Carver Academy vs Riverheads
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
- Start date
As you may recall, KW had predicted that the Gladiators would pull the upset here tonight and for significant portions of the game, it looked as if his prediction might come true. Without question, Riverheads played its best game of the season and I am not sure what else they could have done but in the final analysis Carver just had too much depth, too much size, and some unconscious shooting down the stretch.
Speaking of shooting, both teams were smoking hot tonight, and for all practical purposes the game was a three-point clinic. Riverheads hit an astonishing 11 triples in an explosive first half and tied the school record they set earlier this year with a final total of 15. Carver matched if not exceeded that total as you could almost count on two hands the total number of two-pointers made tonight.
Carver's top marksman was number 3. There were no rosters made available tonight but I believe his name was either Cameron Hall or Tamryn Hall or something similar to that. He got in early foul trouble and finished the game with four but to his credit, he was cool under pressure and knew how to play with fouls. But he was by no means the only three-point shooter the Wolverines were able to put on the floor. If anyone knows the total number of threes they had, I would be curious to know how their total compared to the Big Red's.
Will Gardner hit the first of his seven triples to open the game and senior Aden Slack scored on a nice give and go to put the Gladiators ahead 5-0 in the first minute of action. Carver then came to life but Riverheads kept hitting and led by as many as six in the first quarter. A Carver surge gave them the lead of 20-18 after one and they stretched it to 25-18 early in the second.
But Gardner, who is only a sophomore by the way, went crazy in that second quarter, hitting five more treys and even converted a four point play on one of them. That gave him an unbelievable 22 points at the half. His senior teammate Bennett Dunlap added two more triples as Riverheads connected seven times from behind the arc in the second quarter alone to take that 40-34 halftime lead.
As the second half started, you could see changes in strategy on both sides. First of all, in what may have been the real key to Carver's victory, they put a saddle and three horse blankets on Gardner to the point that he failed to score in the second half. I believe it was number 2 who drew that defensive assignment. Making things even more frustrating for the RHS sophomore was a nagging leg injury that kept him out for stretches in the second half.
Despite those obstacles, RHS maintained its lead throughout the third quarter, thanks mainly to a strong inside presence by senior Gabe Milo. All season long, he has been one of the Gladiators' most energetic and hardest-working players, and in that third quarter he worked his way inside for four hard-earned lay-ups, most likely due to the defensive clamps the Wolverines had put on Gardner. His eight points in the quarter along with Dunlap's fourth triple of the night, allowed Riverheads to cling to a 51-49 lead at the end of three.
The Wolverines, sensing that they were in danger of losing to a heavy underdog, stepped up the defensive intensity much further out in the deciding fourth quarter and created a number of turnovers that led to fast break points. They ran out to a 65-54 lead midway through the quarter before Riverheads made one final surge that made things interesting again.
Dunlap dropped in his fifth triple of the night on the way to an 18-point evening, and keeping it all in the family, his nephew Henley, one of four talented sophomores on the RHS squad, was fouled on a corner triple and for the second time in the game, the Big Red completed a four-point play that closed the gap to only four at 65-61. (You can go all season and see maybe one or two of those and tonight we had two in the same game!)
Carver then made one last surge to put the game away, including a breakaway dunk in the final few seconds. The only other points RHS scored came on a Milo three as he became the fifth Gladiator of the evening to hit from the promised land. In case you haven't been keeping tally, sophomore J P Crawford also hit one back in the first, so the final trey count was 7 for Gardner, 5 for Bennett Dunlap, and solo shots for Crawford, Milo and Henley Dunlap.
As stated at the beginning, this was in my opinion RHS' best game of the season, not only because they tied their own three point record, but they were on the road against a quality opponent, one that I would personally give a very good chance to take down Altavista Wednesday and advance to state play. In fact, with all due respect to our own Storm and Hornets back here in the Valley, Carver may have been the best team we have seen this year.
Whether or not that is the case, the Gladiators gave this one all they had, and I am sure Coach Weller was extremely proud of their effort. As mentioned in other posts this season, the Gladiator program is headed in a positive direction due to the four returning sophomores. all of whom can drain the three, not to mention a winning JV team stepping up that will bring some much needed size next year.
Speaking of shooting, both teams were smoking hot tonight, and for all practical purposes the game was a three-point clinic. Riverheads hit an astonishing 11 triples in an explosive first half and tied the school record they set earlier this year with a final total of 15. Carver matched if not exceeded that total as you could almost count on two hands the total number of two-pointers made tonight.
Carver's top marksman was number 3. There were no rosters made available tonight but I believe his name was either Cameron Hall or Tamryn Hall or something similar to that. He got in early foul trouble and finished the game with four but to his credit, he was cool under pressure and knew how to play with fouls. But he was by no means the only three-point shooter the Wolverines were able to put on the floor. If anyone knows the total number of threes they had, I would be curious to know how their total compared to the Big Red's.
Will Gardner hit the first of his seven triples to open the game and senior Aden Slack scored on a nice give and go to put the Gladiators ahead 5-0 in the first minute of action. Carver then came to life but Riverheads kept hitting and led by as many as six in the first quarter. A Carver surge gave them the lead of 20-18 after one and they stretched it to 25-18 early in the second.
But Gardner, who is only a sophomore by the way, went crazy in that second quarter, hitting five more treys and even converted a four point play on one of them. That gave him an unbelievable 22 points at the half. His senior teammate Bennett Dunlap added two more triples as Riverheads connected seven times from behind the arc in the second quarter alone to take that 40-34 halftime lead.
As the second half started, you could see changes in strategy on both sides. First of all, in what may have been the real key to Carver's victory, they put a saddle and three horse blankets on Gardner to the point that he failed to score in the second half. I believe it was number 2 who drew that defensive assignment. Making things even more frustrating for the RHS sophomore was a nagging leg injury that kept him out for stretches in the second half.
Despite those obstacles, RHS maintained its lead throughout the third quarter, thanks mainly to a strong inside presence by senior Gabe Milo. All season long, he has been one of the Gladiators' most energetic and hardest-working players, and in that third quarter he worked his way inside for four hard-earned lay-ups, most likely due to the defensive clamps the Wolverines had put on Gardner. His eight points in the quarter along with Dunlap's fourth triple of the night, allowed Riverheads to cling to a 51-49 lead at the end of three.
The Wolverines, sensing that they were in danger of losing to a heavy underdog, stepped up the defensive intensity much further out in the deciding fourth quarter and created a number of turnovers that led to fast break points. They ran out to a 65-54 lead midway through the quarter before Riverheads made one final surge that made things interesting again.
Dunlap dropped in his fifth triple of the night on the way to an 18-point evening, and keeping it all in the family, his nephew Henley, one of four talented sophomores on the RHS squad, was fouled on a corner triple and for the second time in the game, the Big Red completed a four-point play that closed the gap to only four at 65-61. (You can go all season and see maybe one or two of those and tonight we had two in the same game!)
Carver then made one last surge to put the game away, including a breakaway dunk in the final few seconds. The only other points RHS scored came on a Milo three as he became the fifth Gladiator of the evening to hit from the promised land. In case you haven't been keeping tally, sophomore J P Crawford also hit one back in the first, so the final trey count was 7 for Gardner, 5 for Bennett Dunlap, and solo shots for Crawford, Milo and Henley Dunlap.
As stated at the beginning, this was in my opinion RHS' best game of the season, not only because they tied their own three point record, but they were on the road against a quality opponent, one that I would personally give a very good chance to take down Altavista Wednesday and advance to state play. In fact, with all due respect to our own Storm and Hornets back here in the Valley, Carver may have been the best team we have seen this year.
Whether or not that is the case, the Gladiators gave this one all they had, and I am sure Coach Weller was extremely proud of their effort. As mentioned in other posts this season, the Gladiator program is headed in a positive direction due to the four returning sophomores. all of whom can drain the three, not to mention a winning JV team stepping up that will bring some much needed size next year.
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