In the 60 years that these two have been doing battle, we have come to expect that each game will be a donnybrook and tonight was no exception. The Bison finally came out on top 51-45 but not before there were numerous momentum swings and a very odd officiating gaffe that at least momentarily looked as if it might impact the outcome.
Not only did the Bison win the game, but they ended their frustration of being unable to win a district game on their home floor. Prior to tonight, they had lost all four home games played against Shenandoah teams even though they were 3-0 on the road in district competition. So with tonight's win I now have them at 4-4 in the district.
However, there were times tonight that it appeared that Riverheads was going to add to the Gap's home court frustration. For example, the Gladiators had the early momentum advantage as sophomore Will Gardner came out smoking and knocked down three first-quarter triples to help RHS to a 13-6 lead midway through the period.
But just when it looked promising for the Big Red, they turned stone cold and went the equivalent of a full quarter without scoring. That gave the Gap the chance to have its first big surge, which they did to the tune of 13-0 as they grabbed a 19-13 lead as the clock ticked down to about the 3 minute mark of the second quarter. Riverheads finally found the range again and stayed within striking distance as the teams went to the locker room with a 24-18 Bison lead on the board.
It was Riverheads' turn again for most of the third quarter as the senior/sophomore duo of Carter Mooneyham and Jackson Brammer combined to score 12 of The Pride's 15 third quarter points. However a quick Bison spurt gave them their biggest lead of the night at 36-27 late in the period.
Instead of the Bison building upon that big lead, RHS instead closed the third quarter on back-to-back triples from Gardner and Mooonyham to make it 36-33 entering the final period. That is when things got rather interesting..........
Everyone could clearly see that the Bison had the possession arrow to start the fourth quarter. However a Riverheads player stepped outside to receive the ball from an official (we hope quite innocently) and he handed it right over to him. The Gladiators then quickly, as in 5-7 seconds, fired up a three pointer to tie the score. They were helped along by the fact that the bewildered Bison were not doing much to defend on the play because they rightfully assumed that the officials would realize their mistake and properly award them the ball.
That led to a confab at center court between the three officials, who quite honestly had called a great game to that point. My personal expectation was that they would take the points off the board, re-set the clock to 8:00, award the ball to the Bison, and the quarter would start at that point.
Instead after their powwow, they announced that the Riverheads' basket was good, which left the score now tied at 36-36. That news did not set well at all with Bison coach Chad Ward and he received a technical for protesting and appeared to come close to getting tossed altogether.
RHS stepped to the foul line and drained the two shots to grab their one and only lead of the second half at 38-36. To the Gap's credit, they did not let that strange chain of events unnerve them and they soon took the lead for good. The game then essentially ended in a foul-shooting clinic in which the Bison did enough to keep Riverheads at arm's length so they could salt away the win.
In JV action, The Baby Bison scored the first bucket of the game, but then Riverheads went on a 14-0 spurt to take control of the game. This time there would be no see-sawing as the Big Red coasted to a 50-33 win to complete a season sweep of their county rivals. With that victory, the RHS juniors are now assured of a winning season. The quartet of Ethan Mulcahy, Brody Phillips, Chase Donathan and Grayson Ward were the leading scorers for the Big Red and Mr. Ward even found the bank open on Friday night to help along an impressive triple in the first half.
Next up for the Gladiators will be Senior Night on Tuesday when they will host Fort Defiance. As you may recall, RHS squeaked past the Indians on the road on a buzzer-beater by Henley Dunlap, so they would like nothing better than to complete that season sweep. The next night the Gladiators will travel to Mountain View and then get a well-deserved break next Friday.
If the Big Red can in fact defeat those two teams that they have already beaten in that Tuesday/Wednesday swing, they will have a 9-9 record, which would be pretty encouraging for Coach Weller at this point. Hopefully plans are already being drawn up to make that happen.........
Meanwhile In girls' action I have just learned that the Lady Bison continued their late-season surge with a 55-43 win at Riverheads tonight. However the Riverheads JVs, according to the Shenandoah website, squeaked out a 13-10 win. That has to be REALLY rewarding for Coach Carly Casto and her crew (try saying that five times fast) who have really struggled to score this year.
If those two scores are indeed accurate it was a 2-2 split for these county rivals tonight and that is pretty typical of their history over the years.
