It was a typical slugfest at RHS tonight between two teams that still appeared to be in football mode. The game was much closer than the final score indicates as the Gladiators went to the foul line trailing 38-37 with a chance to tie at the three minute mark before running out of gas.
The game is actually pretty easy to sum up, as Riverheads hit five three-pointers in the first half, including three from Brett Hostetler, and took as much as a four-point lead, but then just went stone cold in the second half, only scoring 16 total points and failing to hit again from outside, despite a number of desperation attempts down the stretch. The Bison meanwhile never connected from behind the arc, but got enough hustle points and lucky bounces to come out on top. At the end of both the first and second quarters, the Bison got a buzzer-beating score. It was just that kind of night when the breaks went one way and not the other.
The Gladiator JVs continue to entertain their fans and give us hope for the future as their primarily eighth-grade line-up produced win number three on the young season with a 43-39 victory over the Junior Bison. Unlike the Varsity game, that one was nowhere near as close as the score seems. RHS dominated almost from the opening tip and had as much as a 15 point lead in the fourth quarter before Coach Harris cleared the bench. The Bison were then able to end the game on about a 10-0 run to make it respectable. That late run included an NBA range triple from a Bison crowd favorite who literally came into the game at the last possible minute and drained the shot, his only touch of the game. Grant Painter led the Riverheads attack with 13 points.
The Big Red will have a busy week next week with three games on tap, but after the Wednesday night game, you should hear a collective sigh of relief out of the team. That will be because they will have played four out of their first six games on the road, with those four being their toughest road games of the season..... East Rock, Luray, Page (Tuesday) and Nelson (Wednesday.)
They quite possibly will be 0-6 after that stretch but instead of feeling demoralized, they should understand that the schedule will be much more manageable from that point with some serious chances to pick up a few wins and build their confidence. They will host Wilson on Friday in only their third home game of the year.
The game is actually pretty easy to sum up, as Riverheads hit five three-pointers in the first half, including three from Brett Hostetler, and took as much as a four-point lead, but then just went stone cold in the second half, only scoring 16 total points and failing to hit again from outside, despite a number of desperation attempts down the stretch. The Bison meanwhile never connected from behind the arc, but got enough hustle points and lucky bounces to come out on top. At the end of both the first and second quarters, the Bison got a buzzer-beating score. It was just that kind of night when the breaks went one way and not the other.
The Gladiator JVs continue to entertain their fans and give us hope for the future as their primarily eighth-grade line-up produced win number three on the young season with a 43-39 victory over the Junior Bison. Unlike the Varsity game, that one was nowhere near as close as the score seems. RHS dominated almost from the opening tip and had as much as a 15 point lead in the fourth quarter before Coach Harris cleared the bench. The Bison were then able to end the game on about a 10-0 run to make it respectable. That late run included an NBA range triple from a Bison crowd favorite who literally came into the game at the last possible minute and drained the shot, his only touch of the game. Grant Painter led the Riverheads attack with 13 points.
The Big Red will have a busy week next week with three games on tap, but after the Wednesday night game, you should hear a collective sigh of relief out of the team. That will be because they will have played four out of their first six games on the road, with those four being their toughest road games of the season..... East Rock, Luray, Page (Tuesday) and Nelson (Wednesday.)
They quite possibly will be 0-6 after that stretch but instead of feeling demoralized, they should understand that the schedule will be much more manageable from that point with some serious chances to pick up a few wins and build their confidence. They will host Wilson on Friday in only their third home game of the year.
