By Gerardo Bolong
Contributing Writer

Good second quarter court management enabled visiting Auburn Riverside to break away from a close match and eventually register a 62-52 boys basketball win at Mount Rainier on Tues., Dec. 2.

In a tightly officiated game in which fouls accumulated quickly, the Ravens led only 18-17 before Ram shooting percentages from the field and from the foul line went ice cold. The Ravens' shooting was much more favorable while they managed the court by causing eight turnovers as Riverside flew to a 26-17 lead before entering halftime leading 28-19.

This trend continued as ARHS fired itself up to a pair of 16 point leads before the hard fighting MRHS team scrapped its way to trail by eight points on two occasions and managed to stay within striking distance at 48-38 going into the fourth quarter.

Colton Hardy was forced into filling in for Malcom Cola in the third quarter due to Cola's four fouls. He worked solid minutes with a combination of reserves and starters in an excellent effort.

Riverside owned the offensive boards to fire away into a 58-40 dominance, but Mount Rainier refused to quit.

Behind senior point guard Austin Sharma -- who scored eight of his game total of 13 in this stretch -- and the Ram defense, Mount Rainier made one final charge.

Sharma began with a short range jump shot and followed it up with a lay up. With the Rams pressing full court, Sharma made a steal in the Ravens' back court en route to a driving lay in. Driving the baseline, the MR senior scored again from short range to bring the Rams within 58-49 with 2:24 left in regulation. Auburn Riverside missed numerous free throws down the stretch although they grabbed offensive caroms regularly to hold off the Mount Rainier charge.

Trey Telbert and Cola finished with 10 points apiece.

Mitch Wetmore was nearly unstoppable while scoring 25 Riverside points. Julian Gulchuk and Quintin Bethea each had 10 points.