AUSTIN – The older, wiser Austin Community College/Riverland Community College squad took the early lead, but it was the youth and athleticism of Coach David Lillemon’s current team that took the Blue Devils over the top.

Tuesday, November 27, 2001

AUSTIN – The older, wiser Austin Community College/Riverland Community College squad took the early lead, but it was the youth and athleticism of Coach David Lillemon’s current team that took the Blue Devils over the top.

The veteran players took a 53-47 lead at the half, but a full-court press put on by the younger Blue Devil players put too much pressure on the elder statesmen. Riverland’s current team kept the press on throughout the second half, came back to tie 73-73 before pulling away in a 94-83 victory.

&uot;The alumni played zone the entire game until the last few minutes, and we haven’t seen that,&uot; Lillemon said. &uot;We kind of stood around a little bit but still scored our highest output of the season.&uot;

Riverland made 10 three-point shots on the way to the season-high output.

Andy Stouvenel hit seven threes en route to a team-high 24 points. Sophomore point guard Marzell Little netted 15, Ryan Hansen added 13 and

Jared More chipped in 11. Jake Bettis added nine.

&uot;We tied it 73-73, and from there we kind of took over with our full-court pressure,&uot; Lillemon said.

For the alumni team, the leader was hall of fame inductee John Van Beek. The former All-American, who was the Tribune’s Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year as a senior at Glenville-Emmons, put up a game-high 31 points, including three three-pointers.

Van Beek was one of six inducted into the Riverland Hall of Fame earlier in the day.

Travis Miller added 13 and Tim Pytleski contributed 12.

The alumni took the halftime lead courtesy of seven three-pointers.

&uot;Defensively I was disappointed,&uot; Lillemon said. &uot;But we did a nice

job in the second half.&uot;