Bitter arch-rivals Riverheads and Buffalo Gap crammed more action into the final four minutes tonight than they did the first 3 1/2 quarters put together and when the final horn sounded the Gladiators emerged with a hard-fought 48-38 win. They will now advance to Tuesday's Conference 36 semi-finals as they face the unenviable task of traveling to East Rockingham where the Eagles are riding about a 15 or 16 game win streak.
Tonight the Big Red led virtually the entire game and at times appeared on their way to an easy win, but the Bison made one final charge (I guess that is what Bison are supposed to do!) and cut the lead down to only two points before Riverheads got five key points from Zach Roberts to seal the win. The loss ends the season for the Bison although their girls' team annihilated Nelson County tonight, giving their fans a team to still follow.
The Gap only had two leads in this one, at 2-0 and 3-2. Riverheads took its first lead at 5-3 and never trailed again. They moved ahead by 7 at the end of the first quarter (15-8) and in fact had a seven-point lead on five different occasions. Another quirk in the Gladiator stats was that only three players (Roberts, Kendall Casto, and Tripp Agnor) scratched the scoring column until the final 30 seconds of the third quarter when a Harrison Schaefer bucket in the lane gave the home team its first double-digit lead at 35-25.
A fifth Gladiator, Brett Hostetler, opened the fourth quarter with a driving lay-up that made it 37-25, and at that point, a Riverheads rout looked like a possibility. Instead the Bison made their final surge by forcing a number of RHS miscues and missed shots, and they trimmed the lead all the way down to 40-38 with about two minutes left.
Roberts finally broke the spell with a tough, acrobatic "and-one" move down the lane and followed that up a few seconds later by finding himself on the receiving end of a long pass after a mad scramble under the Bison basket. That lay-up put RHS ahead 45-38 and starter Graham Cash, who had joined in the scoring by that time, finished the visitors off at the foul line. All told, Riverheads outscored the Gap 7-0 after their big surge.
The officials called this one tightly as two Bison and one Gladiator were sent to the bench with five fouls by the end of the slugfest. But that kind of intensity is nothing new when these two get together. Nobody on either side expected anything different.
Roberts led the RHS scoring with 17, followed by Casto with 13 and Agnor with 8. I did not either keep or hear Buffalo Gap scoring, but from my vantage point, Seth Long and Zach Thompson seemed to have the best games, with an honorable mention to Holden Sandridge, who was all over the floor and really earned his five fouls. (Agnor and Thompson were the other two to foul out of the game.)
Tonight's game was the opener of the first-ever tournament-level doubleheader held at Riverheads. In the nightcap, the # 5 seed Robert E Lee ladies proved to be much too quick and much too proficient from three-point range as they ended the Lady Gladiators' season with a 64-48 win. However, Coach Tim Morris could not possibly be disappointed in the progress his girls made and the effort they gave during the season, especially considering their youth. He only loses two seniors, so the future already looks bright.
Tonight the Big Red led virtually the entire game and at times appeared on their way to an easy win, but the Bison made one final charge (I guess that is what Bison are supposed to do!) and cut the lead down to only two points before Riverheads got five key points from Zach Roberts to seal the win. The loss ends the season for the Bison although their girls' team annihilated Nelson County tonight, giving their fans a team to still follow.
The Gap only had two leads in this one, at 2-0 and 3-2. Riverheads took its first lead at 5-3 and never trailed again. They moved ahead by 7 at the end of the first quarter (15-8) and in fact had a seven-point lead on five different occasions. Another quirk in the Gladiator stats was that only three players (Roberts, Kendall Casto, and Tripp Agnor) scratched the scoring column until the final 30 seconds of the third quarter when a Harrison Schaefer bucket in the lane gave the home team its first double-digit lead at 35-25.
A fifth Gladiator, Brett Hostetler, opened the fourth quarter with a driving lay-up that made it 37-25, and at that point, a Riverheads rout looked like a possibility. Instead the Bison made their final surge by forcing a number of RHS miscues and missed shots, and they trimmed the lead all the way down to 40-38 with about two minutes left.
Roberts finally broke the spell with a tough, acrobatic "and-one" move down the lane and followed that up a few seconds later by finding himself on the receiving end of a long pass after a mad scramble under the Bison basket. That lay-up put RHS ahead 45-38 and starter Graham Cash, who had joined in the scoring by that time, finished the visitors off at the foul line. All told, Riverheads outscored the Gap 7-0 after their big surge.
The officials called this one tightly as two Bison and one Gladiator were sent to the bench with five fouls by the end of the slugfest. But that kind of intensity is nothing new when these two get together. Nobody on either side expected anything different.
Roberts led the RHS scoring with 17, followed by Casto with 13 and Agnor with 8. I did not either keep or hear Buffalo Gap scoring, but from my vantage point, Seth Long and Zach Thompson seemed to have the best games, with an honorable mention to Holden Sandridge, who was all over the floor and really earned his five fouls. (Agnor and Thompson were the other two to foul out of the game.)
Tonight's game was the opener of the first-ever tournament-level doubleheader held at Riverheads. In the nightcap, the # 5 seed Robert E Lee ladies proved to be much too quick and much too proficient from three-point range as they ended the Lady Gladiators' season with a 64-48 win. However, Coach Tim Morris could not possibly be disappointed in the progress his girls made and the effort they gave during the season, especially considering their youth. He only loses two seniors, so the future already looks bright.
