I just finished my report on Riverheads' big football victory, so time for double duty covering the basketball tournament. The Panthers won the title with a 66-58 win over Riverheads, mainly due to the unconscious three-point shooting of senior guard Andrew Deal. I did not count his three pointers but I would guess he had a minimum of 7 and it could have been as many as ten. On this night at least, he was one of the best pure shooters we have seen in a long time. So Bull Run teams, watch out for him this season.
However, I hope the Panther fans will forgive me if I have to spend the rest of my time in this report praising Riverheads for its effort tonight. Yes, we all know a loss is a loss and all that jazz, but considering the circumstances, Coach Weller should be just as proud of his team as if they had won by 20.
We already knew that Riverheads is carrying only 7 players and we now know that situation will last into next week's two games before some football players will join the team. By contrast, Rapp Co had a full 13 man roster tonight, not to mention a huge size advantage, with 6'9" Nolan Prince patrolling the paint. So given those odds, I personally expected a blow out win tonight for the visitors.
Instead Riverheads put forth a truly inspired effort. They hustled from start to finish, they communicated better than they had in the preceding two games, they showed much more confidence, and they did not back down in the least from the larger, more talented Panthers. In fact, if Deal had not had his lights-out game, and had instead played like a normal human being, the Big Red just might have taken this one. But they were able to stay within single digits most of the way, and even when it looked like RappCo was about to go on a spurt and win by 20, Riverheads would instead have a spurt of its own to keep it within reach.
By far the most impressive aspect of the Gladiators' game was their own three point shooting. They did not have an individual come close to matching Deal but they certainly did their best as a team to keep pace with him. By my unofficial count, the Gladiators connected on ten shots from behind the arc and they came from five of the seven players. Three of those ten came from a most surprising source, sophomore Joseph George, who previously had not even hinted at having any kind of perimeter range.
Those triples were part of a very balanced Gladiator attack as they came within four points of having five players in double figures. Henley Dunlap led the way with 18, followed by 11 from George, 10 from JP Crawford, 9 from Friday night's leading scorer Jackson Brammer, and 7 from Grayson Ward. If they continue to get that kind of balance and get a few more bodies on the bench, they should be able to hold their own this season.
Tonight's varsity consolation game was also a closer affair than I expected it to be as James River needed a basket with just 1.3 seconds left to escape Bath County 57-55. I did not get to see that much of that one because I was in the other gym watching the Riverheads JVs in action.
Speaking of which, the Big Red JVs actually played a double-header tonight and won both games to remain undefeated on the season. In the opener, they jumped out to an early lead on the RappCo JVs and built as much as a 13 point advantage. But the Junior Panthers turned on the defensive pressure in the second half and roared all the way back to tie the score with just 16 seconds left. However, RHS' Holden Fitzgerald worked his way inside for a tough deciding basket as the Gladiators led wire to wire and won 39-37.
I did not see any of the second JV game because I was watching the varsity game, but instead of being tired from already playing a full game, the Gladiators must have found their second wind as I was told they routed the James River JVs 44-14.
To summarize the day's events, there were four games played involving Riverheads including the football game. The Gladiators won three of them and as I have hopefully described for you, gave a darn good effort in the fourth game. Not a bad day to be a Gladiator so best wishes to all those teams moving forward.
However, I hope the Panther fans will forgive me if I have to spend the rest of my time in this report praising Riverheads for its effort tonight. Yes, we all know a loss is a loss and all that jazz, but considering the circumstances, Coach Weller should be just as proud of his team as if they had won by 20.
We already knew that Riverheads is carrying only 7 players and we now know that situation will last into next week's two games before some football players will join the team. By contrast, Rapp Co had a full 13 man roster tonight, not to mention a huge size advantage, with 6'9" Nolan Prince patrolling the paint. So given those odds, I personally expected a blow out win tonight for the visitors.
Instead Riverheads put forth a truly inspired effort. They hustled from start to finish, they communicated better than they had in the preceding two games, they showed much more confidence, and they did not back down in the least from the larger, more talented Panthers. In fact, if Deal had not had his lights-out game, and had instead played like a normal human being, the Big Red just might have taken this one. But they were able to stay within single digits most of the way, and even when it looked like RappCo was about to go on a spurt and win by 20, Riverheads would instead have a spurt of its own to keep it within reach.
By far the most impressive aspect of the Gladiators' game was their own three point shooting. They did not have an individual come close to matching Deal but they certainly did their best as a team to keep pace with him. By my unofficial count, the Gladiators connected on ten shots from behind the arc and they came from five of the seven players. Three of those ten came from a most surprising source, sophomore Joseph George, who previously had not even hinted at having any kind of perimeter range.
Those triples were part of a very balanced Gladiator attack as they came within four points of having five players in double figures. Henley Dunlap led the way with 18, followed by 11 from George, 10 from JP Crawford, 9 from Friday night's leading scorer Jackson Brammer, and 7 from Grayson Ward. If they continue to get that kind of balance and get a few more bodies on the bench, they should be able to hold their own this season.
Tonight's varsity consolation game was also a closer affair than I expected it to be as James River needed a basket with just 1.3 seconds left to escape Bath County 57-55. I did not get to see that much of that one because I was in the other gym watching the Riverheads JVs in action.
Speaking of which, the Big Red JVs actually played a double-header tonight and won both games to remain undefeated on the season. In the opener, they jumped out to an early lead on the RappCo JVs and built as much as a 13 point advantage. But the Junior Panthers turned on the defensive pressure in the second half and roared all the way back to tie the score with just 16 seconds left. However, RHS' Holden Fitzgerald worked his way inside for a tough deciding basket as the Gladiators led wire to wire and won 39-37.
I did not see any of the second JV game because I was watching the varsity game, but instead of being tired from already playing a full game, the Gladiators must have found their second wind as I was told they routed the James River JVs 44-14.
To summarize the day's events, there were four games played involving Riverheads including the football game. The Gladiators won three of them and as I have hopefully described for you, gave a darn good effort in the fourth game. Not a bad day to be a Gladiator so best wishes to all those teams moving forward.
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