Cougar scoring explosion buries Rams

January 11, 2012

Riverside's Josh Davis tries to stop Chewelah's Derek Smith's road to the basket on Tuesday.

The Chewelah Cougars broke open a close game with a 7-0 run to end the third quarter and another 23-5 surge in the fourth quarter as the defeated the Riverside Rams 63-37 on Tuesday.
The win improved the Cougars’ Northeast A League record to 3-1 (11-3 overall) while the Rams fell to 0-4, 4-10.
Leading on 30-29 midway through the third quarter, the Cougars used three-pointers from Ben Johnstone and Caleb Wiese to take a 40-29 lead into the final stanza.
The long-range offensive explosion continued into the fourth quarter and Tyler Monasmith and Derek Smith increased the lead to 46-24. The Cougars scored the next 17 points (halted by a corner jumper by Riverside’s Tanner Reisenauer).
Chewelah finished with a 7-4 advantage on three-pointers.
For most of the first half, the teams traded the lead.
The Rams getting buckets by Jordan Wood and Andrew Kramer trailed only 28-25 at halftime. A basket by Josh Davis cut the Chewelah lead to 30-29 in the third quarter before the Cougars exploded on offense.
Smith, Johnstone and Monasmith combined for 41 points in the win.
Wood led the Rams with 13 points while Logan Owens added 10 more.