Rough week for the Cruiser boys

After winning two in a row the week before, the Cruiser boys’ basketball team was looking to keep things rolling when they hosted River Ridge on Jan. 8.  The Cruisers came into the game sporting a 7-5 overall record to River Ridge’s 5-8 record.

River Ridge jumped on the Cruisers early and put them in the rear view mirror for the rest of the night. River Ridge would lead 37-22 at the half. Senior Jackson Roulst led the Cruisers at the half with 8 points.

The Hawks continued to stifle the Cruisers in the second half. They kept their 15 point lead at the end of the third quarter. They finished the Cruisers off in the fourth and take the win, 71-49.

Roulst, playing senior post,  led the Cruisers in the night with a career-high 17 points to go along with his eight rebounds. Jeremy Knoblauch missed a double-double by one rebound and finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Eatonville looked to stop their three-game skid on Friday, Jan. 11 when they played host to the 2-9 Warriors from Clover Park.

The Cruisers kept things close until late in the first quarter when senior Tristan Schoepf went down with an ankle injury.

Clover Park led by 8 at the end of the first, 19-11. With Schoepf out of the game, the Cruisers struggled both on offense and defense. The Clover Park backcourt press didn’t help matters at all as the Cruisers turned the ball over many times in the night. Clover Park extended their lead and took a 30-18 lead into the half. Sophomore Kekoa Visperas led the Cruisers at the half with 6 points.

The second half saw much of the same. Schoepf, with a taped up ankle, checked back into the game, but the Cruisers were no match for the stingy Warrior defense.

Roulst went down late in the fourth quarter with a bad ankle injury of his own and went straight to the locker room. Visperas dropped in 10 more points in the half and lead the Cruisers, as the Warriors sailed to a 59-40 victory.

Visperas finished with 16 points and seven rebounds to lead the Cruisers.

The two losses this week drop the Cruiser record to 7-8 overall and 3-5 in league play.

The Cruisers will host Orting and White River next week, on Monday and Wednesday respectively. Monday, Jan.14, will be Senior Night for both the boys and girls basketball teams as well as the cheer squad. So come on out and support the teams and help celebrate the seniors.