The Gladiators waited about half-a-quarter too late today to get into their rhythm as they finally caught fire midway through the final period and cut a 14 point lead down to five before falling 47-42. Even after Brett Hostetler's second triple of the day cut into the lead, the Gladiators stole the inbounds pass but just ran out of time before they could pull out the win. It was one of those "if we only had another minute" kind of games.
The Chargers won this one with a 10-0 spurt over the last half of the third quarter. RHS' Jalen Brown had connected on a triple to bring the Gladiators back into a 23-23 tie, but after that bucket, the turnover bug hit the Big Red and Bath moved ahead 33-23 by the end of the quarter. They then stretched that out to a 43-29 lead before the Big Red made their move over the final five minutes of the game.
In addition to that spirited comeback, there were other bright spots for the Gladiators that had to please Coach Coffey. For one thing, the Big Red matched their season-high total of seven three-pointers, courtesy of five different players. One of those was the aforementioned Mr. Brown, who had a nice floor game and added another bucket in addition to his triple. But the biggest surprise of the day for the Gladiators was the off-the-bench game of junior Jason Ham.
Ordinarily one of the last guys to enter the game, he first hit a triple late in the second quarter to bring RHS within one point at the break, and then hit another as part of the fourth-quarter rally. He ended up with nine points on the day, tripling his previous season high of three points. As the Gladiator coaching staff assesses where they are for the upcoming playoffs as well as next season, his and Brown's performances will certainly be duly noted. Hostetler led the Gladiators with 12 points and freshman Drew Bond was third in line behind Ham with a seven-point day.
I had not personally done any research at all on Bath prior to today's game, so I don't know if this was their first win (and therefore an upset) or if they were having a good year and expected to win this one. I might guess the former to be true, because they had the smallest home crowd I think I have ever seen at a basketball game. Riverheads travels reasonably well for a team that is struggling, and despite the distance factor, they literally outnumbered the Charger fans today. I would say it was about a 75-65 count, hardly enough of a gate to pay the refs and the electric bill for the day.
As for the JV game.....what a mess that was! I don't often discuss officiating, but these two today were so inconsistent that neither team could really show what they had to offer. Among the things we learned were that muggings are allowed but touch fouls are not, rolling on the floor with the ball is not considered traveling, two guys from the same team grabbing a rebound constitutes a jump ball, and on out of bounds plays, you are supposed to simply take a guess instead of actually bothering to watch.
There was one particular block/charge call that literally caused every jaw in the building to drop, but despite all that "professionalism", it did not directly impact the game as Riverheads prevailed 47-32 to move to 14-4 on the season. Some early fouls enabled the Baby Chargers to take a 9-6 lead but RHS went on a 16-0 scoring spurt to take control and coasted to the win. As has been the case for most of the season, the eighth-grade trio of Braeson Fulton, Grant Painter, and Elijah Dunlap led the way, as each connected on at least one three-pointer.
By the way, no complaints from this end with the varsity officiating crew. It was a night and day difference with very little controversy.
Next up for the Gladiators, weather-permitting, will be a Tuesday night make-up date at Parry McCluer. That game will be non-district and therefore will not impact anything with playoffs, at least not for RHS. However the Gladiator JVs might be looking forward to that one as much, if not more, than the varsity, since the Blues are the only team on their schedule that the Big Red has not yet beaten this season. Win or lose, Tuesday's game will be the season finale for the JVs, and you can bet that RHS fans cannot WAIT for such a talented group to grow up!
As for the varsity, no matter what happens at PM, the Gladiators will be hosting Stonewall Jackson Friday night in the opening round of the Conference 44 playoffs, with the winner earning a trip to Altavista the following Tuesday for the conference semi-finals.
The Chargers won this one with a 10-0 spurt over the last half of the third quarter. RHS' Jalen Brown had connected on a triple to bring the Gladiators back into a 23-23 tie, but after that bucket, the turnover bug hit the Big Red and Bath moved ahead 33-23 by the end of the quarter. They then stretched that out to a 43-29 lead before the Big Red made their move over the final five minutes of the game.
In addition to that spirited comeback, there were other bright spots for the Gladiators that had to please Coach Coffey. For one thing, the Big Red matched their season-high total of seven three-pointers, courtesy of five different players. One of those was the aforementioned Mr. Brown, who had a nice floor game and added another bucket in addition to his triple. But the biggest surprise of the day for the Gladiators was the off-the-bench game of junior Jason Ham.
Ordinarily one of the last guys to enter the game, he first hit a triple late in the second quarter to bring RHS within one point at the break, and then hit another as part of the fourth-quarter rally. He ended up with nine points on the day, tripling his previous season high of three points. As the Gladiator coaching staff assesses where they are for the upcoming playoffs as well as next season, his and Brown's performances will certainly be duly noted. Hostetler led the Gladiators with 12 points and freshman Drew Bond was third in line behind Ham with a seven-point day.
I had not personally done any research at all on Bath prior to today's game, so I don't know if this was their first win (and therefore an upset) or if they were having a good year and expected to win this one. I might guess the former to be true, because they had the smallest home crowd I think I have ever seen at a basketball game. Riverheads travels reasonably well for a team that is struggling, and despite the distance factor, they literally outnumbered the Charger fans today. I would say it was about a 75-65 count, hardly enough of a gate to pay the refs and the electric bill for the day.
As for the JV game.....what a mess that was! I don't often discuss officiating, but these two today were so inconsistent that neither team could really show what they had to offer. Among the things we learned were that muggings are allowed but touch fouls are not, rolling on the floor with the ball is not considered traveling, two guys from the same team grabbing a rebound constitutes a jump ball, and on out of bounds plays, you are supposed to simply take a guess instead of actually bothering to watch.
There was one particular block/charge call that literally caused every jaw in the building to drop, but despite all that "professionalism", it did not directly impact the game as Riverheads prevailed 47-32 to move to 14-4 on the season. Some early fouls enabled the Baby Chargers to take a 9-6 lead but RHS went on a 16-0 scoring spurt to take control and coasted to the win. As has been the case for most of the season, the eighth-grade trio of Braeson Fulton, Grant Painter, and Elijah Dunlap led the way, as each connected on at least one three-pointer.
By the way, no complaints from this end with the varsity officiating crew. It was a night and day difference with very little controversy.
Next up for the Gladiators, weather-permitting, will be a Tuesday night make-up date at Parry McCluer. That game will be non-district and therefore will not impact anything with playoffs, at least not for RHS. However the Gladiator JVs might be looking forward to that one as much, if not more, than the varsity, since the Blues are the only team on their schedule that the Big Red has not yet beaten this season. Win or lose, Tuesday's game will be the season finale for the JVs, and you can bet that RHS fans cannot WAIT for such a talented group to grow up!
As for the varsity, no matter what happens at PM, the Gladiators will be hosting Stonewall Jackson Friday night in the opening round of the Conference 44 playoffs, with the winner earning a trip to Altavista the following Tuesday for the conference semi-finals.
