In a game that was much more competitive than the score might sound, the Central Falcons used their superior height and depth to wear down the Gladiators, who put up a respectable fight before Central was finally able to break the game open with a 21-2 fourth quarter. Prior to that, each team, and in some cases individual players, took turns with scoring surges before the Falcons' final one settled the issue.
Riverheads actually had the first spurt as a Grayson Ward half hook, an old-fashioned three-point play from Jackson Brammer, and Will Gardner's first triple of the season staked the Big Red to an early 8-2 advantage. But Central finally got its press going and forced some turnovers to take a 12-8 lead by the end of the first period. Their two big men, Luke Williams and Donovan Patton, started to dominate the much shorter Gladiators, and some key steals helped the Falcons get started.
They stretched that lead out to 8 points early in the second, but a personal 9-point flurry from J P Crawford kept the Big Red close at 31-26 going into the break. The Gladiators then made their last surge early in the third. Gardner opened the quarter with his second triple of the night to cut the lead to a single basket at 31-29.
Central briefly spurted to a 38-29 lead and then Henley Dunlap, who had been scoreless to this point, went on a 9-point tear of his own, and when he knocked a triple down from the top of the key, suddenly the game was tied at 38. Central surged again but Riverheads got a couple more buckets to stay within striking distance as the quarter ended 49-42.
Fatigue on the part of the Gladiators was most likely a factor in the fourth as they had only played 8 guys to that point, whereas Central constantly rotated all 13 of its roster and that difference, along with the size advantage, just wore the visitors out down the stretch.
Despite the loss, Coach Weller no doubt saw some positives out of the game. His quartet of experienced seniors all had their moments, but perhaps the biggest surprise of all was a nice 7 point game from freshman transfer student Jaxon Duff, who also knocked down his first career triple as a Gladiator.
The Big Red is just getting started as they have two more games this week, a home date with Rocktown on Wednesday night and a Varsity only trip to James River on Thursday. The Rocktown game should be rather interesting, because as a brand new school, no one knows much of anything about their team. In fact it is possible that the Raptors do not even know much about themselves until they get their season started.
Tonight's JV game was also a 20 something win for the Falcons but in this case, the pattern was reversed. Central broke away from a 2-2 tie and exploded to a 20-2 lead by the end of the first period, but from there on out, Riverheads was able to play on even terms with them. The determining factors in that game were age and maturity as five of RHS' 11 players were eighth-graders, whereas exactly half of Central's 14 man roster were sophomores. However in all fairness to Central, they have an even dozen juniors and seniors on the varsity, so they really have no choice but to keep their sophomores down on the JV squad. The Gladiator JVs showed some hustle but the size and physicality difference was quite clear.
The teams will meet again in Greenville later this month so it will interesting to see how much progress the Gladiators can make with a few more games under their belts.
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