Ritchart, Forest Lake bow out of postseason

Ritchart, Forest Lake bow out of postseason
By Ray Hacke, Journal Sports Writer
RIPON – Given all he’s accomplished at Forest Lake Christian, Josh Ritchart’s high school basketball career surely deserved a happier ending.

Still, the Forest Lake Christian standout focused on the positive after his team lost to Ripon Christian 57-35 Friday night in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs.

Ever the team player – albeit one who owns most FLC boys basketball records, ranks high in the statistical categories in which he doesn’t hold records and led the Falcons to back-to-back section title games in his sophomore and junior years – Ritchart was quick to praise his teammates for the effort they put forth Friday night.

“It’s always tough (to lose) knowing you’re not going to play in high school again,” Ritchart said. “But we played our best – we never gave up.

“I would never trade playing with our guys – I love all the guys on our team. We played our hardest, and I have no regrets.”

Ritchart finished the game with a team-high 16 points, including two 3-pointers. However, the 6-foot-7, UC Davis-bound power forward spent much of the second half on the bench due to foul trouble.

“Two of those fouls were on other players, so Josh couldn’t be as aggressive as he wanted to,” Forest Lake coach Dave Thomas said. “That’s basketball.”

Ripon Christian started out using a diamond-and-one defense, with its top stopper, senior forward Steve Vander Molen, assigned to guard Ritchard. When senior guard Garrett Boatman scored Forest Lake’s first nine points to stake the Falcons (13-12) to a 9-2 lead, however, things began to open up a bit for Ritchart.

“Ritchart’s the best guy Steve’s ever had to handle,” Knights coach Ron Vander Molen said. “When Boatman started hitting those shots, we had to go straight man.”

After hitting a 3-pointer to give the Falcons a 12-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, Ritchart netted seven of Forest Lake’s nine points in the second period to put FLC up 21-19 at halftime.

The lead evaporated quickly. Ripon Christian (21-6) opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run and held the Falcons to just six points in the period to take the lead for good.

Even a two-handed dunk by Ritchart off an alley-oop pass from junior guard Randy Van Winkle wasn’t enough to revitalize Forest Lake’s offense in the third quarter. In fact, the dunk was the Falcons’ only field goal in the period’s first six minutes.

“We weren’t running our offense cohesively,” Thomas said. “We were getting open shots when we were being a little more patient.”

Ripon Christian led 40-27 entering the fourth quarter and surrendered just two more field goals the rest of the way.

Boatman finished with 11 points for Forest Lake. Senior guard Jason Camacho added six.

Senior center Tyler Goslinga led Ripon Christian with 20 points, followed by junior forward Logan Vos, who hit five 3-pointers in the second half to finish with 17 points.

“Ripon might be the best team in our district,” Thomas said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see them end up at Arco (Arena, in the section final).”

Although his season – and his high school career – are officially over, Ritchart will still be spending plenty of time on the basketball court in the coming months as he prepares to play at the NCAA Division I level for UC Davis.

“For me, next season starts next week,” he said. “It’s a whole ’nother level.”

“He’s the best player we’ve ever had here,” Thomas said. “We’re going to miss him, but we can rejoice that he’ll be in college playing.”