Region 1B Boys Championship - Final Riverheads 46, Sussex Central 40.
- Thread starter jhwright
- Start date
Well friends and neighbors, how many times have you heard of a team hitting only three baskets all night but yet winning the game? The Gladiators certainly did this afternoon in an electrifying regional final over a very determined Sussex team. As we all know, both teams will now advance to state play but Riverheads will get to host Mathews in next Friday's quarter-final whereas Sussex will now travel to Colonial Beach, I assume also on Friday.
Oh well let me clarify what I said above........don't want to confuse anyone here! The Gladiators only hit three TWO POINT baskets, and why you might ask...........because they were absolutely on fire from three point range and did their damage in that department. Adam Painter dropped in five of them, big brother Grant added four more, and Elijah Dunlap hit the tenth one for his only points of the night, but you could easily argue that his was the biggest basket of the game.
First of all kudos to the crowd on both sides. Riverheads filled the home stands and spilled over some across the way and Sussex brought a respectable contingent as well. It was by far the best crowd we had seen all week and they were rewarded with a sensational game, just what you would expect at this level.
The first half was almost entirely the Painter brothers on offense, although their teammates had an assist on almost every made three. Adam nailed three in very short order and Grant would eventually have four by the halftime horn, as those seven buckets accounted for 21 of the Big Red's 23. An open lay-up off an out of bounds play by Deacon Moore with a nice assist from Ryan Farris was the only other Riverheads bucket of the first half.
What made those 7 three-pointers even more impressive was the shot selection, the way the Big Red worked the ball around, always looking for that one extra pass to make the shot as open as possible. The Gladiators also showed that they watch TV a lot by allowing the defender to blow by a time or two before taking the shot. Also those 7 shots by the two brothers were about as PURE as you could get. There was no bouncing all over the rim or any of that nonsense. Let's just say the twine barely tickled on any of them.
The Gladiators led by as many as 11 at 17-6 as Sussex had trouble getting into any kind of rhythm. But the visitors ended the first half on a 10-6 run to get within 7 at 23-16. The talk in the hallway was that the Gladiators had certainly dominated the game but yet the lead was not safe by any means, which turned out to be very much the case.
In a rather odd third quarter, the teams traded runs of 9-0 which had fans on each side shrieking at full volume. The Tigers had the first of those runs, and it was surprising, considering that they stayed in the locker room for the entire halftime break and therefore got NO warm-up time.
But that turned out to make very little difference as they rattled off the first 9 points of the half to take their very first lead of the game at 25-23. They accomplished that run mainly with quick hands on defense as the Gladiators were a little lazy there for a while on some of their passes. However a time out or two by Coach Coffey righted the ship as Riverheads tied the game first and then after Sussex took its largest lead at 28-25, the Gladiators spurted for their 9-0 run.
Adam Painter was an important part of that run as he hit his final two triples, but Dunlap's crucial one came from the right wing with a hand in his face just prior to the third quarter horn and put the Gladiators ahead 34-28. As it turned out they would not relinquish that lead, but Sussex certainly made it interesting down the stretch.
They started having success working the ball inside, stole a couple more errant passes, and as a result they crept back to within two points on two or three occasions. But just like you are supposed to do in times like this, the Gladiators turned to their senior leadership to save the victory.
Dunlap did his part with ball-handling, even if he didn't score again; and Grant Painter, Moore, and RHS' fourth senior Zach Adams all nailed crucial free throws down the stretch to hold the Tigers at bay.
With Riverheads clinging to a 42-40 lead, Grant calmly sank a pair to make it a two-possession game. But there were still about 20 or so seconds left and Sussex still had hope. But as they moved into the front court, Grant made the defensive play of the game as he stole a pass and drove in for a game-clinching lay-up that sent the home stands into a frenzy.
Final scoring totals for the Big Red were 21 for Grant, 17 for Adam, three each for Dunlap and Moore, and two for Adams. The Big Red only went seven deep today and the remaining two did not score but still played valuable roles. Farris, a quick and savvy sophomore, and the most likely candidate to replace Dunlap at the point next year, had a couple of nice assists, and D'ante Gray came off the bench for some key rebounds at times when Coach Coffey was resting one of his starters.
I am pretty sure Tavon Jones led the scoring for the Tigers, but Imir Clark, Khalil Jones, and Isaiah Miranda were among the players that also had a hand in Sussex' big second-half comeback. So a classic game is in the books, Riverheads has its first-ever regional title in basketball, and as the PA announcer noted, both teams should represent Region B quite well next week. In fact the format being what it is, when you get to this level, if each were to win next Friday, they would meet again the following Tuesday. Good luck to both teams and let's show Region A who is boss, since that part of the state is already predicting a Colonial Beach/Mathews re-match.
Oh well let me clarify what I said above........don't want to confuse anyone here! The Gladiators only hit three TWO POINT baskets, and why you might ask...........because they were absolutely on fire from three point range and did their damage in that department. Adam Painter dropped in five of them, big brother Grant added four more, and Elijah Dunlap hit the tenth one for his only points of the night, but you could easily argue that his was the biggest basket of the game.
First of all kudos to the crowd on both sides. Riverheads filled the home stands and spilled over some across the way and Sussex brought a respectable contingent as well. It was by far the best crowd we had seen all week and they were rewarded with a sensational game, just what you would expect at this level.
The first half was almost entirely the Painter brothers on offense, although their teammates had an assist on almost every made three. Adam nailed three in very short order and Grant would eventually have four by the halftime horn, as those seven buckets accounted for 21 of the Big Red's 23. An open lay-up off an out of bounds play by Deacon Moore with a nice assist from Ryan Farris was the only other Riverheads bucket of the first half.
What made those 7 three-pointers even more impressive was the shot selection, the way the Big Red worked the ball around, always looking for that one extra pass to make the shot as open as possible. The Gladiators also showed that they watch TV a lot by allowing the defender to blow by a time or two before taking the shot. Also those 7 shots by the two brothers were about as PURE as you could get. There was no bouncing all over the rim or any of that nonsense. Let's just say the twine barely tickled on any of them.
The Gladiators led by as many as 11 at 17-6 as Sussex had trouble getting into any kind of rhythm. But the visitors ended the first half on a 10-6 run to get within 7 at 23-16. The talk in the hallway was that the Gladiators had certainly dominated the game but yet the lead was not safe by any means, which turned out to be very much the case.
In a rather odd third quarter, the teams traded runs of 9-0 which had fans on each side shrieking at full volume. The Tigers had the first of those runs, and it was surprising, considering that they stayed in the locker room for the entire halftime break and therefore got NO warm-up time.
But that turned out to make very little difference as they rattled off the first 9 points of the half to take their very first lead of the game at 25-23. They accomplished that run mainly with quick hands on defense as the Gladiators were a little lazy there for a while on some of their passes. However a time out or two by Coach Coffey righted the ship as Riverheads tied the game first and then after Sussex took its largest lead at 28-25, the Gladiators spurted for their 9-0 run.
Adam Painter was an important part of that run as he hit his final two triples, but Dunlap's crucial one came from the right wing with a hand in his face just prior to the third quarter horn and put the Gladiators ahead 34-28. As it turned out they would not relinquish that lead, but Sussex certainly made it interesting down the stretch.
They started having success working the ball inside, stole a couple more errant passes, and as a result they crept back to within two points on two or three occasions. But just like you are supposed to do in times like this, the Gladiators turned to their senior leadership to save the victory.
Dunlap did his part with ball-handling, even if he didn't score again; and Grant Painter, Moore, and RHS' fourth senior Zach Adams all nailed crucial free throws down the stretch to hold the Tigers at bay.
With Riverheads clinging to a 42-40 lead, Grant calmly sank a pair to make it a two-possession game. But there were still about 20 or so seconds left and Sussex still had hope. But as they moved into the front court, Grant made the defensive play of the game as he stole a pass and drove in for a game-clinching lay-up that sent the home stands into a frenzy.
Final scoring totals for the Big Red were 21 for Grant, 17 for Adam, three each for Dunlap and Moore, and two for Adams. The Big Red only went seven deep today and the remaining two did not score but still played valuable roles. Farris, a quick and savvy sophomore, and the most likely candidate to replace Dunlap at the point next year, had a couple of nice assists, and D'ante Gray came off the bench for some key rebounds at times when Coach Coffey was resting one of his starters.
I am pretty sure Tavon Jones led the scoring for the Tigers, but Imir Clark, Khalil Jones, and Isaiah Miranda were among the players that also had a hand in Sussex' big second-half comeback. So a classic game is in the books, Riverheads has its first-ever regional title in basketball, and as the PA announcer noted, both teams should represent Region B quite well next week. In fact the format being what it is, when you get to this level, if each were to win next Friday, they would meet again the following Tuesday. Good luck to both teams and let's show Region A who is boss, since that part of the state is already predicting a Colonial Beach/Mathews re-match.
Is the young man for Riverheads, Robson (sp?) coming back this year for the Gladiators? I know he gave them a size presence in the middle.
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