Coming off the roughest stretch it has seen all year, Neuqua Valley has just resorted back to what it does so well.
Nine different Neuqua Valley players scored in the midst of scoring a season-high 96 points in its 96-55 Upstate Eight Valley victory over East Aurora on Tuesday night.
Neuqua Valley Senior Connor Raridon hit six of his seven three-point attempts en route to posting a 40-point night, establishing a new career high and a new Neuqua Valley single-game scoring record.
“I got going early, hit some shots early and, you know, guys did a great job of finding me after that and they knew I was getting hot there,” Raridon said. “My teammates just got me the ball a lot and I was able to knock down some shots.”
The North Central College-bound Raridon hit 12 of his 16 field-goal attempts while shooting a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line to help lead three Wildcats in double figures.
While nine different players scored for Neuqua Valley (19-3, 8-1), seven of them hit at least one three-pointer, with five players—Raridon, Demond George, Joe Sieger, Ryan Phillips and Logan Wallace—hitting at least twice from long distance.
“It was a great shooting night for everyone, really. It just helped that we got a lot of open shots based off guys being unselfish and passing the ball and moving the ball well,” Raridon said.
Zac Lendino and Sieger joined Raridon in double digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively, as the Wildcats led by as many as 40 points.
A 9-0 run in the first quarter that broke a 5-5 tie en route to a 30-point first quarter helped the Wildcats develop a workable lead as Raridon scored 11 in the quarter as the Wildcats were up by 15 after one quarter.
By halftime, Raridon had 23 as the Wildcats went into the locker room up by 22.
By the time the third quarter ended, Raridon had 38 points after hitting three free throws with about 30 seconds left in the quarter and his night was done after opening scoring in the fourth quarter with a basket 13 seconds into the quarter.
“We came out, tried to play with (Neuqua Valley). We wanted to try to play with them early and then try to slow the tempo a little bit,” said East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries, whose team lost 92-72 to Neuqua Valley at its Christmas tournament in late December. “But that kind of game plan went out the window when you get down 10 right off the bat. But they got some open looks. They do a great job of running their stuff and they got some open looks and they knocked them down.”
Averaging 87 points a game in their two games since participating in the Hononegah MLK Tournament, victories over both South Elgin and East Aurora, the Wildcats are focused on avenging their lone Upstate Eight loss of the year on Friday.
Bartlett, which beat Neuqua Valley by five points in mid December, comes calling on Friday.
“We took a couple losses over at Martin Luther King, but it was worth it to go play really good teams. So we’re always willing to play good teams and get better, learn from it and move on,” Neuqua Valley assistant coach Michael O’Toole said. … “Right now, we’re really looking towards Bartlett. Bartlett, Bartlett, Bartlett. They beat us the first time through the conference. We’re trying to win the conference. (To do that), we got to beat Bartlett. So we’re 100 percent focused on them.”
