However I am sure Parry McCluer fans are the ones who are the happiest tonight because they won the two varsity contests after Riverheads had opened the day by winning the two JV games. Overall each game had its high points including the nightcap, the boys varsity game. Since I am sure that is the one most of you are interested in hearing about, I will give you that punchline first.........that PM won 49-44 in overtime. Let me review the other games briefly and then I will give my usual amount of detail to that one.
I did not attend the JV girls game but Riverheads won 21-16. It was their first win of the year, so I am sure in the minds of those young ladies, theirs was the most important game of the day. So congrats to Coach Casto (yes we still have a Coach Casto at RHS!) and her troops and best wishes for more wins as the season progresses.
As for the second game of the day, the boys JV game, if you saw Tuesday's game at PM then you saw this one. The scores were almost identical (a 47-38 RHS win Tuesday and a 47-36 win tonight) and in each case, the Gladiators won by breaking open a close game in the second half.
However there was one huge difference in this game......the play of freshman Chris Dotson. Prior to tonight, he had been consistent but yet relatively quiet with maybe one double figure game in the Gladiators' first four outings. He does not start and was therefore only part of an overall well-balanced team that came into tonight with a 3-1 record.
But apparently the boy ate his Wheaties today, because he came off the bench as he always does and completely dominated the game tonight. He was able to work his way inside repeatedly and either score or draw fouls. Not only that but he closed out the first half with a buzzer-beating triple that gave RHS the lead going into the locker room. He continued attacking in the second half and was clearly the difference in the game.
I don't keep JV scoring but my crew and I were estimating that he had scored maybe 20-25. However between games, several inside sources (including teammates of his) were reporting 35. I personally heard that from at least three places. However I was also shown a tweet that said he had 29. So......29........or 35........or anywhere in between is pretty impressive and if the 6 footer is hopefully still growing and is destined to be the Big Red's big man of the future, bring him on!!! Congrats to the Big Red juniors, now 4-1 on the season with only a three-point loss at Stuarts Draft keeping them from being unbeaten.
Next up was the varsity girls game won by PM 45-35. The story of that one was pretty simple............the dominating play of center Anna Claytor. The 6'1" senior scored the first four points for the Blues and when RHS' tallest player, 5'11" Anna Shirley, drew two fouls by the midway point of the first quarter and had to take a seat, that opened things up for the Blues to take charge of the game. They stretched the lead out to as many as 16, but Riverheads closed on a 6-0 spurt to make the final more respectable. Taia Chandler led RHS with 11 points, and five teammates scored between three and seven for the Big Red. The loss drops the Lady Gladiators to 3-4 on the year but more importantly, they are 1-0 in district play as they head out to Buffalo Gap Tuesday.
Now about the boys varsity game......Wowza! Maybe it is just because it is the most recent game played, but this one had a level of intensity we have not seen in quite some time. As evidenced by the overtime score, neither team wanted to lose this one.
Riverheads came out scorching hot from three point range and for a while looked like they might break the record they just set last night. Five different players combined for six triples in the first quarter as the Gladiators took an 18-11 lead. Will Gardner then opened the second quarter with the Big Red's seventh trey, which gave them their biggest lead of the night at 21-11, and the second quarter clock was down to three minutes before Gabe Milo finally hit the first two-point basket for RHS.
Meanwhile PM did not panic as their teams have never been known to do, and they slowly crept back into the game which saw the teams head to the locker room with RHS in front 23-20. The pace was frantic but very few shots fell in that second quarter for either team.
The scoring pace never really picked up in the second half but that certainly does not mean that the action was boring. The teams were going at it tooth and nail as PM tried valiantly to take its first lead. But Riverheads held them at bay and still led 32-30 after three.
As the third period drew to a close, Gladiator fans were irate because of a 6-0 team foul discrepancy, despite the game having turned very physical. That situation never really improved because even through four quarters plus the extra session, the Blues spent quite a bit of time on the double bonus whereas Riverheads never even made it to the routine one and one.
In fact how is this for a statistic? Riverheads finished the game tonight with 10 three pointers and 7 two pointers. So do the math........that is 44, meaning they scored zero from the charity stripe. I think I remember one guy going to the line to try to convert an old-fashioned three, but unless I am just not remembering, that was the extent of Riverheads' free throw chances. So the home fans were most unhappy about that but in typical high school fashion, the Blues fans also did plenty of squawking, convinced that they were the ones being shortchanged by the stripes. As we know just about any game is like that.
The Blues finally took their first lead at 33-32 and things see-sawed until a 39-39 tie at the end of regulation. The Blues had a final six-second possession but failed to score. However, they scored on their first possession of overtime and never trailed again. But Riverheads did not go quietly as they trimmed a 45-39 lead down to 45-44 before PM put the game away with the final four points.
To their credit, the Blues won this one because they did not wilt under that first-quarter shooting clinic. They just stayed the course until the Riverheads shots stopped falling and slowly worked their way back into the game with their defensive quickness. Snider and Cook had done most of the damage Tuesday night and they were effective again tonight, but other guards such as Braedyn Houck hit some timely shots for the visitors.
Riverheads was led by Bennett Dunlap with three triples and 11 total points. Gardner was next in line with 9, followed by Carter Mooneyham with 8, and Henley Dunlap with 7. Overall the Gladiators are a balanced team this season, as eight of the 10 players have connected from behind the arc. Since they are vertically challenged this year, with no one over 6'2", a run and gun three point attack will almost have to be their primary approach. We will see how that works for them Tuesday when the Bison come calling.
Overall the quadruple header was a success so we will see if we do another one next year or if other schools decide to give the concept a try. You have to admit it saves on gas!
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