Those of you who watch ACC basketball have probably heard commentator Dan Bonner remark more than once "this game is a lot simpler when the ball goes in the basket." Well the Riverheads Gladiators learned that lesson first hand tonight when they suffered through an absolutely horrendous first-half shooting slump that easily allowed visiting Fort Defiance to run away with a 63-31 win.
It was hard at times to realize that this was the same Big Red team that had actually WON on Fort Defiance's home court earlier this year or that this was the same Gladiator team that knocked down 14 three-pointers one night to set a new school record, only to then break that record a few games later by hitting 15. But on this night, just nothing would find the range in that dismal first half as the Indians raced to a 28-8 halftime lead.
The Gladiators did not appear to be doing anything fundamentally wrong during those first two quarters. They were running their offense and they were getting shots but they just would not fall. They only managed three field goals in that first half, but I would estimate they had at least 30 attempted shots. (I will let you math whizzes calculate what kind of shooting percentage that would have been if my estimate was close.)
Ironically the game started out great for Riverheads. They won the opening tap and worked the ball around for about 30 seconds until Bennett Dunlap, one of five seniors being honored tonight, dropped in a triple to open the scoring. It then took the Indians a little bit of time to warm up and when their leading scorer Tyreek Veney picked up two fairly quick fouls, that might have also been expected to work in Riverheads' favor.
Instead the Gladiators failed to score for the rest of the opening period and for at least the first six minutes of the second. As a result, FD raced out to a 22-5 lead before Will Gardner drained the first of his three triples to give RHS its third basket of the half.
I told my seatmates that I expected the Gladiators to come back in the second half and make a game of it, and to their credit they did show a little bit of promise in the first few minutes as they actually trimmed the lead down to 14 at 38-24. But soon after that, the Indians stepped up the pace and raced away to the easy win.
There were very few Fort fans on hand, as their girls were hosting Riverheads and we can assume the larger crowd chose that game, but the ones that were on hand roared their approval in the final few minutes when crowd favorite Alphonzo Bruce dropped in six points over the closing minutes. We assume he is one of those guys that pays his dues in practice but plays limited minutes and has not scored much this season, so the Indian fans were understandably excited to see him do well.
For Riverheads, the best thing they can do now is to A) remember that they have been on the winning side of four games this season that were won by margins like this; and B) put tonight out of their minds and look forward, especially since they have to turn around and travel to Mountain View tomorrow night, as in Wednesday the 1st. Up there in Quicksburg, the Generals are still winless on the season, so one might ordinarily expect an easy bounce-back win for the Big Red, who won the game 69-42 at Riverheads earlier this season. In fact, MV was the opponent the night that RHS set the new three point record of 15.
So as Coach Weller has likely already done, let's put this one in the rear view mirror and concentrate on sweeping the series from the Generals. There is a little of that "wintry mix" in the forecast for overnight, but it is predicted to be out of the area by early morning, so it is expected that the game can go on as scheduled.
Although the JV game came first tonight in the usual fashion, it somewhat followed the same script. RHS scored first, FD then scored something like 16 points in a row to take charge, Riverheads came back in the second half, but the Indians stood their ground and took home a 51-37 victory. RHS cut the margin down to 9 on about four occasions in the fourth quarter but just could not get any closer. They too beat Mountain View the first time around so hopefully the mood on the bus ride tomorrow night will be "let's bring home a pair of wins tonight."
As for Fort Defiance, I believe I read someplace that their next game is against Wilson. Gee I wonder if anything special will be at stake in that one...............
It was hard at times to realize that this was the same Big Red team that had actually WON on Fort Defiance's home court earlier this year or that this was the same Gladiator team that knocked down 14 three-pointers one night to set a new school record, only to then break that record a few games later by hitting 15. But on this night, just nothing would find the range in that dismal first half as the Indians raced to a 28-8 halftime lead.
The Gladiators did not appear to be doing anything fundamentally wrong during those first two quarters. They were running their offense and they were getting shots but they just would not fall. They only managed three field goals in that first half, but I would estimate they had at least 30 attempted shots. (I will let you math whizzes calculate what kind of shooting percentage that would have been if my estimate was close.)
Ironically the game started out great for Riverheads. They won the opening tap and worked the ball around for about 30 seconds until Bennett Dunlap, one of five seniors being honored tonight, dropped in a triple to open the scoring. It then took the Indians a little bit of time to warm up and when their leading scorer Tyreek Veney picked up two fairly quick fouls, that might have also been expected to work in Riverheads' favor.
Instead the Gladiators failed to score for the rest of the opening period and for at least the first six minutes of the second. As a result, FD raced out to a 22-5 lead before Will Gardner drained the first of his three triples to give RHS its third basket of the half.
I told my seatmates that I expected the Gladiators to come back in the second half and make a game of it, and to their credit they did show a little bit of promise in the first few minutes as they actually trimmed the lead down to 14 at 38-24. But soon after that, the Indians stepped up the pace and raced away to the easy win.
There were very few Fort fans on hand, as their girls were hosting Riverheads and we can assume the larger crowd chose that game, but the ones that were on hand roared their approval in the final few minutes when crowd favorite Alphonzo Bruce dropped in six points over the closing minutes. We assume he is one of those guys that pays his dues in practice but plays limited minutes and has not scored much this season, so the Indian fans were understandably excited to see him do well.
For Riverheads, the best thing they can do now is to A) remember that they have been on the winning side of four games this season that were won by margins like this; and B) put tonight out of their minds and look forward, especially since they have to turn around and travel to Mountain View tomorrow night, as in Wednesday the 1st. Up there in Quicksburg, the Generals are still winless on the season, so one might ordinarily expect an easy bounce-back win for the Big Red, who won the game 69-42 at Riverheads earlier this season. In fact, MV was the opponent the night that RHS set the new three point record of 15.
So as Coach Weller has likely already done, let's put this one in the rear view mirror and concentrate on sweeping the series from the Generals. There is a little of that "wintry mix" in the forecast for overnight, but it is predicted to be out of the area by early morning, so it is expected that the game can go on as scheduled.
Although the JV game came first tonight in the usual fashion, it somewhat followed the same script. RHS scored first, FD then scored something like 16 points in a row to take charge, Riverheads came back in the second half, but the Indians stood their ground and took home a 51-37 victory. RHS cut the margin down to 9 on about four occasions in the fourth quarter but just could not get any closer. They too beat Mountain View the first time around so hopefully the mood on the bus ride tomorrow night will be "let's bring home a pair of wins tonight."
As for Fort Defiance, I believe I read someplace that their next game is against Wilson. Gee I wonder if anything special will be at stake in that one...............
