The Audubon Wheelers showed up big time Tuesday night as they defeated the Riverside Bulldogs 64-49 in a Western Iowa Conference matchup. The Wheelers set the tone for the night on the defensive end of the floor. Riversides Grady Jeppesen was averaging 28 points per game going into Tuesday night, but the Wheelers wouldn’t let him get anywhere near that average. Sophomore forward Carson Wessel got the assignment of guarding Jeppesen, but head coach Darran Miller made the decision to run a box and one defensively to make sure the Wheelers wouldn’t allow Jeppesen to get anything going offensively and the Bulldogs paid for it. Wessel held Jeppesen to zero field goals in the first half and just one point coming on a free throw. Coach Darran Miller gave high praise to his sophomore defender but also stated it was a team effort tonight.

The Bulldogs made a run to start the second half and cut the lead down to just two points, but the Wheelers responded with a run of their own to push the lead back to double figures thanks to Aaron Olsen and Edward Miller who both scored 15+ to lead all scorers tonight. But potentially the two biggest shots in the quarter came from Mason Steckler who buried back-to-back threes and pushed the lead all the way up to 16 points late in the third quarter. The Wheelers would go on to take a 15-point win as they beat the Bulldogs 64-49 and held one of the top scorers in the state to just five points and only one made field goal that came with 1:25 left in the game.

This is the first conference win of the season for Audubon and their fourth straight victory over Riverside. Head Coach Darran Miller said this is a huge confidence booster for his team.

The Wheelers improve to 2-4 on the season and will be back in action Thursday night as they travel to Boyer Valley. The Bulldogs drop to 4-2 on the season and will be back in action on next Tuesday night the 19th when they travel to Treynor.