It remains to be seen whether these two will play each other again in the future, but they certainly seem to bring out the best in each other. Tonight they had another spirited, intense battle, finally won by the hometown Raptors 50-41, even though Riverheads led the game for about 80% of the time.
The game was tied at 36-36 after three quarters and up to that point, Rocktown's only leads had been 11-9 in the first quarter, 17-15 in the second, and 36-34 late in the third. Otherwise, Riverheads held the upper hand the rest of the way, including a 12 point halftime lead. But finally the Raptors were able to wear down the Gladiators using their athleticism and some quick hands. It also helped their cause that Riverheads had a whole boatload of shots that went in and back out.
The Gladiators stunned the home fans with a 9-0 spurt to open the game, with seven of those points scored by J P Crawford. Once again he scored off the opening tip, as he had at Stonewall. It took the Raptors about four minutes to get started but once they did, they ended the first quarter on an 11-0 run to take that first lead.
At that point, one would have assumed that Big Mo was squarely on the home side and that they were about to run away with the game. But after their 17-15 lead, Henley Dunlap buried a corner triple which ignited a 16-2 Riverheads spurt to close out the second quarter.
Whatever Coach Bannister said to her team at halftime, she should bottle it because the Raptors came out fired up, stepped up the pressure, and with Keyon Benton leading the way, they chipped away all of the Gladiator lead in just the third quarter. Riverheads did manage another triple from Dunlap to take one final lead at 39-38, but from there on out, the Raptors were in control. Jackson Brammer tried to keep the Big Red in the game as he scored most of his 12 points in the second half but the rest of the team was stone cold. Crawford led the Gladiators with a 16 point game but that was mainly, if not entirely, in the first half.
Riverheads wrapped up a busy three-game week, in which they annihilated their opponents in the other two, but now they get a bit of a break until a very welcome five-game home stand opens with Central on Tuesday. On paper the Gladiators have a good shot at having a winning record going into district play.
In tonight's JV game, Riverheads hung with the much bigger and much faster Raptors for a quarter or so, until Rocktown rolled to a 59-22 win.
