AVON — Led by talented freshman Jaleel Moore’s 17 points, the Riverside High School boys basketball team used a balanced scoring attack to defeat visiting rival O’Bannon 59-39 Thursday night. Junior big man Aaron Stewart added 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Sophomore Jayden Moore scored 12 points and senior Jordan Wilson scored 10 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. DJ Gaston added 7 points.
“We played well and I really liked the ball movement that we showed,” Riverside head coach Sam Monroe said.
Coach Monroe added that he has not been surprised by the superb play of his freshman Jaleel Moore, who has been helping to lead the Bulldogs (13-7) all season.
The Bulldogs from Avon did much of their damage in the first half when they opened up a a 30-13 lead on the Waves.
“I knew coming into the season that Jaleel was going to be a good player for us, and he has already stepped up and come up in big spots ,” Coach Monroe said.
As the Bulldogs built their first half lead, the Riverside players got the home crowd involved in the game with some high flying plays, including some alley-oop and fancy dunk attempts.
“Sports are supposed to be fun,” said Coach Monroe. “As long as they are following the game plan, they are allowed to have fun and try to make great plays. These kids have really followed our coaching well all season.”
The victory for Riverside Thursday sets up a big Region 3-2A matchup against the North Side Gators on Friday night in Avon. If the Bulldogs defeat North Side by two points, they will have a great shot at clinching the top seed in the district tournament in two weeks. North Side defeated Riverside 48-47 in Shelby on Jan. 9.
Meanwhile, the O’Bannon Green Waves played much better in the second half, sparked by two second-half 3-pointers by Ashton King. Their rally in the fourth quarter cut the O’Bannon lead from 21 points to 12 points midway through the fourth quarter.
“We have to start out playing that way instead of waiting until the second half. You can’t do that against good teams,” O’Bannon Coach Torrione Carter said. “At this point we are just trying to get some type of rhythm going into the district tournament.”
Chandler Wade scored 11 points for O’Bannon. Javion Meads scored 9 points. Kentravion Castion scored 7 points.
