Reece Riggenbach's big fourth quarter leads Smithville past Dalton in WCAL opener

SMITHVILLE — As Dalton was making a run Friday night, Smithville was looking for a spark.

The Smithies found it in senior Reece Riggenbach, who kickstarted a fourth-quarter run that was too much for the Bulldogs to come back from en route to a 51-42 victory in the Wayne County Athletic League opener at Wilbur Berkey Fieldhouse.

No stranger to big-time moments a year ago, the lanky swingman came through in the clutch again, netting 10 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to turn what was a one-possession game in the first minute of the period into an efficient win.

“That's the Reece we know and the Reece that we expect,” said Smithville acting coach Jace Watts, who was coaching in place of Corey Kaufman. “We have really high expectations for him, he knows that, and he's getting back to it.”

Boy, did he ever.

With Dalton (0-2, 0-1) knocking on the door of its first lead since in the opening minutes of the contest after cutting the deficit to 34-31 on the opening possession of the fourth with a 3-pointer from Colin Pearson, the Smithies (1-1, 1-0) turned to Riggenbach.

The 6-foot-3 sharpshooter connected on a pair of triples with less than four minutes to go in regulation and followed it up with a layup and a pair of free throws in the closing minute to seal the victory.

“There he is,” Watts said of Riggenbach’s breakout quarter. “He's not a streaky shooter, he's a good shooter. He was just waiting to get into his groove and he found it there; hit some big shots for us.”

It was exactly what Bulldogs first-year coach Justin Greenfelder was hoping would not happen as his young team, which featured just one returning starter from last winter in Quentin Lehman on the floor Friday and has been bitten by the injury bug with three players unavailable Friday night.

His group was able to rally from an eight-point deficit late in the third with a 3-pointer and layup from Pearson, along with another layup by Brady Hignight to shave the Smithville lead down to 37-35 with 5:51 left.

But Riggenbach and the Smithies, had different plans as Dalton trailed by nine just three minutes later and scored just one basket — a Keller McFarren 3-pointer — over the final three minutes of play.

“Every time we seemed to hit a big shot, they would match it,” Greenfelder said. “Every time the momentum seemed to change, they would hit a shot or make a play and that's a credit to them. They execute their stuff really well and they're difficult to defend.”

The Smithies leaned on another senior guard in Mac Butzer (15 points) as they trailed early but took a lead midway through the first and never gave it up.

That, along with a stat-stuffing night from all-league guard Carter Piatt, who finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a pair of blocks, was enough to hold down the Bulldogs.

But that’s the overall production that Watts, along with the rest of the Smithville coaching staff, knows this group is capable of.

“We have eight varsity players on our bench, and we expect to get contributions from all of them,” he said. “In this game they all stepped it. It wasn't just Piatt ball, we relied on all of those guys, and they got us the win. It felt good to get that first one under our belts.”

Quinn Maibach chipped in eight off the bench for the Smithies, who outrebounded the Bulldogs 24-20, with 11 of those boards coming on the offensive glass.

Dalton guard Jack Steiner led the scoring on the other side with 12 points and six rebounds, with Keller McFarren adding 10, thanks to a seven-point third quarter that kept the ’Dawgs close enough to make one more late push. Both Steiner and Grayson Lehman each had three assists.

For Dalton, the contest was another step in the learning process for a team that has had to adjust almost daily since the start of the season.

Without the services of starters Braylon Wenger and Kyrie Gaut, and then seeing forward Braden Fiesler go down with an ankle injury earlier this week, it's been a roller coaster start to the Greenfelder era.

But the rookie coach isn’t worried and has been impressed with the growth of his squad.

“That's what I just told them in there, I'm really am proud of them,” Greenfelder said. “I can never fault their effort. I have great kids and they work their butts off.

“They're being asked, some of them, to grow up a little faster than what they should and being asked to step into roles that they never really had to play,” he added. “We can't change the hand that we've been dealt, we just have to play and do the best that we can.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Boys Basketball: Smithville beats Dalton 51-42 in WCAL opener