Beyond box score effort: Rivera shuts down Pirates’ go-to guy

STERLING – Sometimes you’ve got to read between the lines of the box score to get the whole story.

While eight points, nine rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists made up a fine night’s work for Sterling senior Alejandro Rivera, the line doesn’t do justice to the way he shut down Ottawa star John Carroll in the Golden Warriors’ 73-47 victory Tuesday at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

The victory keeps the Warriors alive in the hunt for a Northern Illinois Big 12 West title.

“Jando was flat-out great tonight on a first-team all-conference kind of player,” Sterling coach Ryan Brown said.

“It wasn’t just me. It was a team effort,” Rivera said. “My main focus tonight was to stick to him, take him out of his game and not lose him. When I did, my teammates found him.”

Carroll, coming off 22- and 19-point performances, was held to just four Tuesday night. He took all of four shots.

“It doesn’t necessarily take heart or pride to score a lot of points, but that’s exactly what it takes to play great defense – taking pride in what you’re doing,” Rivera said. “I think we finally figured that out tonight.”

The Pirates hung tough for about 12 minutes until the Warriors turned a 17-16 deficit into a 33-23 halftime lead. Cornell Hartz triggered the surge by going coast-to-coast and converting an athletic layup.

Sterling senior Patrick Petrosky scored eight of his game-high 19 points in the second period, including a three-point play that closed the half. With Marcus Robinson trapped near mid-court, Petrosky flashed to the near-side block. Robinson found Petrosky, who used his body as a shield to finish with contact.

His body wasn’t the only shield he put to use.

“We were just running our stall offense,” Petrosky said. “Chris [Fritsch] set a screen to get me wide open. Marcus saw me at the last second and got the ball to me.”

The Warriors scored the first four points in the opening half-minute of the second half and didn’t look back. Junior Tanner DeWitt played the role of fly in the ointment to perfection, coming up with five steals.