DEGRAFF – Ansonia stumbled in its attempt to decode the Riverside zone defense in a 54-40 loss to the host Pirates in a non-league boys basketball game in DeGraff Saturday.
The Tigers scrambled to overcome the sticky Pirate zone in the second half, getting as close as six points at one juncture, but Riverside pulled away late following a technical foul after a hack on Pirate shooter midway through the fourth. The Pirates hit all four shots from the stripe – the two for the shooting foul and two on the technical – which was followed by Riverside’s Landon Kelsey trey from the corner late in the game to seal the win. Riverside sank all eight of its foul shots in the second half, including six in the fourth quarter alone.
Dane Wentworth did his level best to keep the Tigers in the game in the third quarter, hitting two treys and scoring 10 points in the period, but the Pirates refused to yield, matching Ansonia basket-for-basket and wiping the defensive boards, allowing the Tigers but one shot time and again and breaking the Ansonia press with little difficulty.
Riverside, now 3-0 overall, shot a blistering 57 percent from the floor and connected on 9-of-11 free throws in the game.
Wentworth lead the Tigers with 15 points, netting three of the four long-distance shots Ansonia made in the game. Devyn Sink drained the other trey in the fourth quarter for the Tigers, and finished with five points. Trevor Alexander had six points in the loss.
Ansonia will be back in action Friday with a Cross County Conference game at home against the Bradford Railroaders.
