Rams rally past Stags

December 14, 2011

Riverside's Tyler Axtell tries to find some room past Stag defender Colton Mead.

The Riverside boys basketball team, sparked by the play of freshman point guard Taylor Axtell, rallied to defeat rival Deer Park 59-54 in a non-league game on Dec. 13.
The Rams, hurt by cold shooting and the Stags’ strong inside game, trailed 45-36 going into the fourth quarter.
A short time later, Axtell, who tossed in a team-high 16 points, took over. He scored seven straight points to trim the Stag lead to 47-46 with 4 minutes to play.
Deer Park managed to stay ahead of the Rams over the next two minutes thanks to a pair of free throws from Uconn Peone and an offensive rebound basket by Colton Mead.
Riverside finally tied the game at 53-53 on a basket and free throw by Josh Davis and salted the game away with six straight free throws, including two by Axtell.
Ram head coach KC Ahrens was pleased with how his team came together at crunch time.
“We shared the basketball,” he said.
Riverside came into the game with a 1-5 record. Deer Park is 3-1 following the loss.
Ram senior guard Jordan Wood finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Davis added 12 points, Tim Zanoni with 11 and Logan Owens with 10.
Peone led all scorers with 27 points.