Riverview rallies to bury Manatee

BRADENTON - The Riverview High boys showed that the game of basketball can be pretty simple if you do the right thing.

The Rams did exactly that in the fourth quarter when they broke away from Manatee and never looked back in recording a 47-37 victory over the host Hurricanes on Thursday night.

Both teams struggled in a ragged first half when Riverview (5-1) hit 8 of 26 shots and Manatee (3-2) was 5-for-22 from the field.

Things started to change in the third quarter, though the teams played even. Matt Conway scored all of Riverview's eight points, hitting four of five shots on two uncontested layups and two short jumpers as the Rams started to get easy shots. Manatee stayed close, but struggled to get good looks.

The Rams scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter and went on a 13-1 run to take a 41-26 lead. Conway again led the spree with six points, and Derek Robbins converted on a three-point play to finish the run.

Conway, a transfer from Sarasota High, finished with a game-high 20 points, with 16 coming in the second half on 8-of-13 shooting. He also led the Rams on the boards with nine.

"Our guys played pretty hard. Our goal was to come in here and do things better and try to get better," Riverview head coach Jim Ward said. "We always try to get layups. We missed a lot of them in the first half and did a little bit better in the second half. Defensively, we just played sound, tried not to make a lot of mistakes and have our guys in the right place."

When Riverview went on its 13-1 run, Manatee missed four shots and turned the ball over twice. The 'Canes struggled most of the night to get high-percentage shots, particularly in the second half when they were 7-for-27 from the field and finished 12-for-49. The Rams were 11-for-23 in the second half.

Manatee made a little run to get back into the game when Ace Sanders and Quenton Bundrage drove in for layups to cut the 'Canes deficit to 43-33 with 1:43 left.

Conway capped the scoring with a short jumper.