Richland wins first district title in 21 years

When the Richland Rebels defeated Delta 71-66 Friday evening they won the school's first district title in 21 years.

“Don’t turn the ball over, be patient and only give them one shot,” said Richland Coach Matt Cline of his fourth quarter strategy after the game. “We rebounded well tonight. Delta does a good job of sending their guys to the boards and we stressed that in practice and our walkthrough yesterday. I was proud of our boys and the way they rebounded tonight.”

“They (Delta ran a box-and-one on Hunter Sanders) ran a good defense to take him out of the game at the start, but once we started getting the ball into the high post and he started moving without the ball then he got a few shots,” continued Cline. “Hunter (Sanders) is a good ball player for us and he played under control tonight. They got a little aggressive with him there at the end and he used it to open some things up and get to the hole.”

Richland was seeded first in the Class 1 District 2 tournament in Zalma. This was the first one seed for Richland since 1997. This was Richland's first appearance in the district championship game since 2010. In 2010 Richland was defeated by a Scott County Central squad lead by Otto Porter Jr.

“This is the first time I remember having a real student section, with us on the road this season,” Cline said of the fan support at the game. “But it was great to have them. Always nice to see the support of your fans.”

“They are really young, like us. I think both of us are going to lose a key player or two this year, but there are probably going to be some battles down the road with them,” Cline said of Delta. “They were young when we saw them the first time this season and they have gotten battle-tested since. They did a great job of shooting the ball and attacking. They are well coached bunch.”

Cline was happy with the way Richland protected the ball and bounced back from a stretch of cold shooting in the middle of the game.

“We did a good job of not turning the ball over tonight and I thought we shot the ball pretty well when we needed to. We did have a stretch there where we couldn’t hit a bunny or a lay up to save our lives. I don’t know if it was our nerves or what, but it happens.

Cline was also complementary of the new gym at Zalma and the host school.

“The gym just looks so much bigger and brighter,” said Cline. “I was just telling (Zalma) Coach (Marc Wayde) Crane that he did a great job with the gym and a great venue to play in.”

Richland (14-13) will now face Clackton (16-13) Monday evening in sectional play at Liberty (Mountain View) High School.