After opening the season last week with a 50 point blowout win over Bath County, the Gladiators welcomed a totally different caliber opponent tonight when the RappCo Panthers paid what I believe was their first-ever visit to Riverheads. My records show this as being the fourth time overall that the teams have played but I have no memory of any of those being at Riverheads. I know they met two years ago at RappCo in the regional playoffs but I suspect their other two meetings may have been many years ago in the holiday tournament that Page County used to have.
The irony of this loss tonight is that the tables were somewhat turned from the Bath game. That night Riverheads only dressed out six players because the football players had not yet joined the team, but that iron-man six was more than enough to send the Chargers packing. But tonight the roles were reversed as the Big Red had ten bodies to put out on the floor whereas RappCo only brought seven. I am not sure if that is all they have on their team or if there are some issues that limited their numbers tonight.
As it turned out, one of those seven, center Nolan Prince, made the difference. He dwarfed the very small Gladiators both in height and girth and for the most part did what he wanted inside. However, RHS did manage to keep him somewhat in check due to foul trouble. But whenever he was not being the dominant factor, the Panthers had enough quickness at the guard position to stay with Riverheads and the faster-paced attack they have adopted for this season.
If there was another factor in the Panther win, it was poise. They ended the first half on a 12-1 run to take a five-point lead into the locker room. The entire second half was then one big Riverheads rally as the Big Red repeatedly fought their way back in to the game. But every time RHS closed to within one or two points, the Panthers would spurt again to go up by 6-8. To the best of my recollection, Riverheads never tied or took the lead in the second half.
However, they fired up multiple three-pointers, some of which would have tied the score or put them ahead, but they just never hit the right one at the right time, even though the final stats showed five guys combining for eight triples, which is a respectable number at the high school level.
The final two minutes of the game kept fans on the edge of their seats. After Riverheads had trimmed the lead to 56-53 and missed at least one chance to tie, RappCo scored five in a row to extend the lead out to 61-53. But Riverheads charged back one more time to within 61-59. They sent sophomore Jeremiah Phillips to the line where he only hit one of two to make it 62-59, giving the home team one final chance with about 25 seconds left.
They worked the ball into the front court and called time out somewhere around the 12-13 second mark to hopefully draw up a play for a tying triple. But on the ensuing inbounds play, the Panthers stole the ball and took it in for a breakaway lay up to ice the game.
All things considered, not a bad game for the Gladiators as it was only their first game with the whole team intact, whereas this was at least game five or six for the Panthers. So it will be interesting to see how the Gladiators fare when they take their first road trip to arch-rival Stuarts Draft on Tuesday.
Sophomore Will Gardner led the scoring again tonight with 18, giving him an average of 24.5 PPG on the young season, He hit exactly half the team's three-pointers. No one else scored in double figures although six different players scored between five and nine points. Coach Weller substituted liberally as you might expect at this early stage of the season, so all 10 players saw significant playing time.
In the JV prelim, Riverheads scored the first eight points of the second quarter to break open a close game and steadily pulled away to a 50-39 win. I don't keep scoring for JV games but I would suspect the leading scorers for the Big Red were Ethan Mulcahy, Gabe Lloyd, Joseph George, Grayson Ward, and Chris Dotson, as the Junior G'men also have a well-balanced squad with a whopping 14 bodies to throw at the opposition. They will try for win number three at the Draft on Tuesday.
The irony of this loss tonight is that the tables were somewhat turned from the Bath game. That night Riverheads only dressed out six players because the football players had not yet joined the team, but that iron-man six was more than enough to send the Chargers packing. But tonight the roles were reversed as the Big Red had ten bodies to put out on the floor whereas RappCo only brought seven. I am not sure if that is all they have on their team or if there are some issues that limited their numbers tonight.
As it turned out, one of those seven, center Nolan Prince, made the difference. He dwarfed the very small Gladiators both in height and girth and for the most part did what he wanted inside. However, RHS did manage to keep him somewhat in check due to foul trouble. But whenever he was not being the dominant factor, the Panthers had enough quickness at the guard position to stay with Riverheads and the faster-paced attack they have adopted for this season.
If there was another factor in the Panther win, it was poise. They ended the first half on a 12-1 run to take a five-point lead into the locker room. The entire second half was then one big Riverheads rally as the Big Red repeatedly fought their way back in to the game. But every time RHS closed to within one or two points, the Panthers would spurt again to go up by 6-8. To the best of my recollection, Riverheads never tied or took the lead in the second half.
However, they fired up multiple three-pointers, some of which would have tied the score or put them ahead, but they just never hit the right one at the right time, even though the final stats showed five guys combining for eight triples, which is a respectable number at the high school level.
The final two minutes of the game kept fans on the edge of their seats. After Riverheads had trimmed the lead to 56-53 and missed at least one chance to tie, RappCo scored five in a row to extend the lead out to 61-53. But Riverheads charged back one more time to within 61-59. They sent sophomore Jeremiah Phillips to the line where he only hit one of two to make it 62-59, giving the home team one final chance with about 25 seconds left.
They worked the ball into the front court and called time out somewhere around the 12-13 second mark to hopefully draw up a play for a tying triple. But on the ensuing inbounds play, the Panthers stole the ball and took it in for a breakaway lay up to ice the game.
All things considered, not a bad game for the Gladiators as it was only their first game with the whole team intact, whereas this was at least game five or six for the Panthers. So it will be interesting to see how the Gladiators fare when they take their first road trip to arch-rival Stuarts Draft on Tuesday.
Sophomore Will Gardner led the scoring again tonight with 18, giving him an average of 24.5 PPG on the young season, He hit exactly half the team's three-pointers. No one else scored in double figures although six different players scored between five and nine points. Coach Weller substituted liberally as you might expect at this early stage of the season, so all 10 players saw significant playing time.
In the JV prelim, Riverheads scored the first eight points of the second quarter to break open a close game and steadily pulled away to a 50-39 win. I don't keep scoring for JV games but I would suspect the leading scorers for the Big Red were Ethan Mulcahy, Gabe Lloyd, Joseph George, Grayson Ward, and Chris Dotson, as the Junior G'men also have a well-balanced squad with a whopping 14 bodies to throw at the opposition. They will try for win number three at the Draft on Tuesday.
