It took 16 seasons but Riverheads finally owns a basketball victory over the Altavista Colonels after this afternoon's rather rough-and-tumble 50-40 win at the Buffalo Gap Christmas Classic. Prior to today, the Big Red was 0-7 all-time against AHS, with all but one of those losses coming when long-time coach Mike (?) Cartolaro was at the helm. The teams began their association in March of 2004, when they met for the Region B title, and then after both survived state quarter and semi-final games, met again at VCU for the 1-A state title. Altavista won both those match-ups and five more times in playoff settings over the years, until today when the Gladiators finally turned the tide.
Riverheads earned this victory with a tight interior defense that simply did not allow the Colonels anything easy in the paint. The Gladiators collapsed inside and trapped at every opportunity, to the point that AHS scored its first three points at the foul line and did not even hit from the field until well into the second quarter.
Meanwhile Riverheads opened the game with threes from Adam Painter and Elijah Dunlap, along with a deuce from Zach Adams, to take an early 8-0 lead and they were never seriously challenged. Altavista applied full-court pressure for major stretches of the game and made mini-runs here and there, but the lead was double digits most of the afternoon, reaching a high of 17 points, and you never really got the sense that the Gladiators were in any danger.
They were able to break the Colonel pressure for an occasional fast-break lay-up and two additional players, Adams and Ryan Farris, hit from behind the arc, in the second half. The Gladiators ended with two players in double figures (Adams and Adam Painter with 11 each) and Dunlap and Grant Painter finished with 9 and 8 respectively.
The Colonels eventually found more success from outside than in and although I did not see a box score for them, they probably hit as many threes as they did twos. Although it was a typical scrappy Altavista team, this one lacked the dominant big man inside or the super guard play that we had seen in the past, which shifted the advantage to the more experienced Gladiators.
We assume the two will continue to cross paths occasionally in both basketball and football (where the Big Red holds a 4-2 advantage by the way) but the distance factor will likely keep this one from ever becoming a serious rivalry. Also today their two JV teams met to start off this weekend's eight-game slate. Altavista jumped out to an early lead and took that one 40-31. Following the two Riverheads games, Buffalo Gap played James River in a JV/Varsity doubleheader that is likely wrapping up about right now. (7:30 on Friday night.)
Tomorrow the same four teams will meet again, also at Buffalo Gap, with RHS tangling with James River first, starting with a 12 noon JV game and a 1:30-ish varsity game, followed by the Bison taking on Altavista with roughly a 3:00 JV tip-off. The Bison then wrap up the weekend with a 4:30-ish varsity game against the Colonels. BG is off to a great start this season, as they came into today's action with a 5-1 record. Gladiator fans have to like tomorrow's schedule as it will allow them to be home in time for the evening's two HUGE college football games.
Riverheads earned this victory with a tight interior defense that simply did not allow the Colonels anything easy in the paint. The Gladiators collapsed inside and trapped at every opportunity, to the point that AHS scored its first three points at the foul line and did not even hit from the field until well into the second quarter.
Meanwhile Riverheads opened the game with threes from Adam Painter and Elijah Dunlap, along with a deuce from Zach Adams, to take an early 8-0 lead and they were never seriously challenged. Altavista applied full-court pressure for major stretches of the game and made mini-runs here and there, but the lead was double digits most of the afternoon, reaching a high of 17 points, and you never really got the sense that the Gladiators were in any danger.
They were able to break the Colonel pressure for an occasional fast-break lay-up and two additional players, Adams and Ryan Farris, hit from behind the arc, in the second half. The Gladiators ended with two players in double figures (Adams and Adam Painter with 11 each) and Dunlap and Grant Painter finished with 9 and 8 respectively.
The Colonels eventually found more success from outside than in and although I did not see a box score for them, they probably hit as many threes as they did twos. Although it was a typical scrappy Altavista team, this one lacked the dominant big man inside or the super guard play that we had seen in the past, which shifted the advantage to the more experienced Gladiators.
We assume the two will continue to cross paths occasionally in both basketball and football (where the Big Red holds a 4-2 advantage by the way) but the distance factor will likely keep this one from ever becoming a serious rivalry. Also today their two JV teams met to start off this weekend's eight-game slate. Altavista jumped out to an early lead and took that one 40-31. Following the two Riverheads games, Buffalo Gap played James River in a JV/Varsity doubleheader that is likely wrapping up about right now. (7:30 on Friday night.)
Tomorrow the same four teams will meet again, also at Buffalo Gap, with RHS tangling with James River first, starting with a 12 noon JV game and a 1:30-ish varsity game, followed by the Bison taking on Altavista with roughly a 3:00 JV tip-off. The Bison then wrap up the weekend with a 4:30-ish varsity game against the Colonels. BG is off to a great start this season, as they came into today's action with a 5-1 record. Gladiator fans have to like tomorrow's schedule as it will allow them to be home in time for the evening's two HUGE college football games.
