Jake Bettis was not impressed with his effort in Riverland's first win of the season, an 80-66 victory Wednesday night at UW-Richland Center. And even though he was not the focal point of Riverland's game plan for Friday, Bettis bounced back with the best offensive game of his career.

Bettis scored a career-high 32 points for the Blue Devils in an 89-71 win over Western Wisconsin Technical College Friday night in Austin. Riverland (2-1) exploited the Cavaliers' lack of size by going to their big guy, and Bettis, a sophomore from Webster City, Iowa, responded with a career-high output.

"I started feeling it in the second half, I just wanted to be a team leader," Bettis said. "I was just going to try and get my baskets and not force anything.

"Coach (David Lillemon) said we could post up anyone of their guys, and our guys knew I was feeling it so they got me the ball."

Bettis scored 15 first-half points as the Devils got out to a 39-32 lead at the break and withstood WWTC's comeback charge midway through the second half. Riverland pulled away behind Bettis and Curt Peterson, who did not miss a shot in the game en route to 18 points.

"We knew coming in that they were vulnerable inside and we felt we had to exploit that," Coach Lillemon said. "It turned out Jake had a wonderful game.

"If we're going to be a competitive team we have to be able to go inside. Jake got hot there and I was proud of all of them to recognize that."

Hot hand

Peterson scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, including the Devils' only two three-pointers. Riverland, in scoring a season-high 89 points, did not attempt a three-pointer in the first half and finished 2-for-7.

"We didn't need it," Lillemon said. "We didn't need to shoot the three."

But Western Wisconsin did. Freshman guard Brandon Cox scored 31 points, fueled by nine three-pointers, to keep the Cavaliers (2-6) within striking distance throughout.

"It's usually a battle," Western coach Hilton Riggins said of his team's annual trip to Riverland. "It's a rivalry. This is a hard place to play."

The Cavs were 12-36 from three-point range and 26-70 overall from the floor. Austin graduate Adam Kasper was commended by Coach Lillemon for his defensive effort on WWTC's top scorer Sam Johnson, who shot 3-14 for seven points.

Peterson scored 12 of his 14 points to answer Western Wisconsin's only lead of the second half. The Cavaliers went up 48-47 but Peterson poured it on en route to a 64-57 Riverland advantage. He hit both of his three-pointers over the next five minutes and also cashed in on fast-break opportunities ahead of the pack.

Staying alive

Cox and Rick Bradley, who finished with 17 points, kept the Cavaliers in range. Clinging to a four-point lead, 69-65, Riverland went back to Bettis. He scored eight straight points from the paint and powered the Blue Devils to their second win of the young season.

"We got into foul trouble and our big fella was playing a little timid," Riggins said of Johnson. "That hurt us down the stretch. They fed the ball inside and their big guy hit the shots."

Bettis also led all players with 12 rebounds, and Andy Stouvenel pulled down seven boards for the Blue Devils. Stouvenel added 14 points to the cause on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor.

"We weathered a number of storms and I think we wore them down," Lillemon said. "We said at halftime to just keep pushing it and hopefully we'd wear them out, and we did that and that's when we started pulling away from them.

"We need to put (the win) into perspective. We were better than Wednesday but we've still got some work to do."

The Devils travel to Waldorf on Tuesday for an 8 p.m. match. The Riverland women play the first game at 6 p.m.

Boxscore:

WESTERN WISCONSIN (71) -- Cory Johnson 8, Julius Taylor 0, Keith Wallace 0, Sam Johnson 7, Brandon Cox 31, Rick Bradley 17, Mike Konichek 6, Dan Ellis 2.

RIVERLAND (89) -- Curt Peterson 18, Adam Kasper 9, Joe Dunham 2, Jake Bettis 32, Andy Stouvenel 14, Kelly Connaughty 6, John Tillo 2, Calvin Morris 2, Jeff Roemhildt 2, Mark Skellenger 0.

Halftime score -- Riverland 39, Western 32. Field goals -- Western 26-70; Riverland 35-66. Free throws -- Western 7-10; Riverland 17-20. Three-pointers -- Western 12-36 (Cox 9, C.Johnson, S.Johnson, Bradley); Riverland 2-7 (Peterson 2). Rebounds -- Western 30, Riverland 42. Fouled out -- S.Johnson.