If there is such a thing as a team playing its best overall game of the season but still losing by double digits, the Riverheads Gladiators did it tonight in Fishersville, where they went toe to toe with Wilson Memorial before falling 70-60. To say that the Gladiators faced "adversity" in this one would be an understatement but the way they handled that adversity had to leave Coach Weller proud and eager to tackle the rest of the season.
So what "adversity" am I speaking of? Well first of all, Wilson is one of the district leaders and they were playing at home. Secondly and most importantly, the Gladiators could only dress out seven guys tonight due to two seniors who see big time minutes being out of action due to injury. Wilson on the other hand had 12 guys on hand, and remember two of those stand 6'8' and 6'7" whereas the tallest Gladiator on the floor tonight was an even six foot.
As if all of that wasn't the recipe for a blowout loss, one of the Gladiators' senior leaders, Bennett Dunlap, turned an ankle late in the first quarter. Fortunately he was able to return very shortly and finish the game, but for a brief period it looked as if the Big Red might have to finish the game with an even more daunting 12-6 number disadvantage working against them.
Despite all of those factors pointing toward an easy Wilson win, Riverheads gave the home team all they wanted and when Jackson Brammer drilled the Gladiators' 10th three pointer of the evening midway through the fourth quarter, the Hornet lead was down to five and the Green and Gold seemed a bit discombobulated, mainly because Finn Irving, the district's most outstanding player, was sitting on the bench with four fouls. He did return and the Hornets held on to win, but anyone who was paying any attention to this game had to leave the gym respecting how hard the Big Red fought in this one.
The most amazing thing about the Riverheads effort was where the points came from. As already mentioned, two seniors were out. So that left three seniors and four sophomores to shoulder the load for the Big Red. Ordinarily you would expect senior leadership to take over and carry the team through that kind of challenge, but nope, that was not the case tonight as the four underclassmen stole the show for the Riverheads faithful as all four of them hit at least one triple and each scored in double figures to account for 45 of the 60 RHS points.
In the first half, Will Gardner led the way with 10 points but you also had to notice the outstanding floor game from J P Crawford who would eventually connect on three triples and finish with 11 points. Point guard Henley Dunlap, the shortest Gladiator on the floor at 5'9", led the Big Red in scoring with 14, including two long range treys, and Brammer finished with 10 points. If that foursome can play as hard as they did tonight for the next two years, the Big Red will make some serious noise in the Shenandoah District.
Bennett Dunlap may or may not have been at full strength after the ankle turn but he connected on two triples and finished with seven points. The two remaining seniors, Aden Slack and Carter Mooneyham, are to be commended for even surviving this game, as their slender 6 foot frames were thrown in the middle of all that Wilson size, but they each held their own and had terrific floor games and battled hard for every rebound and loose ball.
Another factor in today's great showing by the Big Red was their overall poise and teamwork. They looked for the open man tonight better than they had all season and cut down considerably on the turnover problem that has hurt them at times this season. They also played four solid quarters and never had a dry spell.
As for Wilson, of course they deserve some praise also. They came out of the gate firing up threes and they were not all from Irving. His kid brother Eli was "on" tonight as well, Podgorski dropped in a couple, and Max Vess had a solid game. Most of the Hornets' damage inside came from 6'7" Lucas Schatz, as is usually the case with them.
Wilson did threaten to run away with the game early as I believe it was 20-9 at one point in the first quarter. But RHS closed to within 25-20 by the end of the period and the margin danced around the 8-10 point range for most of the game as the Hornets just could not shake the pesky visitors.
So congrats to both teams but for different reasons. Wilson did what it was supposed to do and won the game to remain just one game back of Staunton. Riverheads on the other hand could have given up on this one even before they took the floor, but they didn't, and hopefully they can build on this game as they tackle Waynesboro and Staunton in their final two games. Not only that but my seatmate (we call him "the Riverheads Lunardi") still has the Gladiators solidly in the Region 1-B playoffs, so there may be more Big Red basketball beyond those two games.
Wilson also won the JV game tonight 56-29 but that score is also somewhat deceiving as RHS was still within single digits late in the third quarter before Wilson pulled away. The Gladiator juniors have had a solid year and clinched a winning record several games ago. The most interesting thing about them is that they look as if they will bring some much-needed size to the program in the coming years if they have the growth spurts you normally expect out of freshmen and 8th graders.
Last but not least, I understand that the Lady Gladiators also threw a major scare into a talented Green Hornet team as Wilson had to rally from behind tonight down in Greenville to secure a 42-37 road win and stay in contention for the district lead. It was Senior Night for the Big Red and my guess is that a large crowd did its best to help them pull off the potential upset.
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