Although they took entirely different paths to get there, the hosting Gladiators and county rival Buffalo Gap won the opening varsity games in tonight's Riverheads tournament and will now meet each other Friday night at 7:00 for the tournament championship. That game will of course have no bearing on Shenandoah District standings as the two will still play their usual home and home series in the New Year.
The Bison topped Liberty Bedford 55-39 to earn their spot in the finale by winning at the foul line. After taking a 17-4 first quarter lead, they allowed the Minutemen to trim the lead to 5 in the second quarter, but then the whistles took over in the second half and play became very ragged. Liberty tried to come back and had moderate success from behind the arc, but the Bison were able to keep them from mounting a serious challenge.
Riverheads on the other hand put on a three-point clinic tonight, by far their best effort of the season, as they exploded out of the locker room and annihilated Mountain View 68-36 behind a 47-point second half onslaught. The game even featured brief periods of a running clock, something Gladiator fans are accustomed to seeing during football season more so than basketball. Five of the ten Gladiators who saw action in the game combined for 11 three-pointers as the Big Red broke away from a tight 21-18 halftime lead and ran away with the victory. Ironically, Mountain View had been the team on top by more than 20 points when the two teams met back in the season opener.
To begin coverage of today's first round, I have to correct some misinformation from yesterday. I had been under the impression that there would be two JV games today preceding the two varsity games. I was sure there was a 2:30 game pitting Buffalo Gap and Mountain View, followed by a 4:00 game between Riverheads and Liberty. Turns out that only the RHS/Liberty game took place, so there was no action until the 4:00 spot. However, I am told that in Friday's second round, yes there will be two JV games and two varsity games. More on that later.
As for the JV game that WAS played today, that one too was a three-point clinic, but unfortunately for the Gladiators, Liberty was the team that conducted that clinic. I am not sure if what we saw today was typical of their season, but the Junior Minutemen came out smoking, as they knocked down three triples in the first 2:30 of the game to put Riverheads in catch up mode almost from the start. They never let up and I would not be surprised to learn that they hit 12-15 of them. RHS did not do half bad themselves once they got into the rhythm of the game, but the damage had been done as Liberty coasted to a 70-50 victory.
Another compliment to pay Liberty today was its fan base. Although they had to travel the greatest distance, they had by far the most boisterous fans for both their games. Mountain View and Buffalo Gap had maybe 20 fans between them and although Riverheads had a respectable number of bodies on the home side, they were pretty quiet and there was no student section at all. So Red Pride Nation, let's see if we can pump that up a little more at Friday night's session.
To elaborate on the Big Red's big win tonight, that game started out pretty slow as neither team could find the range for almost the first three minutes. Grady Campbell finally connected on a corner triple to start the scoring but ironically he would not score again for the rest of the evening. But he did his part as that score put RHS in front to stay as MV never tasted the lead tonight.
The first half continued its rather sluggish pace as RHS took their aforementioned small lead into the locker room. In fact a betting man might have placed his money on MV at that point because RHS' Henley Dunlap, who is clearly the motor that runs the Big Red machine, picked up his third foul just 14 seconds before the halftime horn. Although he played significant minutes in the second half and never relaxed his intensity, he never even got his fourth foul.
Instead the Gladiators roared out of the locker room, scoring the first 10 points of the second half before MV could connect. Jackson Brammer was the major architect behind the Big Red's 25-6 third quarter spurt as he knocked down 11 points in that quarter alone.
The Big Red continued to sizzle into the fourth quarter and by the end of the game, Dunlap had four triples and 19 points, J P Crawford also had four among his 18 points, Brammer's 15 points included one trey, and with just seconds left in the game, Chase Donathan became the fifth Gladiator to find the range. Also worthy of mention was a solid eight-point game from Brody Phillips, who just narrowly missed being the fourth Gladiator to score in double figures.
Riverheads' major task Friday will be to keep the momentum going as opposed to suffering a letdown. Buffalo Gap will likely not need much of a pep talk to get fired up for the championship game. However, if Bison fans are not fully prepared for the Liberty JV team, that 2:30 game (and yes there WILL be one!) could be tough for them if Liberty repeats today's showing.
Riverheads will host Mountain View in a 4:00 JV game, followed by the varsity consolation game around 5:30 between Liberty and Mountain View. If you are close enough and are bored with all those bowl games, come on out and check out the action!
The Bison topped Liberty Bedford 55-39 to earn their spot in the finale by winning at the foul line. After taking a 17-4 first quarter lead, they allowed the Minutemen to trim the lead to 5 in the second quarter, but then the whistles took over in the second half and play became very ragged. Liberty tried to come back and had moderate success from behind the arc, but the Bison were able to keep them from mounting a serious challenge.
Riverheads on the other hand put on a three-point clinic tonight, by far their best effort of the season, as they exploded out of the locker room and annihilated Mountain View 68-36 behind a 47-point second half onslaught. The game even featured brief periods of a running clock, something Gladiator fans are accustomed to seeing during football season more so than basketball. Five of the ten Gladiators who saw action in the game combined for 11 three-pointers as the Big Red broke away from a tight 21-18 halftime lead and ran away with the victory. Ironically, Mountain View had been the team on top by more than 20 points when the two teams met back in the season opener.
To begin coverage of today's first round, I have to correct some misinformation from yesterday. I had been under the impression that there would be two JV games today preceding the two varsity games. I was sure there was a 2:30 game pitting Buffalo Gap and Mountain View, followed by a 4:00 game between Riverheads and Liberty. Turns out that only the RHS/Liberty game took place, so there was no action until the 4:00 spot. However, I am told that in Friday's second round, yes there will be two JV games and two varsity games. More on that later.
As for the JV game that WAS played today, that one too was a three-point clinic, but unfortunately for the Gladiators, Liberty was the team that conducted that clinic. I am not sure if what we saw today was typical of their season, but the Junior Minutemen came out smoking, as they knocked down three triples in the first 2:30 of the game to put Riverheads in catch up mode almost from the start. They never let up and I would not be surprised to learn that they hit 12-15 of them. RHS did not do half bad themselves once they got into the rhythm of the game, but the damage had been done as Liberty coasted to a 70-50 victory.
Another compliment to pay Liberty today was its fan base. Although they had to travel the greatest distance, they had by far the most boisterous fans for both their games. Mountain View and Buffalo Gap had maybe 20 fans between them and although Riverheads had a respectable number of bodies on the home side, they were pretty quiet and there was no student section at all. So Red Pride Nation, let's see if we can pump that up a little more at Friday night's session.
To elaborate on the Big Red's big win tonight, that game started out pretty slow as neither team could find the range for almost the first three minutes. Grady Campbell finally connected on a corner triple to start the scoring but ironically he would not score again for the rest of the evening. But he did his part as that score put RHS in front to stay as MV never tasted the lead tonight.
The first half continued its rather sluggish pace as RHS took their aforementioned small lead into the locker room. In fact a betting man might have placed his money on MV at that point because RHS' Henley Dunlap, who is clearly the motor that runs the Big Red machine, picked up his third foul just 14 seconds before the halftime horn. Although he played significant minutes in the second half and never relaxed his intensity, he never even got his fourth foul.
Instead the Gladiators roared out of the locker room, scoring the first 10 points of the second half before MV could connect. Jackson Brammer was the major architect behind the Big Red's 25-6 third quarter spurt as he knocked down 11 points in that quarter alone.
The Big Red continued to sizzle into the fourth quarter and by the end of the game, Dunlap had four triples and 19 points, J P Crawford also had four among his 18 points, Brammer's 15 points included one trey, and with just seconds left in the game, Chase Donathan became the fifth Gladiator to find the range. Also worthy of mention was a solid eight-point game from Brody Phillips, who just narrowly missed being the fourth Gladiator to score in double figures.
Riverheads' major task Friday will be to keep the momentum going as opposed to suffering a letdown. Buffalo Gap will likely not need much of a pep talk to get fired up for the championship game. However, if Bison fans are not fully prepared for the Liberty JV team, that 2:30 game (and yes there WILL be one!) could be tough for them if Liberty repeats today's showing.
Riverheads will host Mountain View in a 4:00 JV game, followed by the varsity consolation game around 5:30 between Liberty and Mountain View. If you are close enough and are bored with all those bowl games, come on out and check out the action!
