Basketball Recap: River Islands Takes a Tough Playoff Loss

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact River Islands can now relate to. They fell 68-59 to the Big Valley Christian Lions on Wednesday. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Lions this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 69-67 back in November of 2024.

Idrees ElFarra

Points

02/19/25 vs Big Valley Christian	31
02/13/25 @ Ben Holt College Prep Academy	8
02/11/25 vs Aspire Langston Hughes Academy	9
02/07/25 vs Millennium	17
02/04/25 @ Venture Academy	5
+ 22 more games

When it comes to explaining why River Islands lost, don't look at Idrees ElFarra. Despite the final result, he went 9-for-21 en route to 31 points and five steals. With that strong performance, ElFarra is now averaging an impressive 15.3 points per game. Another player making a difference was Charles Mapanao, who posted 11 points.

Even though they lost, River Islands smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in four consecutive matchups.

Leading Big Valley Christian to victory were Wyatt Porter and Titus Boone. Porter went 9-for-14 on his way to 21 points and eight rebounds, while Boone dropped a double-double with 20 points and ten assists. The game was Boone's fourth in a row with at least 17 points. Blake Nelson was another key player, putting up seven points and seven boards.

River Islands' loss dropped their record down to 16-13. As for Big Valley Christian, the win (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 16-9.

River Islands does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Big Valley Christian, they will challenge Argonaut at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Argonaut knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past 29 contests -- so hopefully Big Valley Christian likes a good challenge.