Page Co. 58/Riverheads 45
- Thread starter dwcherb
- Start date
Quickness was the big difference in this one. Page just seemed to telegraph Gladiator passes repeatedly to create scoring opportunities and kept Riverheads off balance all night.
However, the Panthers were not perfect by any stretch, and the sloppiness that dwcherb mentioned resulted in a number of scoring droughts for both teams. For example, neither one could find the range in the early going as the clock was almost down to 5:00 before Graham Cash dropped in an inside bucket to get things going. He added a fast-break layup seconds later to give RHS an early 4-0 lead, before Page finally scored at the 4 minute mark. The teams then traded buckets until Brett Hostetler came off the bench and immediately drilled a triple to put RHS ahead 11-10 at the first break.
His fellow sophomore Harrison Schaefer scored the first RHS bucket in the second quarter, but Page responded with 10 of the quickest points you will ever see to take a 20-13 lead with just under six minutes left in the half. Then came another mutual scoring slump as the teams must have traded 15 possessions before Zach Roberts hit a foul shot and followed it up with an inside bucket to bring RHS back to within four. Page then added two foul shots to wrap up the first half at 22-16.
As dwcherb mentioned, the Panthers broke it open in the third quarter with a combination of increased defensive pressure and timely three-point shooting, but not before the teams opened up the quarter with another two minutes of empty possessions. But once Parker hit the first trey for PCHS, they outscored the visitors 20-10 in that stanza to lead 42-26 going into the fourth. At that point, the real question was whether Page would REALLY break it open and win by 25-30 or would the Gladiators battle back to make it more respectable.
Well we sort of got a little bit of both. Page dominated the first half of the fourth to move out to their biggest lead at 56-36. The Gladiators then kept hustling and finished on a 9-2 run that included Hostetler's second three of the night and a coast-to-coast, wide open, he-wouldn't-really-try-to-dunk-it-would-he lay-up just ahead of the buzzer by the Big Red's 6'2" Jared Farley.
The Gladiators were somewhat hampered by the fact that their two quickest players, Cash and Ben Agnor, each had three fouls by halftime, which limited their aggressiveness against the Page pressure. To their credit, neither fouled out and Cash in fact led the scoring for RHS with 14. Hostetler, who has really come along in recent games, finished with 10 and Roberts added 8.
Page won the JV game 49-30, although the quality of play was hampered by one especially inept referee. For one thing, the first three fouls of the game were called against Page, only to see Riverheads whistled for the next TWELVE. There were at least three occasions in which the two refs had to consult one another about a call.
But the strangest blunder of them all came late in the second quarter. It was the classic block/charge situation. Mr. This-is-My-First-Game blew his whistle and initially signaled a charge on Riverheads. That alone would not have been so bad, and for that matter might have even been the correct call. But the problem was that he clearly reported the foul to the scorer's table as being on the wrong guy. It had been so obvious who the RHS player was, but this guy would not change it, no matter how much the RHS staff protested that he had the wrong guy. For his final act of "I'm in charge here", he walked to the scorer's table and emphatically gave the block sign, followed by the hand behind the head charge sign.
We can only conclude that to mean that the Riverheads (offensive) player, the wrong one mind you, charged and then also blocked on the play, which had to be a first for basketball. This guy did not make the difference in the game because Page was the better team, but it does make you cringe to see someone out there who is just not ready.
The Gladiators are back in action tomorrow night with another road trip to East Rock, while the big attraction at Page will be a make-up girls' game against Luray. I suspect those attract as much attention as the boys' rivalry does.
This post was edited on 1/27 10:35 PM by longtimerhsfan
However, the Panthers were not perfect by any stretch, and the sloppiness that dwcherb mentioned resulted in a number of scoring droughts for both teams. For example, neither one could find the range in the early going as the clock was almost down to 5:00 before Graham Cash dropped in an inside bucket to get things going. He added a fast-break layup seconds later to give RHS an early 4-0 lead, before Page finally scored at the 4 minute mark. The teams then traded buckets until Brett Hostetler came off the bench and immediately drilled a triple to put RHS ahead 11-10 at the first break.
His fellow sophomore Harrison Schaefer scored the first RHS bucket in the second quarter, but Page responded with 10 of the quickest points you will ever see to take a 20-13 lead with just under six minutes left in the half. Then came another mutual scoring slump as the teams must have traded 15 possessions before Zach Roberts hit a foul shot and followed it up with an inside bucket to bring RHS back to within four. Page then added two foul shots to wrap up the first half at 22-16.
As dwcherb mentioned, the Panthers broke it open in the third quarter with a combination of increased defensive pressure and timely three-point shooting, but not before the teams opened up the quarter with another two minutes of empty possessions. But once Parker hit the first trey for PCHS, they outscored the visitors 20-10 in that stanza to lead 42-26 going into the fourth. At that point, the real question was whether Page would REALLY break it open and win by 25-30 or would the Gladiators battle back to make it more respectable.
Well we sort of got a little bit of both. Page dominated the first half of the fourth to move out to their biggest lead at 56-36. The Gladiators then kept hustling and finished on a 9-2 run that included Hostetler's second three of the night and a coast-to-coast, wide open, he-wouldn't-really-try-to-dunk-it-would-he lay-up just ahead of the buzzer by the Big Red's 6'2" Jared Farley.
The Gladiators were somewhat hampered by the fact that their two quickest players, Cash and Ben Agnor, each had three fouls by halftime, which limited their aggressiveness against the Page pressure. To their credit, neither fouled out and Cash in fact led the scoring for RHS with 14. Hostetler, who has really come along in recent games, finished with 10 and Roberts added 8.
Page won the JV game 49-30, although the quality of play was hampered by one especially inept referee. For one thing, the first three fouls of the game were called against Page, only to see Riverheads whistled for the next TWELVE. There were at least three occasions in which the two refs had to consult one another about a call.
But the strangest blunder of them all came late in the second quarter. It was the classic block/charge situation. Mr. This-is-My-First-Game blew his whistle and initially signaled a charge on Riverheads. That alone would not have been so bad, and for that matter might have even been the correct call. But the problem was that he clearly reported the foul to the scorer's table as being on the wrong guy. It had been so obvious who the RHS player was, but this guy would not change it, no matter how much the RHS staff protested that he had the wrong guy. For his final act of "I'm in charge here", he walked to the scorer's table and emphatically gave the block sign, followed by the hand behind the head charge sign.
We can only conclude that to mean that the Riverheads (offensive) player, the wrong one mind you, charged and then also blocked on the play, which had to be a first for basketball. This guy did not make the difference in the game because Page was the better team, but it does make you cringe to see someone out there who is just not ready.
The Gladiators are back in action tomorrow night with another road trip to East Rock, while the big attraction at Page will be a make-up girls' game against Luray. I suspect those attract as much attention as the boys' rivalry does.
This post was edited on 1/27 10:35 PM by longtimerhsfan
That ref in the JV game had absolutely no clue. That's the first time I've ever seen that guy......and hopefully the last. He shouldn't even be on a middle school floor to ref.
On another note, it was finally good to meet you longtime. Hope you had a nice and safe trip to Shenandoah and back, and hope it's another safe trip to Elkton for you tonight. I sent my buddy jhwright a message and told him I finally met ol' longtime. He said it was "good that two VA preps legends finally met" and I told him that "legend" isn't a word that a lot of people would use for me LOL. Best of luck to the Gladiators the rest of the way.
On another note, it was finally good to meet you longtime. Hope you had a nice and safe trip to Shenandoah and back, and hope it's another safe trip to Elkton for you tonight. I sent my buddy jhwright a message and told him I finally met ol' longtime. He said it was "good that two VA preps legends finally met" and I told him that "legend" isn't a word that a lot of people would use for me LOL. Best of luck to the Gladiators the rest of the way.
Nice to meet you as well. Thanks for the back-up testimony regarding that ref. Sometimes when only one person complains about something, it comes across as sour grapes or whatever, but in this case, I cannot imagine anyone missing how out to lunch that guy was. So it was almost a relief that it was not a close game where his bonehead calls might have made the difference between winning and losing.
Yes, we are off to East Rock tonight and even though I hope we will give it our best, I think the Eagles probably are the top team in the league, so we have our work cut out for us. I believe they already have road wins at Luray, Page, and Stuarts Draft, so I am sure they protect the home turf as well. I missed our first game with them due to a Christmas trip, so I have not seen them play, but I am expecting a well-oiled machine. But like I said, RHS plays hard and makes the most of every game, just like I will make the most of that bar-b-q just before arriving!! The eating out can sometimes be the best part of a road trip.
Yes, we are off to East Rock tonight and even though I hope we will give it our best, I think the Eagles probably are the top team in the league, so we have our work cut out for us. I believe they already have road wins at Luray, Page, and Stuarts Draft, so I am sure they protect the home turf as well. I missed our first game with them due to a Christmas trip, so I have not seen them play, but I am expecting a well-oiled machine. But like I said, RHS plays hard and makes the most of every game, just like I will make the most of that bar-b-q just before arriving!! The eating out can sometimes be the best part of a road trip.
To reply about the situation with the official in the J.V. game, I have never seen that guy before either and how he ever became a VHSL official is baffling...I'm glad it wasn't a close game, because for one, they even stopped play when it appeared that Riverheads was calling a timeout when Page had possession or they stopped play to keep arguing with Riverhead's JV coach....I've never seen officials stop play to argue...lol..However the officials in the varisty game did a very good job I thought
I can't remember if the foul was called on #30 or it should have been on #30 for Riverheads......that was what the Riverheads JV coach was trying to get clarification on the whole time down the floor and during Page's possession......then this bonehead ref thinks the coach is calling for a 30 second timeout. That's why play was stopped.......and then started again when he was told they didn't want a TO but an explanation.
I've seen several "JV" officials this year that need more practice at a lower level, also seen a couple where the varsity seemed the same way. I guess with so many games being played in such a short time you are bound to have some that need more experience. Sadly sometimes it's not a good game for them to be "practicing" on when it's your team that seems to be getting the lack of calls.
dwcherb is correct that the varsity officials last night were much better. In fact I can hardly remember any calls at all that created much of a reaction. Even Coach Purdham was calm most of the night and we all know that is not always the case.
To clarify something, the call that was made, if it was going to be a charge, would have been on RHS' number 44, who is a fairly solid kid that stands 5'10" and weighs maybe 175-180. But the ref insisted it was on 30, who is a very skinny kid standing about 6'1" and weighing maybe 150-160. They don't look anything alike, so if he was watching the game at all, and saw enough to warrant the call, there is no way he should have mistaken who it was on.
I know that with 10 guys being in constant, quick movement, someone can be a few feet away from where they were by the time the whistle blows and the play stops. But all he had to do was take a look at the five kids in red on the floor and say to himself "oh yeah, it was that one."
To clarify something, the call that was made, if it was going to be a charge, would have been on RHS' number 44, who is a fairly solid kid that stands 5'10" and weighs maybe 175-180. But the ref insisted it was on 30, who is a very skinny kid standing about 6'1" and weighing maybe 150-160. They don't look anything alike, so if he was watching the game at all, and saw enough to warrant the call, there is no way he should have mistaken who it was on.
I know that with 10 guys being in constant, quick movement, someone can be a few feet away from where they were by the time the whistle blows and the play stops. But all he had to do was take a look at the five kids in red on the floor and say to himself "oh yeah, it was that one."
