S-M's Riewer on a roll
AREA ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
When Jordan Riewer takes his final shot as a Staples-Motley Cardinal it should be a made basket.
It would be a fitting end to a remarkable five-year varsity career, one that includes becoming the school's all-time leading scorer. He was 12 points shy of Eric Kelly's 1,749 mark heading into Friday's game against Pequot Lakes.
He also led S-M to a Mid-State Conference title last year.
But there are two things missing from the point guard's to-do list. The glaring one is a state tournament appearance. The other that casual sports fans may not know about is in five seasons and nine games, Riewer and the Cardinals have yet to beat the Crosby-Ironton Rangers.
"I want it so bad," said Riewer. "It's been a team goal since way back last year. We wanted to beat them bad and we've had our chances. We had them the last time, but we need to do a better job of taking care of the ball."
Jordan Riewer
Year: Senior
School: Staples-Motley
Sport: Basketball
Position: Point guard
Key stat: In three wins, finished with 67 points, 20 rebounds, 33 assists, 16 steals.
That last chance came Jan. 22 in Crosby, where the Rangers topped S-M 58-48. Since then the senior has been on a tear.
In a 79-61 Mid-State Conference win over Wadena-Deer Creek Jan. 26, Riewer scored 33 points on 13-of-19 shooting to go with seven assists, seven rebounds and four steals.
He followed that with 17 points, six rebounds, 16 assists, five steals and no turnovers in S-M's 87-50 blowout of Park Rapids Jan. 29.
A day later against the Little Falls Flyers, Riewer went 5-of-6 from 3-point and scored 27 points to go with 10 assists, seven rebounds, seven steals and one blocked shot.
"All three were big road wins for us," said Cardinals head coach Lynn Peterson. "We played with a little more sense of urgency, a little more heart and we were having more fun in the game. We're also having more fun in practice and that's where it needs to start."
Those three games boosted Riewer's season totals to 222 points (15.9 per game), 101 rebounds (7.2), 120 assists (8.6), 48 steals (3.4) and eight blocked shots. He's shooting 54.1 percent from the field, 87.5 percent from the line.
The most noticeable increase recently has been Riewer's points per game.
"He was the one who undertook the role of being more of a distributor of the ball," said Peterson. "He felt a lot of confidence in his teammates and he knew other people would be keying on him so he seemed to take on more of that role.
"Lately, we kind of said to him that we need him to take on the scorer role because that's when things open up for everyone else. The last week he stepped up that part of his game."
Just in time for S-M's next matchup with C-I, which will be Feb. 26 in Staples.
"Winning is always more fun," said Riewer, who will play next season at Jamestown College. "We're going to try to keep that in mind and remember how fun it is to win. This being my last year, the last year for almost all of us, we would like to make sure we keep winning."
Other notable performances:
Basketball: Dan Kornbaum, Little Falls, scored 24 points against Brainerd, 24 against Alexandria and 30 against Staples-Motley.
Caleb Janson, Pierz, finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds against Albany.
Eric Bolduc, Lake Region, finished with 25 points and seven steals against Woodcrest and 24 points against Mississippi Valley.
Jordan Reed, Wadena-Deer Creek, scored 22 points against Staples-Motley.
Nick Sundholm, Aitkin, scored 23 points against Duluth Marshall.
Preston Weber, Pierz, scored 22 points against Eden Valley-Watkins.
Derek Wolhowe, Staples-Motley, scored 23 points against Park Rapids.
Wrestling: Clint Poster, Pierz, won the 135-pound championship at the Veldman invite.
Jordan Chouanard, Aitkin, won the 140-pound title at the Grand Rapids tournament.
Dillon Kifer, Derik Jendro and Brandon Hiemenz, Little Falls, each finished 5-0 last week.
JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.