Although it was Senior Night at Riverheads, the Big Red was led by a pair of guys that will still be around this time next year as junior guards Elijah Dunlap and Grant Painter provided a perfect 1-2 punch with 21 and 20 points respectively. In addition, Painter reached the 1,000 point plateau tonight and will stand a very good chance of being RHS' number two all-time scorer by the time he graduates.
The most impressive thing about tonight's win was the fact that the Gladiators accomplished it with only eight guys dressed out, as opposed to the 13 on the Panther bench. Not only that, but depending on which rumor you believed in the stands, some of the ones on the Gladiator bench did not exactly fit the description of "healthy bodies." One starter, Zack Adams, was not even in the building, and one of the honored seniors, Honor Robinson, clearly appeared to be under the weather and played only sparingly.
However, the person we had been the most worried about, senior Drew Bond, seemed to be in fine form and although he was wearing some sort of shoulder brace, there appeared to be no lingering effects from the scary injury he suffered in Friday's win over Parry McCluer. His shot did not seem to be impacted and he played an all-around good floor game, finishing third in scoring with 10 points.
His fellow senior Forrest Shuey finished with seven and sophomore Adam Painter finished with six as only five Gladiators dented the scoring column. So any way you slice it, the Gladiators had to reach deep for this one.
Especially when you consider that Page put up the good fight and the game was much closer than the final score might sound. In fact the Panthers had the lead early in the second half, and were still within striking distance down the stretch. Riverheads did not get the margin into double digits until the final few minutes when they went to their delay game and sealed the deal with lay-ups and foul shots.
At the end of the game, the PA announcer felt safe in saying that the Gladiators would be hosting a first-round tournament game, as most of us had expected to be the case with a win tonight. But now the news has broken that Buffalo Gap someway somehow won by 16 AT Wilson (still can't wrap my head around that one) and as a result, Riverheads will surprisingly get the number three seed for the tournament and will apparently turn right around and host Page again on Friday.
Anyway, as already mentioned, tonight's game was tight most of the way. Page took the early lead and led 13-12 after one period. The lead then see-sawed for most of the second quarter until a hard drive to the hole in the final few seconds led to an old-fashioned three-point play by Elijah Dunlap to put the Big Red ahead 32-28 at the break. RHS' 20-point quarter featured triples by Dunlap as well as each Painter brother.
Instead of RHS maintaining that momentum, the Panthers' roared out of the second half gate and scored the first five points to take the lead back at 33-32. But a quick timeout from RHS settled the troops as the Gladiators scored the next nine to move ahead for good at 41-33.
At approximately the 1 minute mark of quarter three, Grant scored from the lane to give him points number 1,000 and 1,001 and the action was momentarily stopped in honor of the occasion. The quarter ended with Riverheads on top 51-40.
Page got as close as seven on a couple of occasions in the fourth, but the Gladiators maintained their composure and finished out the game by padding the margin, mostly at the foul line. Dunlap had another key old-fashioned in the fourth quarter to go along with his three triples for the evening, as he recorded his second-highest game of the season.
Page prevailed in the JV game 44-36 but the Gladiators made them work for it. RHS led the entire first quarter and after Page moved ahead, the Big Red made a third quarter rally to tie the score at 31 entering the fourth. But Page exploded for the first ten points of the fourth quarter and held on for the win.
As mentioned above, if all the information out there is accurate, these two will now play again on Friday in a doubleheader at Riverheads. Meanwhile, the Lady Gladiators took Page into OT tonight on the Panthers' home floor but failed to win their eighth straight game. But they have been on a tear lately and will be seeded fourth, hosting fifth-seeded Luray Friday. No idea at this point which game will be played first.
Media sources are also saying that the East Rock and Page girls will be having a playoff game Thursday night at Stonewall to settle the regular season crown and designate the 1 and 2 seeds for the tournament. Needless to say, both the boys and girls seasons have had their ups and downs, with a lot of road wins, and some surprising upsets...........the Gap win at Wilson tonight being the topper of them all. So we should have some very entertaining playoff action ahead.
The most impressive thing about tonight's win was the fact that the Gladiators accomplished it with only eight guys dressed out, as opposed to the 13 on the Panther bench. Not only that, but depending on which rumor you believed in the stands, some of the ones on the Gladiator bench did not exactly fit the description of "healthy bodies." One starter, Zack Adams, was not even in the building, and one of the honored seniors, Honor Robinson, clearly appeared to be under the weather and played only sparingly.
However, the person we had been the most worried about, senior Drew Bond, seemed to be in fine form and although he was wearing some sort of shoulder brace, there appeared to be no lingering effects from the scary injury he suffered in Friday's win over Parry McCluer. His shot did not seem to be impacted and he played an all-around good floor game, finishing third in scoring with 10 points.
His fellow senior Forrest Shuey finished with seven and sophomore Adam Painter finished with six as only five Gladiators dented the scoring column. So any way you slice it, the Gladiators had to reach deep for this one.
Especially when you consider that Page put up the good fight and the game was much closer than the final score might sound. In fact the Panthers had the lead early in the second half, and were still within striking distance down the stretch. Riverheads did not get the margin into double digits until the final few minutes when they went to their delay game and sealed the deal with lay-ups and foul shots.
At the end of the game, the PA announcer felt safe in saying that the Gladiators would be hosting a first-round tournament game, as most of us had expected to be the case with a win tonight. But now the news has broken that Buffalo Gap someway somehow won by 16 AT Wilson (still can't wrap my head around that one) and as a result, Riverheads will surprisingly get the number three seed for the tournament and will apparently turn right around and host Page again on Friday.
Anyway, as already mentioned, tonight's game was tight most of the way. Page took the early lead and led 13-12 after one period. The lead then see-sawed for most of the second quarter until a hard drive to the hole in the final few seconds led to an old-fashioned three-point play by Elijah Dunlap to put the Big Red ahead 32-28 at the break. RHS' 20-point quarter featured triples by Dunlap as well as each Painter brother.
Instead of RHS maintaining that momentum, the Panthers' roared out of the second half gate and scored the first five points to take the lead back at 33-32. But a quick timeout from RHS settled the troops as the Gladiators scored the next nine to move ahead for good at 41-33.
At approximately the 1 minute mark of quarter three, Grant scored from the lane to give him points number 1,000 and 1,001 and the action was momentarily stopped in honor of the occasion. The quarter ended with Riverheads on top 51-40.
Page got as close as seven on a couple of occasions in the fourth, but the Gladiators maintained their composure and finished out the game by padding the margin, mostly at the foul line. Dunlap had another key old-fashioned in the fourth quarter to go along with his three triples for the evening, as he recorded his second-highest game of the season.
Page prevailed in the JV game 44-36 but the Gladiators made them work for it. RHS led the entire first quarter and after Page moved ahead, the Big Red made a third quarter rally to tie the score at 31 entering the fourth. But Page exploded for the first ten points of the fourth quarter and held on for the win.
As mentioned above, if all the information out there is accurate, these two will now play again on Friday in a doubleheader at Riverheads. Meanwhile, the Lady Gladiators took Page into OT tonight on the Panthers' home floor but failed to win their eighth straight game. But they have been on a tear lately and will be seeded fourth, hosting fifth-seeded Luray Friday. No idea at this point which game will be played first.
Media sources are also saying that the East Rock and Page girls will be having a playoff game Thursday night at Stonewall to settle the regular season crown and designate the 1 and 2 seeds for the tournament. Needless to say, both the boys and girls seasons have had their ups and downs, with a lot of road wins, and some surprising upsets...........the Gap win at Wilson tonight being the topper of them all. So we should have some very entertaining playoff action ahead.
