Strong fourth quarter carries Rams past Grizzlies

January 26, 2013

Riverside's Dallas Shuler tries to disrupt Newport's Jeron Konkright's jump shot during first half action on Friday.

The Riverside boys basketball team, which has had trouble this season finding a consistent offense, tossed in 22 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Newport 53-46 on Friday.
The win improved the Rams’ Northeast A League record to 3-7 and kept alive its chances for the No. 4 seed in the upcoming District VII tournament.
The Rams entered the fourth quarter trailing the Grizzlies 34-31 but quickly took the lead on a Tyler Axtell basket sandwiched between a pair of hoops by center Kevin Huggins.
Newport tried to answer with baskets by Jared Schultz and Jeron Konkright only to have Riverside answer with baskets by Andrew Kramer and Axtell.
Kramer later added another bucket and a pair of free throws to boost the Ram margin to 45-39 with 3 minutes to play.
Konkright, who finished with a game-high 18 points, cut the Riverside lead to 45-41 only to have the Rams answer with a three-pointer by Dallas Schuler and to Axtell free throws increase the lead to 50-41 with less than a minute to play.
Riverside finished 7 of 8 shooting in the final quarter.
The Grizzlies, who led 24-15 at halftime, saw the Rams start their comeback in the third quarter, fueled in part by a couple of long-range baskets by Kramer and Axtell. The rally trimmed the Newport lead to only 34-31going into the fourth quarter.
Kramer led the Rams with 17 points while Axtell added 13 more.