Rainy River let a second-half lead slip away Wednesday in a frustrating 95-93 loss at home to Vermilion, the top team in the Northern Division.
The Voyageurs (2-2, 3-11) led by as many as 10 points in the second half. They lost the lead with just under 11 minutes to play and never recovered.
“We had good looks, just didn’t knock them down in the second half. Then didn’t get back on defense,” said Voyageurs sophomore Derek Scully, who scored a game-high 29 points on 11 of 18 shooting, including 7 of 11 from long distance.
“We should’ve had that, especially at home,” Scully added.
Sheldon Esdelle-Blackburn had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, Evan Ziegler posted 15 points and eight rebounds and Prince Williams finished with 11 points and five rebounds for RRCC. Scully had a double-double with 12 rebounds and six assists.
Vermilion (4-0, 14-5) had five players in double figures, led by Taylor Smaller’s 22 points, including 14 in the second half. Walter Willis (15), Nick Toland (14), Donte Warlick (11) and Jacobi Fitzgerald (11) also finished in double figures.
“(Smaller) is the one that killed us in the second half,” Scully said.
Scully’s back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers cut the deficit to 89-88 with 43 seconds to play, but Vermilion sealed the game at the free-throw line with Willis.
Scully and Ziegler missed 3-pointers with the Voyageurs trailing 93-90, and Willis, who finished 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch, made two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining. Scully hit a meaningless shot from long distance at the buzzer.
Smaller came in averaging 15.9 points a game, good for sixth in the division and second on Vermilion. Toland came in averaging 17.8 a game. Scully is eighth at 13 points a contest and fourth at 4.4 assists. Smaller also leads the division in steals (3.5 a game) and is second in assists (5.7).
