(Bear with me and you will see that is intended as a compliment.)
First to get the JV game out of the way because it was very short and sweet today. Unlike the first game between the two that went into overtime and had its share of controversy, this one was pretty tame and actually very well-officiated. The Gladiators broke away from a 4-4 tie by ending the first quarter on a 12-4 run. They coasted from there, leading by over 20 on a couple of occasions, before a couple of Bulldog threes at the end cut the final score down to 44-33. Levi Byer had an especially nice game and the Big Red is now 4-3 on the season.
Then came the varsity game in which the Gladiators pulled out a 43-39 win but not before a couple of scary moments in the very early going and some (sigh!) scoring confusion late in the game, a trend that seems to be following the Big Red wherever they go this year. With the win, the Gladiators moved to 6-1 on the year whereas the Bulldogs still have only one victory on the year but appear to be a pretty scrappy team to have that record.
To say this one started out ugly would be an understatement. We had only played 12 seconds when RHS' senior center Honor Robinson got tangled up in a jump ball situation with a Luray player. They both went crashing to the floor but Robinson took by far the hardest hit, appearing to land on the back of his head. He immediately left the game but was back in action by the end of the quarter.
That turned out to only be the beginning because less than two minutes later, senior guard Grant Painter went down in the middle of the lane after a drive to the basket and also held his head for a few minutes. He too came out and major thanks to the Luray trainer for rushing to assist both players and conducting concussion protocol tests on each one. Painter sat out the rest of the quarter before returning to action and the hope is that neither suffered any lasting effects from their falls.
Whether or not those two incidents directly impacted the scoring, it was a slow-developing game as the score incredibly read just 2-0 in favor of Luray as the clock ticked under two minutes. Finally Robinson, who had just returned to the game, connected on a stickback to tie things up for the Gladiators at the 1:10 mark. He added three more points as the first stanza ended with a score of Luray-6, Robinson-5.
With Luray ahead 9-8 at the midway point of the second quarter and Robinson still the only visitor in the scorebook, other Gladiators got into the action as Elijah Dunlap sandwiched a couple of treys around an Adam Painter bucket to give RHS a sudden 16-9 lead and momentarily plant the seed that they might be ready to take charge of the game. Instead Luray closed on a 4-1 run to make the halftime score 17-13 Riverheads.
RHS moved in front 23-17 to open the second half but Luray went on a nine-point spree to take a 26-23 lead late in the quarter. Dunlap scored from in close in the final seconds to make it 26-25 heading into the final eight minutes.
Early in the fourth, we had a couple of odd incidents that may or may not have been related to one another. First of all with Luray ahead 29-27, Grant Painter drove the lane to tie the score for RHS. In a split second of action, he somehow regained possession of the ball and threw it up again for what looked like a go-ahead basket.
There was a stoppage in the action and a discussion or two at the scorer's table but he was never awarded the second basket. I have to admit I did not see the play closely enough to have an opinion but apparently the deciding factor was whether or not the Luray player had actually tried to pass it inbounds or maybe never got the chance to. Anyway, the score remained tied at 29-29 but a few seconds later, there was more drama as the scoreboard suddenly read 29-27 in favor of Luray. As some of you may recall that had happened to Riverheads in the Buffalo Gap Christmas Classic when two points that they very clearly had scored were taken away and never given back.
Someone on the Riverheads bench alertly caught the discrepancy this time and pointed it out to the officials. That led to more discussion, and a lot quicker decision was reached as the score was re-set to 29-29 and the game continued.
For most of the remainder of the game, Luray held the lead and appeared headed for that second win of the season. They took their largest lead of the night at 33-29 and the teams traded buckets down the stretch. A Brendan Fitzwater three put the Dogs up 39-38, setting up a frantic final minute or so.
The Gladiators took the ball downcourt and patiently worked it around the perimeter, finally finding Adam Painter in the deep left corner. The junior drilled the triple to give the Gladiators the lead for good at 41-39 with around a minute remaining.
Luray had one final possession to tie or take the lead but came up short, giving the ball to the Gladiators to see if they could close out the game. The team fouls were only at four apiece and Luray committed two more, forcing a pair of inbounds passes in the final 17 seconds.
On the first of those, Grant Painter was able to dribble about 8 seconds off the clock before LHS committed its sixth foul. With the clock showing just under nine seconds, the Big Red inbounded from center court. Dunlap broke out of a crowd of bodies, somewhat resembling his late TD in the 2018 Chilhowie game, and raced unguarded toward the basket. The man inbounding the ball (GP?) hit him with a perfect pass, leading to a final lay-up that sealed the deal.
Balanced scoring was key again for RHS as it has been all season. Despite scoring only 43, the Gladiators had three double-figure scorers, led by Dunlap's 12, followed by 10 each from Robinson and Adam Painter. Grant, who was reportedly also suffering from a bad cold today, almost made it four in double figures as he finished with 8.
So a good job on the part of the Big Red overcoming adversity and pulling out a gutsy road win. Let's hope everybody can heal and/or recover because the upcoming week is a busy one with Parry McCluer coming to Greenville Monday, followed by the district opener at Wilson on Tuesday. Fort Defiance then visits the Coliseum on Friday night. With our current unseasonably warm weather, all these games should get played on time and by Friday night we will have reached the halfway point of the season.
First to get the JV game out of the way because it was very short and sweet today. Unlike the first game between the two that went into overtime and had its share of controversy, this one was pretty tame and actually very well-officiated. The Gladiators broke away from a 4-4 tie by ending the first quarter on a 12-4 run. They coasted from there, leading by over 20 on a couple of occasions, before a couple of Bulldog threes at the end cut the final score down to 44-33. Levi Byer had an especially nice game and the Big Red is now 4-3 on the season.
Then came the varsity game in which the Gladiators pulled out a 43-39 win but not before a couple of scary moments in the very early going and some (sigh!) scoring confusion late in the game, a trend that seems to be following the Big Red wherever they go this year. With the win, the Gladiators moved to 6-1 on the year whereas the Bulldogs still have only one victory on the year but appear to be a pretty scrappy team to have that record.
To say this one started out ugly would be an understatement. We had only played 12 seconds when RHS' senior center Honor Robinson got tangled up in a jump ball situation with a Luray player. They both went crashing to the floor but Robinson took by far the hardest hit, appearing to land on the back of his head. He immediately left the game but was back in action by the end of the quarter.
That turned out to only be the beginning because less than two minutes later, senior guard Grant Painter went down in the middle of the lane after a drive to the basket and also held his head for a few minutes. He too came out and major thanks to the Luray trainer for rushing to assist both players and conducting concussion protocol tests on each one. Painter sat out the rest of the quarter before returning to action and the hope is that neither suffered any lasting effects from their falls.
Whether or not those two incidents directly impacted the scoring, it was a slow-developing game as the score incredibly read just 2-0 in favor of Luray as the clock ticked under two minutes. Finally Robinson, who had just returned to the game, connected on a stickback to tie things up for the Gladiators at the 1:10 mark. He added three more points as the first stanza ended with a score of Luray-6, Robinson-5.
With Luray ahead 9-8 at the midway point of the second quarter and Robinson still the only visitor in the scorebook, other Gladiators got into the action as Elijah Dunlap sandwiched a couple of treys around an Adam Painter bucket to give RHS a sudden 16-9 lead and momentarily plant the seed that they might be ready to take charge of the game. Instead Luray closed on a 4-1 run to make the halftime score 17-13 Riverheads.
RHS moved in front 23-17 to open the second half but Luray went on a nine-point spree to take a 26-23 lead late in the quarter. Dunlap scored from in close in the final seconds to make it 26-25 heading into the final eight minutes.
Early in the fourth, we had a couple of odd incidents that may or may not have been related to one another. First of all with Luray ahead 29-27, Grant Painter drove the lane to tie the score for RHS. In a split second of action, he somehow regained possession of the ball and threw it up again for what looked like a go-ahead basket.
There was a stoppage in the action and a discussion or two at the scorer's table but he was never awarded the second basket. I have to admit I did not see the play closely enough to have an opinion but apparently the deciding factor was whether or not the Luray player had actually tried to pass it inbounds or maybe never got the chance to. Anyway, the score remained tied at 29-29 but a few seconds later, there was more drama as the scoreboard suddenly read 29-27 in favor of Luray. As some of you may recall that had happened to Riverheads in the Buffalo Gap Christmas Classic when two points that they very clearly had scored were taken away and never given back.
Someone on the Riverheads bench alertly caught the discrepancy this time and pointed it out to the officials. That led to more discussion, and a lot quicker decision was reached as the score was re-set to 29-29 and the game continued.
For most of the remainder of the game, Luray held the lead and appeared headed for that second win of the season. They took their largest lead of the night at 33-29 and the teams traded buckets down the stretch. A Brendan Fitzwater three put the Dogs up 39-38, setting up a frantic final minute or so.
The Gladiators took the ball downcourt and patiently worked it around the perimeter, finally finding Adam Painter in the deep left corner. The junior drilled the triple to give the Gladiators the lead for good at 41-39 with around a minute remaining.
Luray had one final possession to tie or take the lead but came up short, giving the ball to the Gladiators to see if they could close out the game. The team fouls were only at four apiece and Luray committed two more, forcing a pair of inbounds passes in the final 17 seconds.
On the first of those, Grant Painter was able to dribble about 8 seconds off the clock before LHS committed its sixth foul. With the clock showing just under nine seconds, the Big Red inbounded from center court. Dunlap broke out of a crowd of bodies, somewhat resembling his late TD in the 2018 Chilhowie game, and raced unguarded toward the basket. The man inbounding the ball (GP?) hit him with a perfect pass, leading to a final lay-up that sealed the deal.
Balanced scoring was key again for RHS as it has been all season. Despite scoring only 43, the Gladiators had three double-figure scorers, led by Dunlap's 12, followed by 10 each from Robinson and Adam Painter. Grant, who was reportedly also suffering from a bad cold today, almost made it four in double figures as he finished with 8.
So a good job on the part of the Big Red overcoming adversity and pulling out a gutsy road win. Let's hope everybody can heal and/or recover because the upcoming week is a busy one with Parry McCluer coming to Greenville Monday, followed by the district opener at Wilson on Tuesday. Fort Defiance then visits the Coliseum on Friday night. With our current unseasonably warm weather, all these games should get played on time and by Friday night we will have reached the halfway point of the season.
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