Recruiting Report: Riley Matticks (2016)
In the biggest game of the season so far, when his team needed him the most, Riley Matticks delivered for Legend. The 6-foot-1 senior point guard for the Titans was a monster in the second half of his team’s 68-66…
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Continue ReadingIn the biggest game of the season so far, when his team needed him the most, Riley Matticks delivered for Legend.
The 6-foot-1 senior point guard for the Titans was a monster in the second half of his team’s 68-66 victory over Rock Canyon on Tuesday night that kept Legend alive for a share of the Continental League title.
Matticks made a deep two-point jumper to pull within one with only four seconds left. After Rock Canyon missed two free throws, Matticks collected the rebound and went coast-to-coast in less than four seconds, drawing a foul with only 0.6 left. He drained both free throws to give Legend the victory.
“He’s the best point guard in Colorado, I’ll tell you that,” teammate Jared Small said of Matticks, who finished with a team-high 21 points. “He’s the best point guard for sure.”
Matticks is certainly in the discussion (we have him as the fourth-best at the position in the 2016 class, just behind Jervae Robinson, Luke Neff and LaDarius Thomas), and he clearly has the skills to play at the next level.
For Matticks, it’s just a matter of figuring out where.
“Right now I’m just waiting it out through the rest of the season,” Matticks said. “I’ve got a couple of jucos that I’ve talked to, and that’s really it.”
Matticks added that he may entertain the notion of attending a prep school for a year to gain more exposure. He has certainly come a long way in his senior year.
Matticks will be a steal wherever he ends up. He is a swift ball-handler who distributes well and can knock down an opener jumper. But his biggest strength comes in his ability to collapse a defense and make scoring decisions with the basketball.
Legend trailed by 10 at halftime. In the second half, Matticks went into attack mode. If he wasn’t getting all the way to the basket — making crafty use of the backboard to shield defenders as he finished on the opposite end — he was finding rolling big man Connor McCord (a recent Augustana College commit) for easy buckets.
“My mindset was that I had to take over for our team,” Matticks said. “I knew that if we wanted to win, I had to step it up.”
Matticks will be fun to watch during the postseason, with Legend possessing the tools to make a deep run. Three other members of the starting lineup — McCord, Danny Garrick (Casper College) and Monroe Porter (Western State) — have already made their college choices.
Small, who had 19 points Tuesday and was also brilliant in the second half Tuesday, is a skilled, slender small forward who is also capable of contributing at the next level.
“Mostly, I’ve got jucos looking at me,” Small said. “I’m probably going to go juco. I’ve got some choices. I’ll just get better.”