Raiders rebound for third place

Lomega didn’t get the championship it wanted, but did get the bounce-back win it needed.

The Raiders rebounded from an upset loss to Cherokee in Friday’s semifinals to beat Ringwood 70-50 Saturday in the Cherokee Strip Conference Tournament’s third-place game.

Lomega had defeated Cherokee 71-37 on the road in December in a game that saw the Raiders hit 14 3-pointers.

That number was reduced to four on Friday as Cherokee held off a late Lomega rally to win 41-40.

However, it wasn’t the shooting that bothered coach Justin Edsall.

“We didn’t play with near the effort we needed to,” he said.

On Saturday, he said, that effort returned.

And, as it turned out, so did the long-range marksmanship.

The Raiders knocked down 13 treys against Ringwood.

Seven of those came in the first quarter as Lomega built a 24-14 lead.

Five of those seven left the fingertips of Kelby Ott as he notched all 15 of his points in the first frame.

The Raiders led 40-24 at halftime despite Blake Snowden owning just three points.

He turned that around in the third as he hit two treys and scored 10 points as Lomega’s lead widened.

Snowden ended the night with 20 points to lead four Raiders in double figures.

Owen Duffy scored 12 points and Jonah Pendergraft added 11.

Only one Raider scored in double digits Friday.

Brooks Uhlenhake scored 10 of his 14 in the fourth quarter as Lomega’s rally fell short.

Uhlenhake and Snowden earned spots on the all-tournament team.