Wilson Memorial 79 Riverheads 62 Final nm
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
- Start date
At your service!
First of all don't be fooled by that score because in my opinion, Riverheads played one of its best games of the season, considering that Wilson is the top dog in the district and had the home court advantage. But despite that final score, this game was very much in doubt until about the final four minutes when Wilson's depth wore down the Gladiators.
The Hornets started out strong and took a 17-8 lead after one quarter. For all practical purposes that was the margin for the next 2 1/2 quarters. Riverheads was able to cut it to 3 or 4 on several occasions but also played well enough to keep Wilson from blowing it open. Therefore it was still a single digit game at times into the fourth before Wilson was able to pull away.
It was not necessarily the Finn Irving show tonight as it usually is for Wilson. Of course he was a factor and may very well have still been their leading scorer. But I was just as impressed with the outside shooting of senior Taylor Armstrong, who connected several times from behind the arc and also Josh Johnson helped The Hornets protect their lead down the stretch with some nice moves.
As for the Big Red, they did a lot of things right tonight. They cut down on the turnovers, they put four guys in double figures, a different combination of four players connected for a total of eight three-pointers, and they held their own on the boards in a very physical game.
Leading the way was Ryan Farris with 18 points, mostly scored in the second half. Levi Byer, the hero of last night's win over Mountain View had 16, and Bennett Dunlap fought off some early foul trouble to finish with a dozen on four triples.
But the most pleasant surprise for the Big Red tonight was the off-the-bench game for junior Carter Mooneyham. He had his first career double-figure game with 10 points, which included two of those eight triples. He is certainly not a big guy (5'10" give or take), but he is not afraid to mix it up and gave a good overall hustling effort tonight. The Gladiators have been needing another scorer to step up and he just might be the guy to do it.
Riverheads now returns home on Friday to entertain Waynesboro. They then finish out the season on the road Monday and Tuesday with trips to Waynesboro and Buffalo Gap. My sources tell me that they are still mathematically alive for a Group 1-B playoff berth but I get the idea that a lot of things would have to fall a certain way for that to happen.
In tonight's JV game, Wilson also got off to a good start and steadily built a working margin. They had an 11 point lead early in the fourth quarter before Riverheads staged a big rally and twice cut the margin down to a single point. But the Hornets were able to hang on for a tight 44-42 win, avenging an earlier loss to the Big Red.
So these two have seen the last of each other for this season. Wilson will of course have a prime spot in the Region 3-C playoffs, so best of luck to them in that endeavor. As stated above, Riverheads may still squeak in to its playoffs as well.
As for them meeting one another, that will not happen again until baseball season, which is not as far away as it seems!!!
First of all don't be fooled by that score because in my opinion, Riverheads played one of its best games of the season, considering that Wilson is the top dog in the district and had the home court advantage. But despite that final score, this game was very much in doubt until about the final four minutes when Wilson's depth wore down the Gladiators.
The Hornets started out strong and took a 17-8 lead after one quarter. For all practical purposes that was the margin for the next 2 1/2 quarters. Riverheads was able to cut it to 3 or 4 on several occasions but also played well enough to keep Wilson from blowing it open. Therefore it was still a single digit game at times into the fourth before Wilson was able to pull away.
It was not necessarily the Finn Irving show tonight as it usually is for Wilson. Of course he was a factor and may very well have still been their leading scorer. But I was just as impressed with the outside shooting of senior Taylor Armstrong, who connected several times from behind the arc and also Josh Johnson helped The Hornets protect their lead down the stretch with some nice moves.
As for the Big Red, they did a lot of things right tonight. They cut down on the turnovers, they put four guys in double figures, a different combination of four players connected for a total of eight three-pointers, and they held their own on the boards in a very physical game.
Leading the way was Ryan Farris with 18 points, mostly scored in the second half. Levi Byer, the hero of last night's win over Mountain View had 16, and Bennett Dunlap fought off some early foul trouble to finish with a dozen on four triples.
But the most pleasant surprise for the Big Red tonight was the off-the-bench game for junior Carter Mooneyham. He had his first career double-figure game with 10 points, which included two of those eight triples. He is certainly not a big guy (5'10" give or take), but he is not afraid to mix it up and gave a good overall hustling effort tonight. The Gladiators have been needing another scorer to step up and he just might be the guy to do it.
Riverheads now returns home on Friday to entertain Waynesboro. They then finish out the season on the road Monday and Tuesday with trips to Waynesboro and Buffalo Gap. My sources tell me that they are still mathematically alive for a Group 1-B playoff berth but I get the idea that a lot of things would have to fall a certain way for that to happen.
In tonight's JV game, Wilson also got off to a good start and steadily built a working margin. They had an 11 point lead early in the fourth quarter before Riverheads staged a big rally and twice cut the margin down to a single point. But the Hornets were able to hang on for a tight 44-42 win, avenging an earlier loss to the Big Red.
So these two have seen the last of each other for this season. Wilson will of course have a prime spot in the Region 3-C playoffs, so best of luck to them in that endeavor. As stated above, Riverheads may still squeak in to its playoffs as well.
As for them meeting one another, that will not happen again until baseball season, which is not as far away as it seems!!!
