St. Mary's Colgan boys basketball held visiting Riverton to eight points with a single field goal and six free throws in the second quarter on the way to a 64-55 win Tuesday night in CNC League play at the SMC Fieldhouse.

The Panthers went on a 16-0 run during the first and second quarters, turning a 14-9 deficit into a 25-14 lead.

Riverton outscored Colgan 47-43 in the other three quarters, so it was the 21-8 second quarter for Colgan that proved to be the difference in the game.

"That was a big message before the game," Colgan boys coach Clint Heffern said. "Our defense had to show up. We weren't perfect, we still have some things we need to clean up on, some late-quarter things and foul situations. You're never going to be perfect, so proud of the guys for finding a way.

"Absolutely, that's a very athletic team. We were working hard on just trying to be ready for their offense and their personnel. Thought the boys really locked in. Again, far from perfect, but thought they were locked in on the scouting report. Overall, I thought we did a pretty decent job."

Cale Forbes scored a game-high 25 points for Riverton. Levi Mann and Tyler Reitz each finished with eight points.

Brady Bettega led Colgan with 18 and Brady Crossland and Gabe Brown contributed 14 and 12 points, respectively, for a more balanced Colgan offensive attack.

"That's a big strength of our team," Heffern said. "We've got multiple guys, different guys on different nights can hurt you. We've got to be better from the free-throw line, though, that's something that wins or loses close games. Definitely going to be working on that, but you've got to have a little bit of a short memory and get back to work because we've got big ones on Thursday and Friday."

The Panthers improved to 12-5 overall and 8-0 CNC entering Thursday's home game against Frontenac.

"I don't know Frontenac's exact record, but I know they're up there too," Heffern said. "They're a good club and they're playing some good ball. They do some good things and Coach (Ryan) Varsolona does a really good job with those guys. Just got to be ready to get back to it on Thursday."

Frontenac dropped to 7-9 and 5-2 CNC with a 49-45 loss to Galena on Tuesday. The Raiders, who did not have a win until January for the second season in a row, were 7-3 in January and February before Tuesday's loss, highlighted by last Friday's 63-44 win over Riverton.

RIVERTON (55) — Aydin Witherspoon 7, Noah Parker 1, Tyler Reitz 8, Levi Mann 8, Caden Quick 1, Liam Buerge 3, Cale Forbes 25, Slate Wells 2.

ST. MARY'S COLGAN (64) — Brock Radell 3, Brady Crossland 14, Will Schremmer 2, Joe Lomshek 3, Brady Bettega 18, Colton Simmons 6, Jaeden Beltran 6, Gabe Brown 12.

Riverton 14 8 13 20 — 55

Colgan 12 21 13 18 — 64

3-point goals: Mann 2, Forbes 3, Brown, Bettega, Crossland 2, Lomshek.

This sports reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/fund/support-local-journalism-project-fund/