Riverheads ushered in a fresh era of boys basketball tonight with two new coaches on the bench. The night was a successful one as Coach Randall Snead and his JVs toppled the Bath County Chargers 52-20 followed by a 61-26 RHS win in the debut of Varsity coach Patrick Weller.
Both coaches took the same approach to the games as they substituted freely with a goal of seeing what they had on their teams. There was certainly no intent to embarrass the underdog Chargers.
In the JV game, Riverheads scored the first seven points of the contest, moved out to a 32-10 halftime lead, and never looked back. I had another commitment this evening and did not attend in person, so I can't tell you who the stars of the future might be on that team, but I am sure the team chemistry will develop after a few more games.
As for the varsity game, the first thing I can say is thanks to NFHS for the best livestream I have seen yet in any sport. I had to watch it later in the evening using the On Demand feature and it was nearly perfect. Let's hope that is a sign that last year's issues have been ironed out. I had watched the JV game live and it did unfortunately have the same freezing trouble that I experienced all last year, so I wonder if watching any game after the fact is really the way to go. I also commend tonight's PA announcer, a voice I did not recognize. He was clear and consistent and more importantly, confirmed for me my own scoring totals taken here from my computer chair.
Senior forward Ty Morris was absent this evening, leaving Coach Weller with ten healthy bodies. So he wisely chose to use a two-platoon system. (At UNC, they might call it the "blue team.") As a result of that strategy, all ten dressed-out players saw significant action and nine of them scored.
Leading the way was sharpshooter Bennett Dunlap with 21 points, which is pretty darn good for a guy that only played half the game. Senior guard Ryan Farris added 12 and a pair of inside enforcers, Noah Williams and Levi Byer, added eight points each.
With the frequent substitution pattern that Coach Weller was using, play was understandably ragged at times. In fact Bath actually held the lead midway through the first quarter and they were still within striking distance at the break, trailing only 27-18. But a 23-6 third quarter advantage sealed the deal for the home team.
Dunlap's three triples led the Big Red's outside attack but the most crowd-pleasing moment might have come from Chris Brooks, who drilled one from the deep left corner, barely beating the third quarter horn.
The two teams will meet again Monday night at Bath and then Riverheads will have the unenviable task of facing defending state champ Parry McCluer in a pair of games, the first being at Riverheads on the 23rd, followed by a trip to PM on the 28th.
Both coaches took the same approach to the games as they substituted freely with a goal of seeing what they had on their teams. There was certainly no intent to embarrass the underdog Chargers.
In the JV game, Riverheads scored the first seven points of the contest, moved out to a 32-10 halftime lead, and never looked back. I had another commitment this evening and did not attend in person, so I can't tell you who the stars of the future might be on that team, but I am sure the team chemistry will develop after a few more games.
As for the varsity game, the first thing I can say is thanks to NFHS for the best livestream I have seen yet in any sport. I had to watch it later in the evening using the On Demand feature and it was nearly perfect. Let's hope that is a sign that last year's issues have been ironed out. I had watched the JV game live and it did unfortunately have the same freezing trouble that I experienced all last year, so I wonder if watching any game after the fact is really the way to go. I also commend tonight's PA announcer, a voice I did not recognize. He was clear and consistent and more importantly, confirmed for me my own scoring totals taken here from my computer chair.
Senior forward Ty Morris was absent this evening, leaving Coach Weller with ten healthy bodies. So he wisely chose to use a two-platoon system. (At UNC, they might call it the "blue team.") As a result of that strategy, all ten dressed-out players saw significant action and nine of them scored.
Leading the way was sharpshooter Bennett Dunlap with 21 points, which is pretty darn good for a guy that only played half the game. Senior guard Ryan Farris added 12 and a pair of inside enforcers, Noah Williams and Levi Byer, added eight points each.
With the frequent substitution pattern that Coach Weller was using, play was understandably ragged at times. In fact Bath actually held the lead midway through the first quarter and they were still within striking distance at the break, trailing only 27-18. But a 23-6 third quarter advantage sealed the deal for the home team.
Dunlap's three triples led the Big Red's outside attack but the most crowd-pleasing moment might have come from Chris Brooks, who drilled one from the deep left corner, barely beating the third quarter horn.
The two teams will meet again Monday night at Bath and then Riverheads will have the unenviable task of facing defending state champ Parry McCluer in a pair of games, the first being at Riverheads on the 23rd, followed by a trip to PM on the 28th.
