Bureau Valley falls short against Riverdale after wild fourth quarter

MANLIUS — Bureau Valley went out shooting.

Clawing their way back from a double-digit deficit numerous times, the Storm just fell short against Riverdale in a 68-59 setback in Wednesday’s Class 2A BV Regional semifinal matchup.

It was not without some offensive fireworks.

BV (21-11), seeded sixth, scored 27 points in the fourth quarter. Elijah Endress (12 points) hit three late 3-pointers and Landon Hulsing finished the game with 20 points.

But the third-seeded Rams (21-9) always had an answer against the Lincoln Trail Conference champions.

Riverdale advances to face Rock Falls at 7 p.m. Friday in the regional final. The Rockets beat Oregon 58-38.

Riverdale scored 28 points of their own in the fourth quarter and hit 11 free throws. Paxton Kiddoo (17 points) hit five 3-pointers, Aris Morgan had 20 points and Brody Clark had 13 of his 17 in the last eight minutes.

BV had a 3-pointer just rim out in the final minute that would have made it a two-point game.

BV coach Jason Marquis said he has a resilient group. That showed on Wednesday.

“We just struggled to apply pressure and try to speed them up a little bit and still get stops,” he said. “The boys cut it to five and had that 3 rim out and just couldn’t get it to a single possession game.

“I’m not surprised that our boys had that resilience, but I am thankful.”

BV kept it a one possession game after the first quarter and at halftime. But Riverdale’s balanced attack was tough to contain.

“Attitude and effort was good tonight, those are the two things you can always control,” Marquis said. “Just didn’t execute quite enough plays against what I think is a really good Riverdale team.”

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Bureau Valley’s Elijah Endress drives to the hoop against Riverdale’s Jackson Tegeler Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, at the Class 2A Regional semifinal at Bureau Valley High School. (Alex T. Paschal)

Riverdale coach Alex Kelly expected a tough game against BV in a loud road environment.

“We’re young, we had to kind of figure it out there,” he said. “I thought our leaders stepped up, I thought we moved the ball well against their zone. They’ve got a really good 1-3-1 that they ran, and we kind of handled it pretty good.

“They’re tough, they’re a really good team, they’re well coached. We knew we were in for a battle. ... They’ve got really good senior leadership and we knew we were in for 32 minutes.”

Endress, one of BV’s four senior starters with Bryce Helms, Landon Birdsley and Hulsing, said he was proud of the way his team finished. Junior Logan Philhower had 10 points for BV.

“We had a rough first half, shots weren’t falling,” Endress said. “We showed what it could have been in the fourth quarter.”

Despite the the loss, BV’s home crowd also stayed engaged until the end.

“The support is great, I love playing here,” Endress said. “It’s always fun to be with my teammates. It’s sad it’s my last time playing with them, but the crowd was really good.”