(Oakland) The Riverside boys basketball team will try to build off the momentum of last year when they posted their first winning season since 2013. We’ll have the team’s season opener against AHSTW on the air on Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs have to replace a pair of seniors that started for multiple years, but they have a budding star to build around. Sophomore Grady Jeppesen led the team in scoring last year at 16.4 points per game. “He’s been playing with some different guys over the summer and he’s been trying to put in some new moves. He’s probably one of the best players I’ve ever had in terms of taking things that you teach or stuff that he sees implementing it in his game. He picks up on things pretty quickly. It’s going to be a little different with some of the defensive pressure he’s going to get, but I’m excited to see the ways in which he generates offense for us.”
Ayden Salais and Aiden Bell will step into bigger roles along with Mason McCready. “Ayden Salais and Aiden Bell are nice players. They have a bigger role now. We look to generate some offense through those guys. Mason McCready will be a sophomore and had a really good summer. He had a really good scrimmage the other night at Woodbine. He does some very nice things. He’s coming off a state qualifying cross country season so I see his confidence looking to grow.”
Jon Alff, Mikey Casson, and Rhett Bentley are also in line for some playing time. Riverside has ten games before the holiday break and eight of them are on the road. They’ll find out early what they are made of especially against AHSTW on Tuesday.
Coach Kroon says this is a tight-knit team with good leadership. “I really think our team is coming together very well. Our guys get along very well. It’s really a fun group to coach from that whole aspect of a team concept. We’ve had some really good practices. I think our upside is huge.”
The girls game tips at 6:00 and the boys game will follow. We’ll have it available to view at WesternIowaToday.com as well and you can listen on 96.5 FM KSOM.
Riverside coach Nick Kroon:
