WORTHINGTON – At first, the Riverland Community College men’s basketball team could do nothing right.

Thursday, January 11, 2001

WORTHINGTON – At first, the Riverland Community College men’s basketball team could do nothing right. Then the Blue Devils did nothing wrong.

Rebounding from an 18-point first-half deficit, Riverland struck for an 80-69 victory at Minnesota West Community Technical College to post its first win in the Minnesota Community College Conference. The Blue Devils are 6-9 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

"It was a great win for us," said head coach David Lillemon. "It was a great road victory. I told them all week long we needed the win for the conference."

In the first half, the Blue Devils looked as if the only thing they would get out of their 120-mile trip was a cold bus ride home.

Riverland started steady enough, trailing 13-13 at the 14:11 mark of the first half. Then in the next nine minutes the Blue Devils became unglued. Riverland trailed by 18, 40-22, with 5:50 left in the first half.

"In the first half, defensively, we didn’t do anything," Lillemon said. "but we clamped it down."

The Blue Devils rally started at the end of the first half when they cut the 18 points down to 12 and trailed 45-33 at halftime.

Early in the second half, Riverland continued its comeback strides. The deficit was only eight, 52-44, with 16-22 left in the second and the Blue Devils narrowed it to six, 57-51, with 10:20 remaining.

Riverland took its first second half lead at the 8:29 mark, 61-57. Minnesota West climbed back on top, 63-61, with 7:05 left and "then we never looked back after that," Lillemon said.

"It was just a great comeback for us," Lillemon said. "Offensively, we were able to get some good looks. Nick (Peters) was on fire for us. He had a tremendous game for us."

The 6-foot, 175-pound sophomore knocked down seven three-pointers in the second half and 10 for the game on the way to a game-high 33 points.

Brandon Kettner got into double figures with 14 points followed by Matt Nalan with eight, Brett Rogers with six, Ryan Hansen with six, Zak Ulwelling with five and Tom Yost with four and Marzelle Little with four.

John Munson led Minnesota West with 16 points.

Riverland hosts Anoka-Ramsey Community College at 4 p.m. Saturday.