First of all, I don't even know if "slog" is a word, but I sure can't think of anything else that describes a game that was almost entirely all defense on the part of both teams. They each guarded the perimeter ferociously, adding in some occasional full-court pressure, and there was no such thing as rhythm to the game. Almost every basket was scored in the paint and painfully earned.
Which leads me to the major reason for Riverheads' downfall today. Their three-point shooting, which has been a major weapon all season, just completely abandoned them today. Now obviously the Blues' defense had something to do with that, but the Big Red failed to connect at all from behind the arc, after having hit 7 in the earlier game at PM, and as many as 10 in another game. But today, even though you felt like one was coming at any minute to get them started, they just never adjusted to either end of the court.
You could argue that the Blues won the game in the first two minutes as they jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, prompting a time out from RHS. Whatever Coach Coffey said in that huddle worked momentarily as the Gladiators came out and trimmed the lead to 7-6. The Blues then added two more buckets to lead 11-6 after one.
They carved out another 7-point lead at 17-10, but Riverheads strung together five points in a row to cut the lead down to just two. Again PM held them off and a buzzer-beating stickback sent the teams to the locker room with PM leading 21-15.
Riverheads had fouls to give out the wazoo and the refs were not calling this one especially tight, so the expectation at halftime was for a more intense game and probably more point production from both teams. But that never happened and in fact if anything the defenses clamped down even harder. The result was a watching-paint-dry 12-9 second half in favor of the Blues.
PM's largest lead was 31-18, but RHS finished with a little bit of a flourish and trimmed it to single digits, which was perhaps somewhat of a moral victory. Ironically eight out of ten Gladiators dented the scoring column, but no one even approached double figures as Drew Bond led the way with six points.
The loss leaves Riverheads at 7-7 with a winning season still within reach. However, next week's schedule is daunting as they travel to East Rock Tuesday and Page Friday, sandwiched around a home make-up date Wednesday with Fort Defiance. Maybe they can psyche themselves into believing that they at Luray for the two road games and that Fort is really Stuarts Draft or Buffalo Gap....hey whatever works!
One thing is for sure.....they have given up an average of just under 28 points per game in their last three outings, so if they can keep up that kind of defense but also regain their shooting touch, there will definitely be some more W's on the way.
Which leads me to the major reason for Riverheads' downfall today. Their three-point shooting, which has been a major weapon all season, just completely abandoned them today. Now obviously the Blues' defense had something to do with that, but the Big Red failed to connect at all from behind the arc, after having hit 7 in the earlier game at PM, and as many as 10 in another game. But today, even though you felt like one was coming at any minute to get them started, they just never adjusted to either end of the court.
You could argue that the Blues won the game in the first two minutes as they jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, prompting a time out from RHS. Whatever Coach Coffey said in that huddle worked momentarily as the Gladiators came out and trimmed the lead to 7-6. The Blues then added two more buckets to lead 11-6 after one.
They carved out another 7-point lead at 17-10, but Riverheads strung together five points in a row to cut the lead down to just two. Again PM held them off and a buzzer-beating stickback sent the teams to the locker room with PM leading 21-15.
Riverheads had fouls to give out the wazoo and the refs were not calling this one especially tight, so the expectation at halftime was for a more intense game and probably more point production from both teams. But that never happened and in fact if anything the defenses clamped down even harder. The result was a watching-paint-dry 12-9 second half in favor of the Blues.
PM's largest lead was 31-18, but RHS finished with a little bit of a flourish and trimmed it to single digits, which was perhaps somewhat of a moral victory. Ironically eight out of ten Gladiators dented the scoring column, but no one even approached double figures as Drew Bond led the way with six points.
The loss leaves Riverheads at 7-7 with a winning season still within reach. However, next week's schedule is daunting as they travel to East Rock Tuesday and Page Friday, sandwiched around a home make-up date Wednesday with Fort Defiance. Maybe they can psyche themselves into believing that they at Luray for the two road games and that Fort is really Stuarts Draft or Buffalo Gap....hey whatever works!
One thing is for sure.....they have given up an average of just under 28 points per game in their last three outings, so if they can keep up that kind of defense but also regain their shooting touch, there will definitely be some more W's on the way.
