In a game that featured a much faster tempo than you might expect for that score, the homestanding Stuarts Draft Cougars defeated their next-door-neighbors tonight in an intense Shenandoah District opener. The teams each opted to push the tempo frantically, which resulted in quite a few fouls, but each team had its troubles at the charity stripe, which kept the score down.
In fact the Gladiators had two of the Cougars' main weapons, Harley Frame and Donovan Jenkins, in early foul trouble as each one had two by the end of the first quarter. But as good teams are supposed to do, sophomore Landon Graber took over and handled the scoring load and playmaking for The Draft until those two could return to action in the second half.
Riverheads meanwhile was not only having trouble connecting from the foul line, but their three-pointer accuracy abandoned them tonight as well. They had come into tonight's game averaging 10 triples per game and 68 points, but tonight only three shots from behind the arc found the bottom of the basket. Two of those came from leading scorer, sophomore Will Gardner, as he led the Big Red with 12 points. He is still averaging over 20 points per game. The other triple came from senior Chris Brooks, whose shot from the deep right corner late in the game represented his first points of the season as he was one of four Gladiators who were playing only their second game due to football.
Brooks' basket was part of a furious fourth-quarter for Riverheads because in all fairness to the Cougars, the game was not as close as a ten-point win sounds. After leading 24-15 at the break, the Cougars broke it open with a 20-9 third quarter before Riverheads then found the range consistently with a 22-point fourth quarter to make the final more respectable.
In addition to the points from Gardner and Brooks, six other Gladiators dented the scoring column as Coach Weller seems committed to playing everybody this season. But this was just not their night, perhaps due to it being their first road game.
As for the Cougars, I don't keep score for the opposing team, but in addition to the three already mentioned, Izaiyah Bell had a good all-around game for the home team.
In a very ragged JV game that had fans on both sides howling about the officiating, especially during a frantic fourth quarter, the Cougar Cubs took an early lead, stretched it out to double figures and then withstood a Riverheads rally to win 28-25. The Gladiators fought back valiantly in the final quarter to cut the lead to two, and had a tying basket rim out. A controversy in the final seconds over a clearly-requested but not acknowledged time-out made the RHS juniors' first loss of the season especially frustrating.
The next action for Riverheads, weather permitting, will be their Christmas Tournament scheduled for Thursday and Friday. If the storm holds off and allows the games to be played, RHS will welcome Mountain View, Harrisonburg, and Liberty Bedford to Greenville for the event. As it stands now, the Gladiator JVs will actually play two games back-to-back on Thursday, hosting Mountain View at 2:00 and Liberty at 3:30. They will then not play at all on Friday.
Also on Thursday, which will be a four-game day, the RHS varsity will host Liberty at 5:30, followed by a 7 ish nightcap between Mountain View and Harrisonburg. The Varsity event is being conducted as a true "tournament", meaning that Thursday's losing teams will play in a consolation game Friday at 5:30, with the winners then meeting for the tournament championship after that. Again keep in mind that the uncertain weather could impact this event.
Regardless of whether this tournament gets played, the Gladiator boys have quite the busy schedule between the holidays as they will travel to Parry McCluer Tuesday the 27th, followed by a make-up date on Wednesday at Bath County. They are then in action again on the 30th in the event described in the next paragraph.
Although the Gladiators lost both boys' games tonight on the road, all was not lost as the Lady Gladiators took care of business at home, beating Stuarts Draft 44-28. The girls are now off until December 30th, when Riverheads will host Parry McCluer in a unique boy/girl quadruple header, with 2:00 and 4:00 JV games, followed by 6:00 and 8:00 varsity games.
Makes your head swim just trying to keep up with all of it, doesn't it????
In fact the Gladiators had two of the Cougars' main weapons, Harley Frame and Donovan Jenkins, in early foul trouble as each one had two by the end of the first quarter. But as good teams are supposed to do, sophomore Landon Graber took over and handled the scoring load and playmaking for The Draft until those two could return to action in the second half.
Riverheads meanwhile was not only having trouble connecting from the foul line, but their three-pointer accuracy abandoned them tonight as well. They had come into tonight's game averaging 10 triples per game and 68 points, but tonight only three shots from behind the arc found the bottom of the basket. Two of those came from leading scorer, sophomore Will Gardner, as he led the Big Red with 12 points. He is still averaging over 20 points per game. The other triple came from senior Chris Brooks, whose shot from the deep right corner late in the game represented his first points of the season as he was one of four Gladiators who were playing only their second game due to football.
Brooks' basket was part of a furious fourth-quarter for Riverheads because in all fairness to the Cougars, the game was not as close as a ten-point win sounds. After leading 24-15 at the break, the Cougars broke it open with a 20-9 third quarter before Riverheads then found the range consistently with a 22-point fourth quarter to make the final more respectable.
In addition to the points from Gardner and Brooks, six other Gladiators dented the scoring column as Coach Weller seems committed to playing everybody this season. But this was just not their night, perhaps due to it being their first road game.
As for the Cougars, I don't keep score for the opposing team, but in addition to the three already mentioned, Izaiyah Bell had a good all-around game for the home team.
In a very ragged JV game that had fans on both sides howling about the officiating, especially during a frantic fourth quarter, the Cougar Cubs took an early lead, stretched it out to double figures and then withstood a Riverheads rally to win 28-25. The Gladiators fought back valiantly in the final quarter to cut the lead to two, and had a tying basket rim out. A controversy in the final seconds over a clearly-requested but not acknowledged time-out made the RHS juniors' first loss of the season especially frustrating.
The next action for Riverheads, weather permitting, will be their Christmas Tournament scheduled for Thursday and Friday. If the storm holds off and allows the games to be played, RHS will welcome Mountain View, Harrisonburg, and Liberty Bedford to Greenville for the event. As it stands now, the Gladiator JVs will actually play two games back-to-back on Thursday, hosting Mountain View at 2:00 and Liberty at 3:30. They will then not play at all on Friday.
Also on Thursday, which will be a four-game day, the RHS varsity will host Liberty at 5:30, followed by a 7 ish nightcap between Mountain View and Harrisonburg. The Varsity event is being conducted as a true "tournament", meaning that Thursday's losing teams will play in a consolation game Friday at 5:30, with the winners then meeting for the tournament championship after that. Again keep in mind that the uncertain weather could impact this event.
Regardless of whether this tournament gets played, the Gladiator boys have quite the busy schedule between the holidays as they will travel to Parry McCluer Tuesday the 27th, followed by a make-up date on Wednesday at Bath County. They are then in action again on the 30th in the event described in the next paragraph.
Although the Gladiators lost both boys' games tonight on the road, all was not lost as the Lady Gladiators took care of business at home, beating Stuarts Draft 44-28. The girls are now off until December 30th, when Riverheads will host Parry McCluer in a unique boy/girl quadruple header, with 2:00 and 4:00 JV games, followed by 6:00 and 8:00 varsity games.
Makes your head swim just trying to keep up with all of it, doesn't it????
