Riverheads and Buffalo Gap locked horns tonight in the latest in their 60+ year history of donnybrooks and senior guard Bennett Bowers hit just enough shots down the stretch to key the Bison to a 49-37 road win in a game that was a bit closer than that score indicates. In fact, in one of the most agonizing moments of the year for RHS, sophomore Will Gardner uncorked what would have been his fourth triple of the game in front of his own special fan section (more on them in a minute) with the Gladiators trailing 44-37.
The shot went about 75.47% down into the basket and popped back out, so instead of a 44-40 game with still about 2 minutes left, the Bison were able to go into a delay game and salt away the win at the free throw line. Prior to that, the entire game had been a case of Riverheads being just a key shot or two from turning the game in their favor.
OK, about that special fan section.......the game was just about ready to tip off when suddenly a parade of about 50-60 folks made their way into the gym and walked the length of the Riverheads sideline and filled up a mostly empty section. For a brief moment, most of the Riverheads section had no idea who they were.
The word however quickly spread as we learned that they were the Washington & Lee University swim team and that they had come to support Gardner due to a family connection to their team. They were very vocal throughout the evening and the sharpshooting sophomore tried his best to give them what they had come to see, especially during a little mini-burst late in the second quarter.
After a sluggish first quarter that ended only 8-5 in favor of the Gap, the Bison were still ahead 12-9. But Gardner stripped the nets for his second triple of the game to tie it and seconds later gave the Big Red its only lead of the night at 14-12. But the visitors closed the half on a 6-0 run and never trailed again.
As you can tell from the final score, neither team really heated up the nets as it was a typical slugfest. I don't keep score for visiting teams but I would guess that Bowers, who is most likely among the top five scorers in the district, had somewhere around 20. Down the stretch, each time it appeared that Riverheads might creep back into the game, he would hit a key shot to keep them at bay. Gardner was the only player in double figures for RHS with 14 and Bennett Dunlap was next in line with three triples for a total of nine points.
The news was not all bad for Riverheads as the JVs moved to an impressive 5-1 on the season with a 42-29 win over the Baby Bison. After spotting the visitors an early 5-0 lead, RHS scored the next eight points and never trailed again. A key stretch to the victory came in the second quarter when RHS was nursing an 18-11 lead. Ethan Mulcahy was fouled in the act of shooting and had actually made the first of his two awarded foul shots.
But the Bison coach had been protesting the call all along and was T'd up between the two foul shots. So Mulcahy calmly finished his two and two more to make it a 22-11 game and the Gladiators coasted from there. Also helping the Gladiator cause tonight was the decision to move freshman Brody Phillips back down to the JV squad. Although he had helped the varsity a good bit thus far, moving him down was likely a good call and should help his overall development in the long run. Along with he and Mulcahy, the Gladiators also got good games tonight from Gabe Lloyd, Chris Dotson, and Grayson Ward.
In addition to that good news, the word also spread throughout the gym tonight as things were winding down that the Lady Gladiators had turned back the Bison 60-48 with an impressive road win of their own. Those two teams also have quite the colorful history and in this case that important win keeps RHS unbeaten in league play.
Friday night the ladies will host Fort Defiance while the Riverheads boys will hit the road to the Fort where they will have to contend with Tyreek Veney, yet another of the district's top scorers. At least we are going through a nice stretch of weather and looking even into next week, there appear to be no immediate threats of any of that white stuff that makes athletic directors' hair turn that same color!
In other district games of interest tonight, Wilson routed Stuarts Draft at the Hive, and Staunton traveled over to Waynesboro and snapped a three-game losing streak by pounding the Little Giants on their own floor.
