Friday night the Indians beat Hughson 65-63 to begin the season 1-0 in league. With miniscule time left the Indians were up a point when Andrew Wood hit a clutch lay up to make the score 63-60. Desperate for points with little time remaining the Huskies took the ball down a scored a quick two. They would then go on to foul Mario Roach where he hit two free throws to make it 65-62, but it forced Hughson to put up a difficult shot as time expired. Ripon’s crowd was ecstatic as the Indians took home the victory.

Ripon’s main contributors on offense were Mario Roach(23 points), Cole Stevens(17 points), and Aaron Paschini(15 points). Stevens and Roach would go on to hit three 3-pointers each while Paschini hit two himself. Roach was seen on crutches earlier in the week, but he came out healthy in this one and provided the spark Ripon needed for the victory.

“We came together as a team and played some good basketball,” said Ripon’s Andrew Wood.

Ripon had control of the game the whole night, and played well as a unit. Despite being a very young team the Indians have the tools to make a run for a TVL title, but only time will tell.

The Indians next game is Tuesday night at 7:30 in Hilmar against the 0-1 Yellowjackets who lost to Ripon Christian in their TVL opener. The Huskies will go on to play Escalon (0-1) Tuesday night.

By Luciano Gonzalez