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<p>I talked about this matchup being the most intriguing one of class B in my <a href="https://prephoops.com/2025/03/napsac-class-b-playoff-preview/">NEPSAC Class B playoff preview</a>, and it certainly lived up to the hype. Rivers got out to an early lead and was up double digits for about 2/3 of the game. Then, Governor's made a push before eventually coming up 3 points short in the final seconds. What a game. Rivers moves on to face Millbrook in the next round.</p>
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<p>Here are my standouts from Rivers vs. Governor's.</p>
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<p class="text-gray-700">Alekseyenko was a bit too much for Governor's to handle in the paint. He had a few easy finishes off of drop steps in the post, and he also had a bunch of put-backs on offensive rebounds. Governor's certainly shifted their defense towards Alekseyenko, and that allowed him to find teammates for open threes and a couple layups. Defensively, I was really impressed with his ability to slide his feet with guards, though he did get beat by Ferdinando a couple times. Regardless, he barely sat and still played with energy and effort the whole game, which is very impressive.</p>
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<p class="text-gray-700">Altman is like an energizer bunny. He didn't sit for the entire game and still looked like the hardest-playing player on a number of possessions. He attacks both the offensive and defensive glasses with so much ferocity and is a rebound MACHINE. He has great timing and toughness and always boxes out. Offensively, Altman does a little bit of everything; he can create offense for himself and handles on-ball pressure very well. He can also shoot it from the mid-range and three and is a good cutter and ball mover. He feels like the glue for this team.</p>
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<p class="text-gray-700">I didn't realize how much of a freak athlete Fiore was until tonight. He flies on takes to the rim and gets about 3 feet off the ground for a routine jump shot. He had some trouble on-ball at times against the press but really excels off the ball as a shooter; His release is quick, the rotation on the ball is beautiful, and he can stroke it from anywhere inside half court. He air balled his first shot and settled right in by making 3 of his next 4 threes. Defensively, Fiore is a good on-ball defender and really understands help side rotations on the weak side.</p>
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<p class="text-gray-700">I like Ferdinando more and more each time I watch him play. Tonight against Rivers, he was feeling it early and knocked down some big threes. His shooting then forced the defense to close out harder to him, at which point he really got his off-the-dribble game working. He's quicker than you think he is and has some surprisingly crafty finishing moves at the hoop; he also makes the dump down pass whenever the defense helps. Really smart player who will have a wonderful career at Babson. Congrats on a great high school career, Thomas.</p>
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<p class="text-gray-700">Nkugwa must've thrown down a handful of dunks in Wednesday's matchup. He started the game off strong by driving hard to his left hand for a couple finishes early, and then he had a burst in the second half where he got on the break for a couple dunks in transition off of steals. For the cherry on top, he completely dunked on someone's head in the final minutes of the game. There's no question Nkugwa's a freak athlete, it'll just be about whether he can create enough shots, especially when going right, at the D1 level. The Vermont commit had an awesome high school career. Congrats to him.</p>
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I talked about this matchup being the most intriguing one of class B in my NEPSAC Class B playoff preview, and it certainly lived up to the hype. Rivers got out to an early lead and was up double digits for about 2/3 of the game. Then, Governor's made a push before eventually coming up 3 points short in the final seconds. What a game. Rivers moves on to face Millbrook in the next round.
HEIGHT
6'8"
POS
PF
CLASS
2025
State:
New England
School:
Rivers
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HEIGHT
6'6"
POS
SG
CLASS
2025
State:
New England
School:
Rivers
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HEIGHT
6'2"
POS
SG
CLASS
2025
State:
New England
School:
Rivers
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HEIGHT
6'2"
POS
CG
CLASS
2025
State:
New England
School:
Governor’s Academy
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HEIGHT
6'2"
POS
CG
CLASS
2025
State:
New England
School:
Governor's Academy
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