Cannon, Skinner power Riverside boys to huge region win over Greer
Drew Cannon continued an impressive run of form against Greer on Tuesday, dropping 21 points to lead the Warriors to a comfortable 74-61 win.
Riverside head coach Allen Arnold will be the first to admit it: he’s a nervous wreck before games.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I’ll be honest, I can get nervous sometimes,” said Arnold. “Before games, I always have jitters. But once it gets going and we’re performing well, I don’t have those jitters anymore.”
It took all of two minutes for those jitters to go away when Riverside took on Greer Tuesday night.
In a matchup of region heavyweights, Riverside dealt the first blow by jumping out to a 10-0 lead just 1:58 into the game. The Warriors (18-4, 4-1 region) never relented en route to a statement 74-61 win over the Jackets (19-4, 4-1 region).
“Sometimes, you just have these kind of nights,” said Arnold. “If we played Greer 10 times, this would be the one time we’d beat them by almost 20 points.”
Hypotheticals aside, one thing almost impossible to debate was Riverside’s dominance on Tuesday night. The Warriors came out firing early with seniors Drew Cannon and Julen Iturbe both connecting on multiple three-pointers.
Cannon was again Riverside’s leading scorer, finishing with 21 points and continuing his career-best run of form.
“My entire playing career has been about me trying to find the confidence to where I’m comfortable out there,” said Cannon. “I feel like I’ve finally found that now and I’m trying to stay in this groove.”
Each of Cannon’s four three-pointers electrified the packed-out Riverside student section. He and the Warriors gave them plenty to cheer for.
“When we hit a big shot and we’ve got our student section going crazy like they were tonight, that really helps us,” said Cannon.
Riverside forward Mikkel Skinner also had one of his best performances of the season. Skinner tallied 17 points on the evening, but it was his dominance on the glass—mainly his offensive rebounding—that shined brightest and frustrated the Jackets. He had seven offensive boards and 13 total.
Skinner—who also plays wide receiver for Riverside in football—took this matchup personally. He had no problem engaging in some friendly trash talk and riling up the home crowd.
“We lost to them last year in basketball which lost us the region, and then we lost to them in football this year, too,” said Skinner. “This was a big game in my mind. I’ve been thinking about this one for a while.”
Amare Anderson had 22 points to lead Greer, but it was far from enough to keep the game competitive. In what many expected to be a close game throughout, there was never a question of who would come out on top.
As for the region, however, plenty of questions still remain.
With a 47-45 loss to Eastside on Friday, the Warriors relinquished the inside lane to the region championship. Riverside and Greer both sit at 4-1 in region play, while Eastside trails slightly behind at 3-2.
All three still have a shot at the checkered flag heading into the final lap.
“There’s a lot of basketball left to be played,” said Arnold. “It’s a long, long second half of the season. We’ve got to be ready to go.”
THE SCORE BY QUARTERS
Greer 10 7 21 23 - 61
RHS 20 19 16 19 - 74
STAT LEADERS
Greer
Amare Anderson - 22 points
Zayn Valentine - 12 points
Mikey Williams - 11 points
Riverside
Drew Cannon - 21 points, 4 assists
Mikkel Skinner - 17 points, 13 rebounds
Julen Iturbe - 16 points, 13 rebounds
Jack Sauer - 13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists