Leechburg boys turn up pressure, run past Riverview
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Friday, December 27, 2019 | 7:27 PM
One thing Leechburg coach Damian Davies likes about Christmas week — besides the gifts — is the chance to work on some things during the off days on the schedule.
The Blue Devils turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, forcing six Riverview turnovers in the third quarter then holding the Raiders to just seven points in the fourth quarter.
That resulted in a 66-55 Leechburg victory in the opening round of the Apollo Trust Tournament late Friday afternoon at Apollo-Ridge High School.
Eli Rich led the Blue Devils (7-1) with 19 points and the sophomore pulled down seven rebounds, despite playing the second half in foul trouble.
Senior Jake Blumer had 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists and came up with three big steals in the fourth quarter.
“We turned it up defensively and went with a jump-and-run that we worked on during Christmas break,” Davies said. “That created the pressure. They were just making everything in the first half, and we weren’t able to get the pressure on them to create the turnovers.”
Riverview (5-3) led by six twice in the second period, led by a balanced scoring attack. Gideon Deasy, Thanny Black and Jack Harden had six points each in the first half.
The Raiders committed just four turnovers in the first half and led, 27-23, at intermission.
“We played Leechburg in our first scrimmage,” said Riverview coach Paul Sapotichne. “Though it was relatively close, I thought their intensity was much higher than ours. I thought our intensity today matched theirs, and I thought that was something we wanted to do.”
The first half featured seven lead changes and Riverview had its largest lead, 42-34, midway through the third period as Aiden Sebastian notched a trio of 3-point field goals.
The Blue Devils then caught fire and took the lead for good, 45-44, on a foul shot by freshman Braylan Lovelace with 1 minute, 38 seconds to go in the third period.
Blumer tallied 12 of his 16 points in the second half as Leechburg pulled away late.
“They move the ball nicely against us,” Davies said. “But in the second half, we were comfortable getting the ball inside to Jake and Eli and they went to work. Jake is so fast, he can go coast-to-coast on you and outlet (pass) and Eli has put so much time in when he’s not duck hunting.”
Both coaches said they have some players ill with touches of the flu.
Riverview is improved and needs just two more victories to match its total of seven from last season.
Said Sapotichne: “We’re a better team, but you just can’t talk about being a better team. We’ll continue to improve this year, and we’re 2-1 in the section and we’ll get back next week.”
Black finished with 13 points and Harden had 11.
Deasy scored 10 and Sebastian contributed five rebounds.
Leechburg will play the winner of the game between Apollo-Ridge at Saltsburg at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. Riverview will play the loser of Saltsburg vs. Apollo-Ridge Saturday at 4:30 p.m in the consolation game.
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