Weiser takes tough loss against non-conference Ridgevue

by Michelle Estes

 The Weiser boys’ basketball team travelled to Ridgevue High in Nampa to play the Warhawks on Thursday, Dec 16. 

 The night ended in a tough loss for Weiser. The final score was Weiser 37 Ridgevue 68. 

 The young Wolverine team is still working on settling into their game. Struggling to keep control of the ball they are plagued with turnovers. This is a twofold problem; they are losing opportunities on offense to score while their opponents capitalize on the other end. 

 The two teams traded buckets early in the first quarter. Brett Spencer struck gold first with a jump shot above the arc for a 3-pointer, then a couple of trips down the court latter he added a nice shot for two more points. Next trip down the court Levi Estes made a lay-in as he split the defense and received a solid pass from Michael Youngberg. 

 Weiser started stalling out at about the 3-minute mark with turnovers letting Ridgevue jump ahead. Weiser 7, Ridgevue 12.  

 Wolverine, Emmett Walker, narrowed the gap with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter, Weiser 13, Ridgevue 16.

 Both teams struggled to add points early in the second quarter. Ridgevue scored first with two free throws. Soon afterwards, working as a team, Weiser’s Estes scrambled to secure a rebound, passed it to Evan Haggerty, who kicked it outside to Spencer for a 3-pointer. 

 It looked like the Wolverines were making a run for it with a long bounce and outside rebound, Spencer was able to sink another three. Weiser 18, Ridgevue 19 with 5:15 left in the second. 

 Weiser was able to hang with Ridgevue for a couple of minutes and even tied it up on free throws after a Ridgevue technical foul was called on one of their players who didn’t agree with the foul call. With 2:19 it was 24 all. 

 The Warhawks took off after that with a scoring run of nine points after the Wolverines turned the ball over multiple times.

 Early in the second half both teams came out playing aggressive defense and each picked up multiple fouls. The Warhawks were the first to finally score, on a free throw after almost 3 minutes into the third quarter. 

 Ridgevue’s senior, Issac Mercer turned it on at this point, nailing three 3-pointers and their freshman Tucker Tiddens added another of his own. 

 The Wolverines struggled to score on their end and were unable to contain the Warhawks. At the end of three quarters, it was Weiser 33, Ridgevue 49. 

 The fourth quarter started with multiple chances for Weiser to score, but the ball just wouldn’t drop. Almost 4 minutes in, on an inbounds play under Weiser’s basket, Willy Shirts passed the ball into Estes as he cut to the basket for a lay-in and Weiser’s first bucket of the quarter. 

 With just over a minute left to play, Emmett Walker fed Jack Shirts the ball for Weiser’s final points of the game. 

 The Wolverines were led in scoring by Brett Spencer with 17 points. Emmett Walker had 6 points from two 3-pointers, Jack Shirts with 5, Levi Estes with 4, Evan Haggerty with 3 and Brock Spencer with 2 points. 

 The Wolverines hosted the Nampa Bulldogs on Tuesday, Dec 22. No score was available at the time of printing.