While watching most of today's game I was debating the question of how I could maintain my status on here as a devoted Gladiator fan but at the same time rip them a new one for how terribly they were stinking up the gym. Well they sort of bailed me out on that question by staging a furious fourth-quarter rally in which they cut a 22-point lead all the way down to just one bucket before running out of time, enabling the Bulldogs to squeeze out a 59-57 win.
Now I am sure many of you readers will wonder how Riverheads managed to get 22 points behind a team that had not won a game, but we will get to that in a minute. But first of all, thanks have to go out to the Bulldog coaches and administration for even agreeing to play this game. You see this one was originally scheduled as a Riverheads home game to be played last night.
But when the Saturday session of Rock the Ribbon was postponed from the 12th until today, that put RHS in a scheduling jam. Someone came up with a creative way to work it out, and Luray graciously agreed to make the normal trip last night just for the JV game (which Riverheads won 41-27 by the way), and then make a second trip today that required them to go another 25 miles beyond Riverheads. Of course now they are glad they did and the dozen or so devoted Luray fans who made the trip no doubt enjoyed their 90 mile ride home from Lexington.
OK, on to the action! The game got off to a weird start that was quickly addressed. Riverheads won the opening tip and within five seconds, Grant Painter stopped abruptly almost in mid-dribble and looked awkwardly at the ball. He managed to avoid a turnover and soon play was stopped as the referees correctly replaced a GIRLS ball with a boys ball. First time for that one!!!
You would certainly assume that was not enough to take Riverheads out of its game, but certainly something did as the Bulldogs jumped on top 8-0 and led this one from wire to wire. All five Big Red starters attempted a shot in the early going, trying to get something established but nothing would fall. Finally with the quarter half over, Painter drove in for a lay-up to put RHS on the board.
The Gladiators then warmed up enough to trim the lead to 11-9 by the end of the quarter and at that point, you might have assumed that the heavily-favored Big Red would settle down and repeat something like the 15 point win they had at Luray earlier in the year. But instead the shooting woes continued and Luray hit just enough to take a 26-19 lead into the locker room.
Again you might have assumed that RHS would make the necessary adjustments, come out fired up to open up the second half and get back in the game. But they turned it over on their first possession and Luray hit a three to open up a 10 point lead.
As it turned out that was just the beginning, as the Dogs hit at least four more triples as toward the end of the period they twice took leads of 22 points. Riverheads meanwhile was nowhere close to establishing a rhythm or showing any signs of even making the game competitive. I don't have a Luray roster handy at the moment but Burrill (sp.?) was doing most of the damage and I overheard one fan say late in the game that he had over 30 points.
The third quarter ended with the Dogs on top 50-32 and whatever Coach Coffey said to his team at the break must have been heard because the Gladiators finally played decent basketball in a wild fourth quarter. They stepped up the defense, forcing a ton of Luray turnovers and the Dogs cooperated with some misses at the foul line as RHS miraculously crept back into the game and almost pulled it out of the fire.
You might think the Big Red turned to the three-ball for their big rally, since they have some serious shooters, but instead they decided to spend the entire fourth-quarter pounding the ball inside to 6'5" Honor Robinson. For those of you who do not know that name, he is a transfer student in his first year with Riverheads and in the stands we kept thinking all season long that there was a breakout game from him just waiting to happen and finally today it did.
He played sparingly in the first half and did not score at all. In fact, I could be wrong about this but he may very well have scored all 18 of his points in that fourth-quarter comeback. So that gives you an idea as to how much the Big Red utilized him in the comeback as he repeatedly and relentlessly either scored from in close or drew the foul to get the job done at the line. Good time to mention by the way that you heard the usual howling from the fans a time or two over calls today but I personally thought this crew did a decent job.
The Bulldogs were hitting "just enough" foul shots and maybe a bucket or two to keep Riverheads at bay, and the margin was still 11 as the game trickled down to the final minute. But RHS kept pushing and when Adam Painter hit Drew Bond underneath for a lay-up that made it 59-55 with 14 seconds left, we all looked at each other and said "are we actually going to do this?"
Luray turned it over once more and Robinson scored a final inside bucket at around the six second mark, but with the Big Red out of time-outs, nobody got the message to foul immediately and the Dogs were able to run out the clock with Riverheads never once tying the score or taking the lead.
Since this game counts as a district contest, the loss almost certainly knocks Riverheads out of any contention for that important second seed for the upcoming tournament, which is a shame since Wilson's surprising loss to Page last night had created a four-way battle for that spot. But now the Gladiators, even if they win out, can probably do no better than the four or five spot. For Luray, the satisfying win was probably enough to make their season although I believe they have one more game with Page that they will now likely get fired up to play.
For Riverheads the lesson learned today was "it's never too late to try and dig yourself out of a hole, but sometimes the hole is just too deep." The bright spot was seeing what Robinson can bring to the table as he tied Painter for team-high honors with 18. Bond added 12 for the Big Red. The Gladiators will need to put this one in the rear-view mirror quickly as their hectic schedule continues with road trips to Fort Defiance Monday and R E Lee Tuesday.
Now I am sure many of you readers will wonder how Riverheads managed to get 22 points behind a team that had not won a game, but we will get to that in a minute. But first of all, thanks have to go out to the Bulldog coaches and administration for even agreeing to play this game. You see this one was originally scheduled as a Riverheads home game to be played last night.
But when the Saturday session of Rock the Ribbon was postponed from the 12th until today, that put RHS in a scheduling jam. Someone came up with a creative way to work it out, and Luray graciously agreed to make the normal trip last night just for the JV game (which Riverheads won 41-27 by the way), and then make a second trip today that required them to go another 25 miles beyond Riverheads. Of course now they are glad they did and the dozen or so devoted Luray fans who made the trip no doubt enjoyed their 90 mile ride home from Lexington.
OK, on to the action! The game got off to a weird start that was quickly addressed. Riverheads won the opening tip and within five seconds, Grant Painter stopped abruptly almost in mid-dribble and looked awkwardly at the ball. He managed to avoid a turnover and soon play was stopped as the referees correctly replaced a GIRLS ball with a boys ball. First time for that one!!!
You would certainly assume that was not enough to take Riverheads out of its game, but certainly something did as the Bulldogs jumped on top 8-0 and led this one from wire to wire. All five Big Red starters attempted a shot in the early going, trying to get something established but nothing would fall. Finally with the quarter half over, Painter drove in for a lay-up to put RHS on the board.
The Gladiators then warmed up enough to trim the lead to 11-9 by the end of the quarter and at that point, you might have assumed that the heavily-favored Big Red would settle down and repeat something like the 15 point win they had at Luray earlier in the year. But instead the shooting woes continued and Luray hit just enough to take a 26-19 lead into the locker room.
Again you might have assumed that RHS would make the necessary adjustments, come out fired up to open up the second half and get back in the game. But they turned it over on their first possession and Luray hit a three to open up a 10 point lead.
As it turned out that was just the beginning, as the Dogs hit at least four more triples as toward the end of the period they twice took leads of 22 points. Riverheads meanwhile was nowhere close to establishing a rhythm or showing any signs of even making the game competitive. I don't have a Luray roster handy at the moment but Burrill (sp.?) was doing most of the damage and I overheard one fan say late in the game that he had over 30 points.
The third quarter ended with the Dogs on top 50-32 and whatever Coach Coffey said to his team at the break must have been heard because the Gladiators finally played decent basketball in a wild fourth quarter. They stepped up the defense, forcing a ton of Luray turnovers and the Dogs cooperated with some misses at the foul line as RHS miraculously crept back into the game and almost pulled it out of the fire.
You might think the Big Red turned to the three-ball for their big rally, since they have some serious shooters, but instead they decided to spend the entire fourth-quarter pounding the ball inside to 6'5" Honor Robinson. For those of you who do not know that name, he is a transfer student in his first year with Riverheads and in the stands we kept thinking all season long that there was a breakout game from him just waiting to happen and finally today it did.
He played sparingly in the first half and did not score at all. In fact, I could be wrong about this but he may very well have scored all 18 of his points in that fourth-quarter comeback. So that gives you an idea as to how much the Big Red utilized him in the comeback as he repeatedly and relentlessly either scored from in close or drew the foul to get the job done at the line. Good time to mention by the way that you heard the usual howling from the fans a time or two over calls today but I personally thought this crew did a decent job.
The Bulldogs were hitting "just enough" foul shots and maybe a bucket or two to keep Riverheads at bay, and the margin was still 11 as the game trickled down to the final minute. But RHS kept pushing and when Adam Painter hit Drew Bond underneath for a lay-up that made it 59-55 with 14 seconds left, we all looked at each other and said "are we actually going to do this?"
Luray turned it over once more and Robinson scored a final inside bucket at around the six second mark, but with the Big Red out of time-outs, nobody got the message to foul immediately and the Dogs were able to run out the clock with Riverheads never once tying the score or taking the lead.
Since this game counts as a district contest, the loss almost certainly knocks Riverheads out of any contention for that important second seed for the upcoming tournament, which is a shame since Wilson's surprising loss to Page last night had created a four-way battle for that spot. But now the Gladiators, even if they win out, can probably do no better than the four or five spot. For Luray, the satisfying win was probably enough to make their season although I believe they have one more game with Page that they will now likely get fired up to play.
For Riverheads the lesson learned today was "it's never too late to try and dig yourself out of a hole, but sometimes the hole is just too deep." The bright spot was seeing what Robinson can bring to the table as he tied Painter for team-high honors with 18. Bond added 12 for the Big Red. The Gladiators will need to put this one in the rear-view mirror quickly as their hectic schedule continues with road trips to Fort Defiance Monday and R E Lee Tuesday.
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