Falcons open TCC with eighth-straight win

When River Valley High's boys basketball team got together for their first practice of 2012 earlier this month, first-year coach Brad McIntire had each player write down their goals for the rest of the season.

Four things came to the top of the list: Be ranked in the Sacramento Bee's Top 20, be the No. 1 team in the A-D's power rankings, host a first-round playoff game and win the Tri-County Conference title.

So far, so good.

River Valley entered Thursday's TCC opener against Woodland ranked No. 19 in the Bee's latest rankings and was the Mid-Valley's top-ranked team as well.

With two goals down, the Falcons are well on their way to accomplishing the final thing on their list after blowing past the Wolves 66-39 at Falcon Gymnasium.

It was a program-record eighth consecutive victory for River Valley, which upped its mark to 13-3 on the year with the win.

"Are we exceeding expectations — yes," McIntire said. "They're exceeding my expectations with their work ethic and the fact that they don't get down. A team can make a run on us and we respond well."

There was no need to respond to a run on Thursday night, however, as the Falcons scored the first 10 points of the game to break the contest open early. Playing with a new-found identity on the defensive end, River Valley held Woodland without a field goal for the first 6:15 of game and took a 32-18 lead at the end of the first half.

Leading the way for River Valley was senior Manik Thiara, who scored 11 of his game-high 26 points in the first half. It was another solid game for the Falcons' captain, who made the difficult transition to point guard this year after starting at shooting guard the last three seasons.

"Manik hadn't played point guard before, but he's done a good job stepping up and learning that position," McIntire said.

For Thiara, helping the team win in any way possible is what he's all about this year.

"When I heard I was going to play point guard I was nervous, but I knew it was good for the team," said Thiara, who also had four rebounds and three steals on the night. "It took a while, but now I like it, and when Jake is hitting his shots, it makes it easier on me."

That Jake would be fellow senior Jake Phillips, who drained three 3-pointers to finish with 15 points while complementing Thiara on the perimeter.

Also chipping in was Anthony Boykin, who helped control the paint with eight points and 12 boards, and Gurkaran Singh, who added seven points, seven rebounds and four steals.

"I think we're tighter this year. We know what we're good at and we have confidence in each other," Phillips said. "We don't rely on one person — we're balanced and we're having fun."

The Falcons continue TCC play on Tuesday when they host Pioneer.