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Woodbury stifles high-powered Cretin-Derham Hall offense

By Nick Allen, Sport Ngin, 01/10/14, 11:00AM CST

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Matt Ambriz, Ben Rizzardi help Royals slow Raiders with zone defense


Woodbury's Ben Rizzardi (second from left) and Matt Ambriz (14) wait for a rebound against Cretin-Derham Hall. Photo by Jon Laqua.


Woodbury #14 Matt Ambriz drives to the basket against Cretin-Derham Hall. Photo by Jon Laqua.

While temperatures were on the rise outside on Friday night, Matt Ambriz and Woodbury was busy cooling he high-powered offense of Cretin-Derham Hall.

The Raiders entered the game averaging an astounding 85.2 points per game but were unable to ever really get things going against the rarely seen 1-3-1 zone the Royals threw at them. 

Ambriz, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, played a huge role in the 78-65 victory as he scored 25 points and caused fits for the Raiders atop the zone on defense. 

Ambriz relies on a quick release that gives defenders little chance of blocking his shot. As Ambriz tells it, that's no accident either: "It's something I've working on since I was a kid -- all summer, just all year -- shooting in my backyard and putting in the time."

Ambriz has become a dynamic scorer. He gets his points from behind the arc and on aggressive drives through the lane.

Woodbury coach Scott Swansson knows what he has in Ambriz, "He's a gym rat. He's always in working on his shot, shooting all the time. He's pretty much always got the green light."

A big part of Woodbury's defensive effort was focused around stopping Raiders' 6-foot-6 junior forward Sam Neumann. 

Neumann entered the game averaging 21 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and was coming off a recent dazzling performance at the Target Center in which he scored 39 points and made nine 3-pointers.

Neumann had a tough time against the 1-3-1 zone. He shot 2-for-8 from behind the arc in the first half and failed to make anything outside the paint in the second half.

Neumann finished with 18 points. Junior Joe Rosga led the Raiders with 20 points.

"We knew where he was at all times and put a hand up, contested his shots and made sure he didn't get any good looks," Swansson said.

While Ambriz's performance was vital to Woodbury's victory, it may not have been possible without the big play from the 6-foot-5 Ben Rizzardi.

Rizzardi did the dirty work for the Royals in the first half as he battled it out with Neumann and other Raiders' big men. Rizzardi's play helped to keep the Royals within 35-32 at the half. 

The Royals opened the second half with a 16-3 run thanks in large part to Rizzardi's 22 points and 11 rebounds.

The lead continued to grow, as did the crowd's excitement. With 2:45 left, a big dunk from Rizzardi launched Royals fans out of their seats with a roar of approval.

"We told ourselves we needed to fight more," Rizzardi said. "We needed to get the rebounds, do the dirty work and just play harder. This is going to give us a lot of confidence going forward and we'll need it for some tough games coming up."

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