In honor of tonight's "other" big game, Riverheads delivered its best performance of the season in the form of a resounding 68-35 thumping of Parry McCluer. This was RHS' third straight win (including one late last year) over legendary coach Mike Cartolaro, who had always had our number, both at his old school, Altavista, as well as his current tenure in Buena Vista.
The game came down to two relatively simple factors.....Riverheads is an experienced team whereas PM is quite young this year.....and the Gladiators shot the lights out, including their third game of the year in which they hit 10 three pointers. Five different players combined for that total, but the real star of that particular show was junior guard Adam Painter, who knocked down three in each half to lead the Gladiators with 18 points on the night. His older brother Grant (still fighting that cold) had one of them, as did Deacon Moore, Elijah Dunlap, and Zack Adams.
When the Gladiators weren't stroking it from outside, they had an effective fast break and transition game working, as all but one player on the squad scored tonight. The win moves RHS to 7-1 on the season and they swing right back into action in less than 24 hours with their Shenandoah District opener at Wilson. The Hornets will no doubt be fired up for that one as they knocked off non-district foe Monticello tonight at the Hive.
Tonight's woes for the Blues actually started before the game when they were assessed a technical for hanging on the rim during warm-ups. Dunlap calmly stepped to the line and drilled the two charity tosses to make the score 2-0 even before the opening tip. Ironically those were the only two foul shots Riverheads made all night and to be honest about it, I am not sure they even attempted any others, as this was an extremely clean game compared to some we have seen lately.
Once play began, Grant Painter drilled his three right off the bat to make the score 5-0 just 15 seconds in to the game. The Blues then scored two buckets to close to within 5-4 but that was as close as they would get as Riverheads rolled from there. The game was still in striking distance at 28-19 at the halftime break, but the Big Red put it away with a 21-6 third quarter advantage, which was highlighted by all three of Adam Painter's second half triples.
By the way, Grant holds the individual RHS record for treys in a game with 8 and the team record is 12. So both were flirted with tonight but the old records held firm.
SEE CORRECTION IN FOLLOW-UP POST!!!!
Balanced scoring was key once again for Riverheads as AP's game-high 18 were supported by 12 from Honor Robinson, who thankfully appears to be fully recovered from Saturday's nasty fall at Luray, and 9 points each from GP, Dunlap, and Adams. You can bet Coach Coffey will take that kind of balance any night of the week.
As for PM, despite the lopsided loss, they appeared to be a more confident and better focused team than the one RHS beat by 17 in Buena Vista. For one thing, their big man, 6'9" sophomore Spencer Hamilton, seemed more comfortable on the floor and even stepped outside for an early three pointer. If he can add that dimension to his repertoire, and hit the weight room, he has the potential to be a dominant 7 footer for his last two years, since he is most likely still growing.
He led the Blues in scoring tonight with 13 and other underclassmen such as Talen Roberts, Will Dunlap, and John Snider show promise as well, so given Coach Cartolaro's experience and savvy, don't be surprised if he molds this group into a solid unit, certainly by this time next year, and maybe even by the end of this season. They are a better team than they showed tonight as they just happened to catch Riverheads on its best night of the season.
The Gladiator JVs also led their game wire to wire tonight, posting a 55-41 win over the Blues to move their season record to 5-3. Bennett Dunlap ran the offense and hit some timely threes, whereas Levi Byer and Noah Williams continue to get the dirty work done inside. Those three along with some others will have to grow up fast next year to replace this year's talented Senior Class, but it is too early to worry about that now.
As mentioned the varsity game appeared to be decently officiated and did not have much in the way of controversy, but the JV game got a little spicy late in the third and early in the fourth. The refs made a couple of head-scratching calls but each team benefited once so it all worked out for the best. Besides the game was out of reach by that time anyway.
So the Tigers beat the Tigers tonight as we knew they would, and the Hornets and Gladiators will collide a bit later over in Fishersville. The winner of that one will most likely be the team that is the better conditioned or can stay focused and put together back to back strong games. Riverheads then returns home to host Fort Defiance on Friday.
The game came down to two relatively simple factors.....Riverheads is an experienced team whereas PM is quite young this year.....and the Gladiators shot the lights out, including their third game of the year in which they hit 10 three pointers. Five different players combined for that total, but the real star of that particular show was junior guard Adam Painter, who knocked down three in each half to lead the Gladiators with 18 points on the night. His older brother Grant (still fighting that cold) had one of them, as did Deacon Moore, Elijah Dunlap, and Zack Adams.
When the Gladiators weren't stroking it from outside, they had an effective fast break and transition game working, as all but one player on the squad scored tonight. The win moves RHS to 7-1 on the season and they swing right back into action in less than 24 hours with their Shenandoah District opener at Wilson. The Hornets will no doubt be fired up for that one as they knocked off non-district foe Monticello tonight at the Hive.
Tonight's woes for the Blues actually started before the game when they were assessed a technical for hanging on the rim during warm-ups. Dunlap calmly stepped to the line and drilled the two charity tosses to make the score 2-0 even before the opening tip. Ironically those were the only two foul shots Riverheads made all night and to be honest about it, I am not sure they even attempted any others, as this was an extremely clean game compared to some we have seen lately.
Once play began, Grant Painter drilled his three right off the bat to make the score 5-0 just 15 seconds in to the game. The Blues then scored two buckets to close to within 5-4 but that was as close as they would get as Riverheads rolled from there. The game was still in striking distance at 28-19 at the halftime break, but the Big Red put it away with a 21-6 third quarter advantage, which was highlighted by all three of Adam Painter's second half triples.
By the way, Grant holds the individual RHS record for treys in a game with 8 and the team record is 12. So both were flirted with tonight but the old records held firm.
SEE CORRECTION IN FOLLOW-UP POST!!!!
Balanced scoring was key once again for Riverheads as AP's game-high 18 were supported by 12 from Honor Robinson, who thankfully appears to be fully recovered from Saturday's nasty fall at Luray, and 9 points each from GP, Dunlap, and Adams. You can bet Coach Coffey will take that kind of balance any night of the week.
As for PM, despite the lopsided loss, they appeared to be a more confident and better focused team than the one RHS beat by 17 in Buena Vista. For one thing, their big man, 6'9" sophomore Spencer Hamilton, seemed more comfortable on the floor and even stepped outside for an early three pointer. If he can add that dimension to his repertoire, and hit the weight room, he has the potential to be a dominant 7 footer for his last two years, since he is most likely still growing.
He led the Blues in scoring tonight with 13 and other underclassmen such as Talen Roberts, Will Dunlap, and John Snider show promise as well, so given Coach Cartolaro's experience and savvy, don't be surprised if he molds this group into a solid unit, certainly by this time next year, and maybe even by the end of this season. They are a better team than they showed tonight as they just happened to catch Riverheads on its best night of the season.
The Gladiator JVs also led their game wire to wire tonight, posting a 55-41 win over the Blues to move their season record to 5-3. Bennett Dunlap ran the offense and hit some timely threes, whereas Levi Byer and Noah Williams continue to get the dirty work done inside. Those three along with some others will have to grow up fast next year to replace this year's talented Senior Class, but it is too early to worry about that now.
As mentioned the varsity game appeared to be decently officiated and did not have much in the way of controversy, but the JV game got a little spicy late in the third and early in the fourth. The refs made a couple of head-scratching calls but each team benefited once so it all worked out for the best. Besides the game was out of reach by that time anyway.
So the Tigers beat the Tigers tonight as we knew they would, and the Hornets and Gladiators will collide a bit later over in Fishersville. The winner of that one will most likely be the team that is the better conditioned or can stay focused and put together back to back strong games. Riverheads then returns home to host Fort Defiance on Friday.
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