After losing its first 11 section games last season, the Riverview boys basketball team put it all together on the final night of section play and defeated Springdale, 59-51.
The road victory knocked the Dynamos out of the playoff running, and Nico Sero became the school's all-time leading scorer.
“Obviously, it was a rough season for us, record-wise,” junior guard Noah Black said. “That really, for me, made our entire season. That was the best sports experience I ever had. It was a lot of fun.”
Black hit a rare, four-point play late in the game after he was fouled shooting a 3-pointer from the corner.
The Raiders are hoping for more thrills this season after going 5-17 last year, 1-11 in Section 1-A.
“We probably started off-season workouts earlier than any other school,” Black said. “We'd go twice, three times a week, working to get better and getting ready for this season.”
“I'm very much looking forward to this season,” third-year coach Paul Sapotichne said. “I don't know how it's going to go, but I do know our program is much ahead of where it was two years ago. We have a good eighth-grade group. We have a good ninth-grade group. It's more than developing a good varsity.”
Sapotichne's varsity team welcomes back four starters, but has to replace Sero, who averaged 24.2 points.
Black, a 5-foot-9 junior, is joined by seniors Patrick Scott, a 6-4 forward, 6-0 senior swingman Dorian Rodriguez and junior swingman Ben Blacksmith as returning starters.
After concentrating on guarding Sero the past several years, opposing coaches now have a variety of players to game plan against.
“You never want to lose a Nico who comes along once every 10 years,” Sapotichne said. “The other coaches will need a scorecard to see the names of our players.”
“We have people who should average at least 10 points a game,” Black said. “We should be able to be consistent.”
Sapotichne projects Jeannette as the top team in the section, followed by Summit Academy.
Assistant coach Larry Buck will have extra duties this year as assistant varsity and eighth-grade coach. Likewise, Nolan Larry will coach the ninth-grade and seventh-grade teams.
“We don't want to combine teams,” Sapotichne said. “We're one of the few small schools that still have separate teams in grades seven, eight and nine. The lower grades are doing exactly what we're doing with the varsity. It bodes well for the program.”
Sapotichne has more than 440 career coaching victories.
“We had a lot more people in the open gyms, and we had a lot of people come to workouts in the spring,” said Rodriguez, who sprained both ankles in the preseason but said he expects to be ready for Friday. “It seems like the program is getting up and running.”
Riverview opens its season at 3 p.m. Friday at the St. Joseph tip-off tournament against Trinity Christian.
The Raiders will have a rare, four-game home stand in December that includes the section opener against Leechburg on Dec. 15.
