By Corey J. Corbin
New Castle News

The Riverside High basketball team had no defense for Matt McKinney last night.

The Neshannock senior guard knocked down seven 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 26 points to lead the Lancers to a 91-55 Section 2-AA home victory.

“It was a productive night,” Neshannock coach John Corey said. “There was a stretch there where McKinney hit four in a row. That was a nice little stretch for him. The rest of the team made sure to get him the ball. For him to get open like that, the rest of the team was making nice passes and setting good screens.”

Neshannock (1-0, 3-1) counted 12 3-pointers among their 35 field goals. The Lancers extended a six-point first quarter lead into 44-24 lead at halftime and continued on their torrid pace in the second half, outscoring the Panthers 47-31.

“I liked how we stayed after it after we built a pretty good lead,” Corey said. “My message to the guys at halftime was that Riverside wasn’t going to quit. They have tough kids and they didn’t quit. I was proud of our effort in the second half when the score was what it was.”

Ernie Burkes recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists, while posting four steals. Ethan Moose tacked on 19 points, while Ty Haswell chipped in 11 points and five rebounds. Jimmy Medure added six points, seven rebounds and four steals and Matt Seltzer pulled down five rebounds for Neshannock.

“From a team perspective, I thought we played very well and played together on the offensive end. Ernie had 11 assists and only two turnovers tonight. He was very efficient from the point guard position. Overall, we had 10 offensive rebounds, so that’s a plus from tonight. By doing that, we put ourselves in a good position to win the game.

“This one was a good one to get. We have a tough week next week in the section with Mohawk and Shenango. We just have to keep going.”

The Neshannock defense struggled to shut down Riverside’s Logan Sheridan, who finished with a team-high 20 points.

“Logan had a good night,” Corey said. “We didn’t a good enough job on him. He had too many easy buckets. Defense is definitely something that we have to get better at.”

(Email: C_Corbin@ncnewsonline.com)