When these two teams met earlier in Greenville, Wilson Memorial jumped out to a comfortable halftime lead but found themselves fending off a strong second half from Riverheads that kept that one respectable. Tonight's re-match in the Hornet Hive was the exact opposite as the Gladiators hung tough in the first half before Wilson's depth wore them down after the break on the way to an 80-48 victory that sounds more one-sided than it really was.
The Gladiators were a man short tonight as the tallest player in their usual rotation, 6'2" Gabe Lloyd, was out due to concussion protocol. Despite his absence the shorter Big Red players were able to hold their own on the boards for the most part against the Hornets, who have a whopping nine players standing 6'1" or better.
RHS took an early 2-0 lead on a driving lay-up by J P Crawford. Wilson then exploded for 13 points in a row and at that point, it looked like they were going to settle the issue early. Instead the Big Red kicked its offense into high gear, went on a surge of its own, and trimmed the lead down to two at 15-13 and again later at 21-19. Included in that rally were two triples by Henley Dunlap and a third by Grayson Ward, who is usually an inside banger. Wilson then scored the last four points of a fast-paced first quarter to lead 25-19.
Riverheads continued to challenge the home team for the duration of the first half as they had the score down to 26-24 and had the ball at one point with a chance to regain the lead. They were still within four at 35-31, when Wilson scored the final four of the half to take a 39-31 lead into the locker room.
That little mini-surge may have been just what the Hornets needed to re-establish their dominance because they came out smoking in the second half, scoring the first seven points to boost the lead back to double digits, as they took advantage of an obviously tired RHS team. They kept the full court press on for most of the second half, which exhausted the Gladiators even further. Max Vess and Eli Irving were the main architects of that second half blitz and were most likely Wilson's leading scorers. Crawford and Dunlap led RHS with 13 and 12 respectively.
Possibly contributing to the Gladiators' downfall was the fact that this was their third game in four days, as they had battled Stuarts Draft and Staunton Tuesday and Wednesday nights. At least they are now off until Tuesday when they will host Fort Defiance, a game that will most definitely require a well-rested team. The Gladiators are quite possibly looking forward to that one as they had a 32 point first quarter down at the Fort and finished with 82 that night. So Greenville will be the place to be Tuesday night if you like your basketball played as fast as possible.
Tonight's JV game was a tight one all the way with Wilson eventually pulling out a 44-37 win. They scored the first 11 points of the game and threatened to blow it open early but Riverheads then scored the next nine. From that point on it was anywhere from a 2 to an 8 point lead with RHS never able to get the bucket they needed to tie or take the lead but Wilson never being able to shake them either. The Gladiators had a golden opportunity in the final moments when a three point shooter was fouled in the act. The score was 41-36 at that point, but the guy was only able to hit the final one of his three foul shots and Wilson then scored the final four to wrap up the win.
The Gladiators were a man short tonight as the tallest player in their usual rotation, 6'2" Gabe Lloyd, was out due to concussion protocol. Despite his absence the shorter Big Red players were able to hold their own on the boards for the most part against the Hornets, who have a whopping nine players standing 6'1" or better.
RHS took an early 2-0 lead on a driving lay-up by J P Crawford. Wilson then exploded for 13 points in a row and at that point, it looked like they were going to settle the issue early. Instead the Big Red kicked its offense into high gear, went on a surge of its own, and trimmed the lead down to two at 15-13 and again later at 21-19. Included in that rally were two triples by Henley Dunlap and a third by Grayson Ward, who is usually an inside banger. Wilson then scored the last four points of a fast-paced first quarter to lead 25-19.
Riverheads continued to challenge the home team for the duration of the first half as they had the score down to 26-24 and had the ball at one point with a chance to regain the lead. They were still within four at 35-31, when Wilson scored the final four of the half to take a 39-31 lead into the locker room.
That little mini-surge may have been just what the Hornets needed to re-establish their dominance because they came out smoking in the second half, scoring the first seven points to boost the lead back to double digits, as they took advantage of an obviously tired RHS team. They kept the full court press on for most of the second half, which exhausted the Gladiators even further. Max Vess and Eli Irving were the main architects of that second half blitz and were most likely Wilson's leading scorers. Crawford and Dunlap led RHS with 13 and 12 respectively.
Possibly contributing to the Gladiators' downfall was the fact that this was their third game in four days, as they had battled Stuarts Draft and Staunton Tuesday and Wednesday nights. At least they are now off until Tuesday when they will host Fort Defiance, a game that will most definitely require a well-rested team. The Gladiators are quite possibly looking forward to that one as they had a 32 point first quarter down at the Fort and finished with 82 that night. So Greenville will be the place to be Tuesday night if you like your basketball played as fast as possible.
Tonight's JV game was a tight one all the way with Wilson eventually pulling out a 44-37 win. They scored the first 11 points of the game and threatened to blow it open early but Riverheads then scored the next nine. From that point on it was anywhere from a 2 to an 8 point lead with RHS never able to get the bucket they needed to tie or take the lead but Wilson never being able to shake them either. The Gladiators had a golden opportunity in the final moments when a three point shooter was fouled in the act. The score was 41-36 at that point, but the guy was only able to hit the final one of his three foul shots and Wilson then scored the final four to wrap up the win.
