Falcons top Blackhawks

CHENEY – The Ridgeline Falcons boys' basketball team played their second game of the season out in Cheney where they beat the Blackhawks 68-57.

According to Ridgeline Head Coach Freddie Rehkow, the team was motivated and won the game but they have some things to work on.

"I felt we definitely did some things pretty well," Rehkow said. "However there were a few things that we absolutely need to clean up to be successful this season."

Rehkow said his team showed good hustle and motivation along with some stellar teamwork which helped them win this game.

According to the coach, the seniors on the team were the glue that held their efforts together.

"We have 6 seniors and the composure our team definitely kept us calm and able to execute down the stretch," Rehkow said.

Improving their shot selection and being more patient with the basketball are two of the main things Rehkow wants the team to work on going forward.

"Some areas that we need to fix are our overall shot selection and execution of our offense," Rehkow said. "At times we have a tendency to shoot to quickly rather than being patient and trading a good shot for the great shot."

Cheney did their best to keep it close, and relied heavily on one player who was injured half of last year.

Evan Stinson returned from having missed the last half of the 2022-23 season seemingly non-the-worse for the foot fracture that sidelined him as the Cheney boys opened their season Nov. 30 vs. Ridgeline in a non-league game at home.

But his game-high 33 points needed more support at the Blackhawks fell to the Falcons 68-57.

A slow start where Ridgeline outscored Cheney 25-12 in the first quarter and then 22-14 in the third created too big of a hole that Cheney's 25-15 final period edge could not conquer.

"Ridgeline did a great job of attempting to take charges, we must be disciplined and be better at playing off of two feet with jump stops," head coach Travis Peevey wrote in an email providing his assessment.

Notable for Cheney was the rebounding from Connor Magalsky who pulled down a game-high 15.

"I've seen what this team can do when we play together and we're looking forward to a big week with three games," Peevey said.

That shaky fourth quarter for the Falcons almost allowed Cheney to get within striking distance, but the gap was just too great to overcome.

"As our boys continue to work hard in practice and continue to work together we will see vast improvement in some of those areas as well as continue building on the things we have done fairly well," Rehkow said.

"Moving forward I believe this team can not only be competitive, but also challenge some of the upper tier groups in some close games, where in the past the separation was evident and a little too big for us to win some of those games."

"Great group of boys and looking forward to seeing their progress this year."