I don't know how he does it, but Mike Cartolaro pulled out another win over Riverheads tonight, this one requiring a last-second miracle. I am not sure about the exact numbers and it is too late tonight to look them up, but I believe he beat Riverheads either 5 or 6 times in the playoffs when John Corbett was our coach and Mike was at Altavista, and now since moving to Parry McCluer, he is 3-0 against the Big Red. But this time for long stretches of the game, it certainly looked as if the Gladiators were going to end the string.
The teams essentially traded big quarters to find themselves needing the extra session. RHS took the first quarter 15-11, although it was 15-8 before PM hit a three shortly before the horn. The Blues then clamped down on defense and held Riverheads to only two points for the first seven minutes of the second quarter. An Elijah Dunlap three finally broke the ice just before half and the teams went to locker room with PM on top 23-22.
RHS came out of the locker room fired up and took a lead that they would not relinquish until the overtime. The sophomore duo of Grant Painter and Braeson Fulton scored all 16 of RHS' points in the third quarter as the Gladiators seemed ready to take command of the game. But PM would not go away and they trimmed the lead to 38-34 after three.
Riverheads then scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to grab their largest lead of the night at 42-34. The teams then traded buckets on several consecutive possessions and the Gladiators took two more eight point leads, the last one being 46-38.
Just when it looked like they were home free, Cartolaro lit a fire under his charges and they stormed back. Riverheads helped them along by missing some crucial free throws but the Gladiators also had some just plain old bad luck as two or three times, they had second and third chances in the same possession and just could not get the shot to fall.
Despite all of that, it still looked like the Big Red would hang on when Drew Bond scored on a stickback with only 12 seconds left to make it 51-48. The Blues raced downcourt and fired up the tying bucket with about a second left to send the game into overtime.
PM opened the overtime hitting one of two foul shots to take its first lead since halftime. RHS then hit two charity tosses to take a 53-52 lead, but the Gladiators went stone cold after that, and PM reached back for that something extra as they went on to win 62-53, outscoring the Big Red 11-2 in the extra session.
It was your classic case of "It ain't over until it's over," and whatever Cartolaro said to his team, he should bottle it. The teams will meet again in the Rock the Ribbon Classic in late January so we will see if RHS can break the spell that day. Zach Claytor led all scorers tonight with 19 for the Blues, while the aforementioned Painter/Fulton duo each tallied 18, more or less their averages this season. The Gladiators will have very little time to shake this one off and get ready for what should be an ENTIRELY different game when they travel to Stuarts Draft Friday night for one of the Cougars' track meets. RHS has had as much success as anybody against SD since they went to that frantic offense so it will be interesting. The Gladiators then travel to Wilson on Saturday night....no rest for the weary!
In tonight's JV action, things were somewhat similar to the varsity as PM used a strong second quarter to mount a comeback from an early double-digit deficit. But in this case, RHS re-established control and pulled away to win 50-41.
The teams essentially traded big quarters to find themselves needing the extra session. RHS took the first quarter 15-11, although it was 15-8 before PM hit a three shortly before the horn. The Blues then clamped down on defense and held Riverheads to only two points for the first seven minutes of the second quarter. An Elijah Dunlap three finally broke the ice just before half and the teams went to locker room with PM on top 23-22.
RHS came out of the locker room fired up and took a lead that they would not relinquish until the overtime. The sophomore duo of Grant Painter and Braeson Fulton scored all 16 of RHS' points in the third quarter as the Gladiators seemed ready to take command of the game. But PM would not go away and they trimmed the lead to 38-34 after three.
Riverheads then scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to grab their largest lead of the night at 42-34. The teams then traded buckets on several consecutive possessions and the Gladiators took two more eight point leads, the last one being 46-38.
Just when it looked like they were home free, Cartolaro lit a fire under his charges and they stormed back. Riverheads helped them along by missing some crucial free throws but the Gladiators also had some just plain old bad luck as two or three times, they had second and third chances in the same possession and just could not get the shot to fall.
Despite all of that, it still looked like the Big Red would hang on when Drew Bond scored on a stickback with only 12 seconds left to make it 51-48. The Blues raced downcourt and fired up the tying bucket with about a second left to send the game into overtime.
PM opened the overtime hitting one of two foul shots to take its first lead since halftime. RHS then hit two charity tosses to take a 53-52 lead, but the Gladiators went stone cold after that, and PM reached back for that something extra as they went on to win 62-53, outscoring the Big Red 11-2 in the extra session.
It was your classic case of "It ain't over until it's over," and whatever Cartolaro said to his team, he should bottle it. The teams will meet again in the Rock the Ribbon Classic in late January so we will see if RHS can break the spell that day. Zach Claytor led all scorers tonight with 19 for the Blues, while the aforementioned Painter/Fulton duo each tallied 18, more or less their averages this season. The Gladiators will have very little time to shake this one off and get ready for what should be an ENTIRELY different game when they travel to Stuarts Draft Friday night for one of the Cougars' track meets. RHS has had as much success as anybody against SD since they went to that frantic offense so it will be interesting. The Gladiators then travel to Wilson on Saturday night....no rest for the weary!
In tonight's JV action, things were somewhat similar to the varsity as PM used a strong second quarter to mount a comeback from an early double-digit deficit. But in this case, RHS re-established control and pulled away to win 50-41.
