Keene downs Rio Vista in district road game, 70-28

By Zack Cunningham/sportsreporter@trcle.com

January 07, 2009 12:43 am

— RIO VISTA — The Keene Chargers ran past the Rio Vista Eagles 70-28 Tuesday night at Rio Vista High School in a District 15-2A matchup.
Both teams struggled to hit shots in the first half and Keene was able to take a 10 point advantage at 22-12 in the second quarter behind a Cody Shelfer 3-pointer before Korvin Kardos hit two free throws to end the first half.
Rio Vista head coach Kirby Macik said the defense in the first half is something his team can take pride in despite the loss.
“It’s good to hold any team in the 20s in the first half that’s capable of putting up big points,” Macik said. “Eventually they did put up big points. We came out with no fire in the third quarter and they came out and made a run and it took the life out of us. They went on a quick run and took us out of the ball game right away. We just weren’t able to capitalize.”
The Chargers found the range in the third quarter and outscored Rio Vista 29-7 and turned an eight-point advantage into a 51-21 margin after the end of the period.
Keene head coach Jason Hill said getting easy buckets in transition was the key to the offensive outburst.
“We’re trying to generate our offense through our defense,” Hill said. “We needed to be getting stops on the defensive end and getting quick shots in transition. It worked out for us once we got out and started running on them.”
Fred Kurn led the way with 15 points for the Chargers and Shelfer finished with 13. Ryan Baze had 10 points, Mark Murff and Juan Castelblanco each finished with nine.
Chaz Clinkscales led Rio Vista with 11 points and Kardos had seven. Trey Doggett had four and the duo of Brandon Roberts and Trey Buckner each finished with three.