Reffett, Kiser score in double figures, but Rochester falls to undefeated Bremen

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Jack Reffett

Rochester boys basketball coach Luke Smith thought his team “played their butts off” against visiting Bremen at the RHS gym Saturday.

It’s just that being a Lion tamer requires better shooting.

Jack Reffett and Jonas Kiser scored 11 points each, but the Zebras fell to the undefeated Lions 55-42.

Mitchell Clark and Liam Spence added five points each, and Brady Coleman and Carson Paulik had four points each.

Bremen jumped out to an 11-2 lead, and they never trailed. Rochester got within 23-21 at halftime, but the Lions scored 22 points without committing a turnover in the third quarter.

Rochester stayed within 47-41 on two Clark free throws with 4:39 left, but Rochester scored only one point the rest of the way.

Chase Devine, who came in averaging 24.5 points per game, scored 22 points for Bremen (7-0). Riley Tener, a 6-6 backup center, had 11, including nine in the second half.

But it was their efficient third quarter in which they stretched their lead out to nine that might have sunk the Zebras.

“In the third quarter, I don’t know how many offensive rebounds they had … but it just felt like we could not get the ball in our hands,” Rochester coach Luke Smith said. “I actually thought our guys were in position, but we weren’t driving them out. And when you’re 6-6, just being in position is not good enough.

“Bremen’s a very good ballclub. I knew it coming in. Devine’s the real deal. He doesn’t get sped up. He plays the game the right way. And he finds the open guy. When you have a guy like that, it’s tough.”

From Reffett to Kiser to Clark to Paulik to Spence, Rochester had success driving to the rim, but they only made two 3-pointers – both by Reffett in the second quarter.

“Offensively, I know the score doesn’t show it tonight, but that second half, that ball was finally moving around on my offensive side of the floor, and we were driving the paint, and there’s a lot of good things that come from that,” Smith said. “If we can continue to build on that… we’ve got to make some shots coming out of it. Unfortunately, I think we were two for 13 from 3, and I think Bremen does such a good job of not allowing you anything comfortable in the paint. A team like Bremen, you’re going to have to knock down some 3s and shoot over the top of it to spread them out.”

Bremen came in allowing just 34 points per game. Their 13-point margin of victory was their smallest in seven games.

“My guys played their butts off tonight,” Smith said. “They played really hard. I thought we communicated well. My voice doesn’t carry very far on the court, and sometimes, they’re looking at me crazy. I said, ‘Once one of you guys hears it, you need to share it with your teammates.’ And I thought they did a good job of that. We did mix it up more than we had all season long tonight. We continue to work on different defensive sets in practice, something that we can feel comfortable with come game time, and we’ll continue to build on that.”

After Rochester fell behind 11-2, they scored six straight points on a Brady Coleman jumper in the paint, a Reffett coast to coast layup and a Kiser putback of his own miss.

A Tener banked-in buzzer beater pushed the lead to 13-8. A Devine back door cut that led to a 3-point play and a Hartley Mitole 3-pointer elevated the lead to 21-12, but Spence hit two free throws, and Reffett buried a corner 3 to make it 21-17.

A Jack Wildauer layup ended the mini-run, but Reffett hit another 3, and when Spence split a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds left in the half, Rochester had cut the lead to two.

Tener scored Bremen’s first six points of the second half, but two baskets by Kiser kept the deficit at six.

A driving layup from Clark, an aggressive Kiser baseline drive to the rim for a 3-point play, a Spence driving layup and two Kiser free throws kept the margin at five. But two Mitole free throws and a Devine driving layup made it a nine-point game.

Rochester won the freshman game 47-45 in overtime and the JV game 55-50.

Aiden Wilson led the Rochester JV with 16 points, Owen Lett had 11, Parker Casper had seven, Van Kiser had six, Alex Chapman had five, Mason Oliver had five, Taylor Howard had three, and Linden Wilburn had two.

Bremen 55, Rochester 42

BREMEN (55) (7-0)

Jack Wildauer 3 1-2 7, Hartley Mitole 2 2-2 7, Chase Devine 7 6-6 22, Maddux Hickman 2 0-2 4, Bryce Miller 2 0-0 4, Isaac Garber 0 0-0 0, Santos Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Owyn Nunemaker 0 0-0 0, Riley Tener 5 0-0 11

TEAM: 21 9-12 55

ROCHESTER (42) (2-5)

Carson Paulik 2 0-0 4, Mitchell Clark 1 3-4 5, Brady Coleman 2 0-0 4, Jack Reffett 4 1-2 11, Jonas Kiser 3 5-5 11, Liam Spence 1 3-4 5, Ashton Musselman 0 0-0 0, Parker Casper 0 0-0 0, Alex Chapman 1 0-0 2, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 14 12-15 42

Three-point field goals:

Bremen 4 (Devine 2, Tener, Mitole),

Rochester 2 (Reffett 2)

Total fouls: Bremen 13, Rochester 22

Fouled out: Kiser (RHS), 2:59, fourth

Turnovers: Bremen 8, Rochester 11

Score by quarters

Bremen 13 10 22 10 – 55

Rochester 8 13 15 6 – 42

JV: Rochester 55, Bremen 50