The Rifle Bears had to endure a four-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Roaring Fork on Wednesday and snuck past 66-64. The win was just what Rifle needed coming off of a 75-32 defeat in their prior contest.
It was another big night for Logan Gross, who shot 6-for-7 from deep and dropped a double-double on 41 points and 10 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Sterling Cook, who scored 9 points along with 9 rebounds.
When it comes to explaining why Roaring Fork lost, one person who can't be blamed is Noel Richardson. Despite the final result, he scored 27 points. Richardson scored a full 42.2% of Roaring Fork's points, the second time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Lucas Carballeira was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with 8 rebounds.
Even though they lost, Roaring Fork were working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Rifle only posted five.
Rifle pushed their record up to 1-4 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. Those losses could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 28.3 points per game. As for Roaring Fork, they have fallen quite a ways from their 17-7 record last season and are now at 0-3.
Rifle will be playing in front of their home fans against Grand Valley at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. As for Roaring Fork, they will square off against Brush at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
