It’s likely that the River Ridge boys basketball team is mostly too young to remember the “Lob City” era of the Los Angeles Clippers.
But the Hawks’ approach to the game of basketball essentially mirrors what those electric Clippers teams sought to do on a nightly basis — win and put on a show.
River Ridge went two for two in those departments against North Thurston Thursday night, adding to both their highlight reel and their win total by routing the Rams 59-45.
Senior Dominique Harper played the role of Blake Griffin, throwing down multiple alley-oop dunks, including one off the backboard from point guard Jorden Walker on an open fast break, hanging onto the rim for emphasis after the finish.
“We practice all sorts of lobs. We get creative with it,” Harper, who scored a game-high 20 points, said. “Nobody wants to see something boring. We all try to do something flashy. It just gives everybody energy, and it discourages the other team.”
The Hawks proved that they’re not just about flash; they showed that they’re a fundamentally sound group on both ends of the floor. River Ridge recorded the first seven points of the game and jumped out to a 13-12 lead through the first quarter.
After being held to two free throws in the opening period, Harper took over in the second quarter. Any time the Hawks missed a shot, he seemed to snatch the offensive rebound like a magnet and create space under the basket for a putback layup. Harper tallied 12 points in the second quarter alone, with half of those coming on second-chance opportunities.
On the other end, River Ridge held North Thurston to just six points, much to the delight of head coach Michael Crosby.
“I think that we can be a really good defensive team sometimes. Sometimes we take plays off,” he said. “We kept them around too long and let them get a little bit comfortable. So we picked up our defense, and we played defense like we should be playing. We’re a big, strong, fast team, and I think any time that we pick up our defense, we’re pretty hard to play.”
Up 30-18 at halftime, River Ridge kept the game at about that margin until the final seconds of the third quarter, when Harper caught a lob from Walker and slammed it with two hands, giving the Hawks their biggest lead at 17 entering the fourth. Harper’s second oop came midway through the fourth after a steal by Walker, who threw it off the glass just above the rim, where Harper finished it in thunderous fashion to ignite the crowd and the bench.
“We’re really exciting. We’ve got a lot of shooters on our team. We’ve got a lot of guys that get above the rim,” Crosby said. “We like to run and gun and push the ball when we can to give a good show.”
North Thurston continued to fight in the fourth quarter, outscoring River Ridge 17-14, but the hole was too big to dig out of completely, especially with the Rams missing all 11 of their 3-point attempts in the first half. Brady Hertzog came alive with three 3-pointers in the fourth as he finished with 14 points.
“There were some missed opportunities off of their turnovers that we couldn’t convert into points for us, and then there were too many turnovers on our side,” North Thurston head coach Mike Conner said. “In the first half especially, we couldn’t make a shot when we needed to. But I felt like our guys competed and battled.”
Outside of Harper’s 20, Walker tallied 12 and Ryzen Nunez matched him with 12 for River Ridge.
For the Rams, Caleb Tenkley and Deshawn Cavalier each added eight points, and Matthias Tenkley contributed six.
River Ridge (6-4, 5-2 Puget Sound League) wraps up its three-game home stand against Mount Tahoma on Monday, Jan. 12 before heading north to face Central Kitsap on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
North Thurston (2-9, 0-7 PSL) will look for its first league win of the year when it travels to Silas Wednesday night.
Editor’s note: The Thurston Chronicle sports department is in its infancy stage covering Capital, North Thurston, Olympia, River Ridge, Timberline, The Evergreen State College, South Puget Sound Community College and Saint Martin’s University starting in January 2026. The team will cover one sporting event or double-header per week in the winter regular season ahead of a full launch in the spring. If you would like to see your school or team represented on the Thurston Chronicle website, email dylan@thurstonchronicle.com.
