The Riverheads Gladiators overcame a wide variety of adversity tonight and picked up their first Shenandoah District win of the season in spine-tingling fashion when an especially frantic final minute of action ended with sophomore Henley Dunlap hitting his one and only basket from the right baseline to give the Big Red a wildly improbable 47-45 win over Fort Defiance. RHS was coming off its lowest scoring game of the season, a 49-37 home court loss to Buffalo Gap, so to expect a win tonight on the home court of the Indians was something that even Las Vegas oddsmakers would not have been willing to cover.
But the Gladiators got the job done and not necessarily in the way you might be visualizing. A 47-45 score might make you think this was a grind it out game, one perhaps decided in the paint. Instead it was a three-point shooting clinic on the part of both teams. The Gladiators hit 12 of them, and even Dunlap's game-winner looked like a three in real time, and if you add in the three foul shots that RHS converted, that means that his winning deuce was one of only four two-point baskets the Big Red hit all night.
The Indians were no slouches themselves from behind the arc and most likely came close to matching the RHS total. I can remember their leading scorer Tyreek Veney hitting his first of the game, and in the third quarter he and Kaden Johnson combined for three triples within a very short time frame (more on that later), and Veney knocked down a couple more in the late stages of the game. In addition, I can recall others stroking it as well. Heck even the Fort wide body Henry Gutshall buried one. So if the home team didn't match or exceed Riverheads' total, they came mighty close.
As for that adversity that I mentioned, first and foremost there was the home court advantage for the Indians. Then there was the fact that for various reasons, Riverheads only dressed out eight guys tonight, whereas Fort had its full 13-man roster available by my count. Last but not least, the way the officiating started out, it looked at times as if Riverheads might lose half those eight players by halftime. Fortunately no one ever fouled out, and the refereeing did seem to even itself out in the long run, but there was one particular call in the very early going that no one on either side could figure out.
During a scrum under the Indian basket, it appeared that a foul was called on Gutshall, number 42 for the Fort. The ref seemed to point that way, and on the floor it looked like that would be the call. But by the time he walked over to the scorer's table, the official not only reversed the number but the color as well, and he called the foul on Riverheads number 24, Aden Slack. Knowing what we do now about the final outcome, it is a moot point, but it seemed like a rather odd call at the time and the Gladiator faithful let the ref know about it.
So how did the Gladiators pull off this win and who were the heroes other than Dunlap? One would be senior Carter Mooneyham who had a highlight reel first half with 14 points including four triples. He was also on the receiving end of Riverheads' only fast-break bucket as he led the Gladiator scoring with 18.
But equally important and perhaps more crucial than his first half was the second half of his fellow senior Bennett Dunlap. He was held scoreless in the first half even though he had some open shots. But he came out of the locker room blazing in the second half and ultimately knocked down five triples, including a very late one, as he finished with 15 points.
Although those two led Riverheads in scoring tonight, neither is the leading scorer on the team. That honor goes to sophomore Will Gardner, who is the Gladiators' top assassin from behind the arc. He opened the scoring tonight, hitting one from the corner to put RHS ahead 3-0 less than 15 seconds into the game. Ironically he was quiet until the fourth quarter when he and Dunlap connected within seconds of one another to give Riverheads a surprising 45-39 lead.
So Gardner's six points, a pair of inside hoops from the hard-working Gabe Milo, and two foul shots from steady sophomore Jackson Brammer, added to the 33 from the two top scorers, and of course the buzzer-beater, should add up to the Big Red's total of 47.
Despite all that accuracy from the Big Red, for large portions of this game, it looked as if Veney and company would turn back the Gladiator upset bid. With Mooneyham having his hot hand in the first half, Riverheads rallied from a 17-14 deficit and closed on a 9-4 run to take a 23-21 lead into the locker room.
Early in the third, Dunlap hit his first trey to break a 23-23 tie and put Riverheads in front 26-23. Then came the stretch that everybody in the gym thought would propel the Indians not only to victory, but maybe even toward an easy win. In what seemed like no more than 30-45 seconds, Johnson knocked down back-to-back triples and Veney followed with one, and suddenly the Fort had its biggest lead of the night at 32-26. Moments later, that lead grew to 8 at 34-26 and things started to look grim for the visitors.
But the Gladiators re-focused, cut it to 36-30 by the end of the third, and that is when the triples REALLY started to fly. Dunlap hit two in a row, Mooneyham hit his fifth of the evening, and suddenly Riverheads had its biggest lead of the night at 45-39.
I am not sure if Veney hit both of the next ones for the Fort, but I know he was in on at least one of them and with the clock ticking down under two minutes, the score was tied at 45. Ironically the game all of a sudden shifted its focus to defense and each team had some key steals, blocked shots and rebounds as the refs only made the absolutely necessary calls and were content to let the kids decide the game down the stretch.
Due to a couple of Indian turnovers, Riverheads had at least three different possessions in the closing minute and their final one began with about 15 seconds left. They kept their composure and protected the ball until they found Henley (who is Bennett's nephew by the way, not younger brother) and the sophomore drained the game-winner. The Indians did not even have enough time left to inbound and attempt a shot.
The win leaves Riverheads at 1-2 in district play with Wilson their next Shenandoah opponent next Friday. However the Gladiators will be busy before that. They will travel to Liberty Bedford Tuesday night for a just-announced make-up game that will partially compensate for the RHS Christmas Tournament that was iced out. That event would have originally featured the Minutemen, along with RHS, Harrisonburg, and Mountain View. Riverheads has already scheduled a home-and-home with Mountain View, which will begin Thursday in Greenville. So the Big Red now has three games next week, which will wrap up with the Hornets coming to pay a visit on Friday.
In a very physical JV game tonight, the Indians were by far the more aggressive team as they gradually pulled away from Riverheads to win 42-24. It was only Riverheads' second loss of the season. However the Junior Gladiators most likely felt a lot better about things once they saw their big brothers pull out their huge win.
Not sure yet what happened with the ladies who were playing down at Riverheads tonight but I cannot imagine it topping this one! That one featured a pair of teams that were unbeaten in district play coming into tonight.
