Riverland men drop to Western Wisconsin Tech

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 14, 2000

LaCROSSE, Wis.

Thursday, December 14, 2000

LaCROSSE, Wis. – Nick Peters dunked four treys and collected 25 points, but the Riverland Community College men’s basketball team dropped a game to Western Wisconsin Technical College here Wednesday night.

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"We lacked the intensity that we have had in the previous games," head coach Dave Lillemon said in expressing disappointment with the Blue Devils’ defense. "Our intensity in defense just wasn’t there."

Riverland trailed most of the first half, but wound up with a lead of 31-29 at half-time after a 10-2 run.

The Blue Devils came out in the second half, running up the lead to 37-32, however, the team came into a scoring drought and found themselves as much as 10 points behind at one point, 62-52. The gap tightened to as close as 66-63 in favor of the opponents, however, Western Wisconsin Tech kept the lead that they gained about midway through the second half.

In addition to Peters’ 25 points, Brandon Kettner racked up 21 points. Others scoring for Riverland included Brett Rogers with 8, Zak Ulwelling with 5 and Matt Nalan with 4.

Ridwood Giroux led Western Wisconsin’s scoring effort with 19 points. Also leading in scoring were Jeremiah Lockhart with 16 points and Jared Knee with 13 points.

"Nick Peters had a great game," Lillemon said, adding that Rogers performed well inside against Western Wisconsin’s Giroux.

The Blue Devils are 4-6 overall (0-0 conference) and play at home Saturday night against Mid-State Technical College. The team’s next three games before Christmas all are at home and will include a rematch with Western Wisconsin next Wednesday and a game with Madison Area Technical College on Dec. 22.