights with 17 points. Trey Fasani and Griffin De Abreu -- he had four steals along with a clean block late in the game to thwart a fast-break Bruin basket -- both had nine points.
Justin Hofman got RC on board at the outset with a drive to the hoop. Fasani then drained a 3 with De Abreu following that up with pair of first-quarter treys. Derek Van Elderen chipped in with a put-back basket.
Ahead 17-8 at the start of the second, the Knights continued to build on their lead with Luke Crivello and De Abreu hitting from beyond the arc coupled with baskets by Terpstra, Van Der Hoek, and Hofman.
RC, in addition, was able to take advantage of the Bear River turnovers while taking a 32-19 advantage into the intermission. "We got five turnovers on dead balls," Mark Hofman said.
The Knights opened the second half with Terpsma nailing an elbow jumper and Fasani and Terpsma draining 3s.
By the fourth, they led 45-29, holding on from there to advance to the next round.
"This was a team win," said Mark Hofman, pointing out that his team will need to play better from here on out.
