When sports teams play in the evening on a regular basis, switching to an afternoon start can cause fatigue and a lack-luster beginning – this may have been the case for the Riverside boys basketball team.
The Panthers traveled to Ambridge on Saturday at 1 p.m. to take on Chartiers-Houston for their WPIAL Class AA first round matchup, and the Panthers seemed to be a bit cold at tipoff but warmed up quickly to get the win, 39-27.
For most of the first quarter, Riverside was facing the result of an early start. They only could muster two points in the first five minutes, and only had six points to end the first quarter. But, after getting adjusted to the early start, Riverside started to play much better.
After only scoring six in the first, Riverside scored 13 in the second and another 15 in the fourth quarter. They also turned up their defense, allowing Chariters-Houston to only score in the single digits for the remaining three quarters.
Riverside forward Tyler Falk was dominate for the Panthers, leading the way with 16 points. Also scoring double-digits for the Panthers was forward Gig Jewell who added 12 points. Also contributing largely was Brent Mulneix with eight points.
