The Friday session of the Riverheads Holiday Tournament, also known as the Augusta County Invitational, is in the books as fans were treated to a pair of afternoon barn burners on the JV level, and then a couple of blowouts on the nighttime varsity level. As a result of those blowouts, the Rappahannock County Panthers, 55-34 winners over Buffalo Gap, will now take on the homestanding Gladiators in tomorrow night's championship game. Riverheads manhandled Stonewall Jackson 79-23 in tonight's finale to set up that meeting.
By far the best game of the day was the 2:30 opener. Stonewall Jackson had a 31-27 lead over the Buffalo Gap JVs with less than a minute left. However the Generals only managed one point the rest of the way. The Bison crawled back to within 32-30 and sent Stonewall to the foul line with 4.1 seconds left. The Generals could have clinched the win but the guy missed both foul shots. The Bison grabbed the rebound and headed up court. Sorry I did not catch the player's name, but he crossed midcourt and let it fly. The ball stripped the net perfectly for a stunning 33-32 Bison win and their small crowd of fans let out a war whoop that I doubt they even thought they were capable of. It was by far the highlight play of the whole day.
The next two games were the pride of the Panthers, the team that made the longest trip of the day. They first took on the Riverheads JVs in the 4:00 contest. The Gladiators scored first but then RappCo jumped out to a 5-2 lead and from that point on, the lead fluctuated between 2 and 7 points the rest of the way. Every time it looked like Rapp Co would pull away, Riverheads would rally and cut into the lead. The Gladiators finally trimmed the lead to a single point at 38-37 on eighth-grader Sam Jarvis' third triple of the second half.
That sent Rapp Co to the foul line where Brayden Compton, also just an eighth-grader, calmly sank a pair of foul shots to make the score 40-37. Riverheads had 15 seconds left to try to tie things up but could not get a decent enough shot as Rapp Co held on for the hard-fought win.
Next up was the varsity game between Buffalo Gap and RappCo. The Bison were able to hang around for maybe 2 1/2 quarters but the Panthers wore them down in the latter stages. Rapp Co's biggest weapon appeared to be sophomore center Jason Deal. He was quoted on the roster as being 6'3" but he looks more like 6'6". The Bison could not contain him and he even stepped outside once for a triple, so he will be a challenge for the Big Red tomorrow night.
Speaking of Riverheads, their win over Stonewall tonight was not only a few points better than their 48 point blowout on the road earlier this season, but it was probably one of Riverheads' all-time biggest margins of victory. (Haven't had time to look that up yet.)
After an early 2-2 tie, the Gladiators poured it on just about every way it could be poured on. To highlight the statistics, all ten players scored in the game, four of them hit for double figures including a career-high 10 points for freshman Jaxon Duff, and five players combined to hit 11 three-pointers.
Perhaps the happiest guy in the gym was senior Will Gardner, who needed a confidence boost after a couple of sub-par showings the last couple of times out. He missed his first three attempted triples tonight but he kept shooting as the experts tell you to do and the next one went in. He went on to score a team-high 17 points, which included three of those 11 triples. The other two double-digit scorers were J P Crawford with 14 and Henley Dunlap with 11.
Saturday's session begins again at 2:30 with what should be two more competitive JV games. The JVs by the way are not playing for a trophy. Instead their match-ups were pre-set. Rapp Co and Buffalo Gap will play at 2:30 and Riverheads will tangle with Stonewall around 4:00.
BG and Stonewall will then meet in the consolation game at 6:00, which should favor the Bison. Then RHS and RappCo will battle for the championship around 7:30. On paper that one would appear to come down to the Big Red's outside shooting against Deal's inside presence.
By far the best game of the day was the 2:30 opener. Stonewall Jackson had a 31-27 lead over the Buffalo Gap JVs with less than a minute left. However the Generals only managed one point the rest of the way. The Bison crawled back to within 32-30 and sent Stonewall to the foul line with 4.1 seconds left. The Generals could have clinched the win but the guy missed both foul shots. The Bison grabbed the rebound and headed up court. Sorry I did not catch the player's name, but he crossed midcourt and let it fly. The ball stripped the net perfectly for a stunning 33-32 Bison win and their small crowd of fans let out a war whoop that I doubt they even thought they were capable of. It was by far the highlight play of the whole day.
The next two games were the pride of the Panthers, the team that made the longest trip of the day. They first took on the Riverheads JVs in the 4:00 contest. The Gladiators scored first but then RappCo jumped out to a 5-2 lead and from that point on, the lead fluctuated between 2 and 7 points the rest of the way. Every time it looked like Rapp Co would pull away, Riverheads would rally and cut into the lead. The Gladiators finally trimmed the lead to a single point at 38-37 on eighth-grader Sam Jarvis' third triple of the second half.
That sent Rapp Co to the foul line where Brayden Compton, also just an eighth-grader, calmly sank a pair of foul shots to make the score 40-37. Riverheads had 15 seconds left to try to tie things up but could not get a decent enough shot as Rapp Co held on for the hard-fought win.
Next up was the varsity game between Buffalo Gap and RappCo. The Bison were able to hang around for maybe 2 1/2 quarters but the Panthers wore them down in the latter stages. Rapp Co's biggest weapon appeared to be sophomore center Jason Deal. He was quoted on the roster as being 6'3" but he looks more like 6'6". The Bison could not contain him and he even stepped outside once for a triple, so he will be a challenge for the Big Red tomorrow night.
Speaking of Riverheads, their win over Stonewall tonight was not only a few points better than their 48 point blowout on the road earlier this season, but it was probably one of Riverheads' all-time biggest margins of victory. (Haven't had time to look that up yet.)
After an early 2-2 tie, the Gladiators poured it on just about every way it could be poured on. To highlight the statistics, all ten players scored in the game, four of them hit for double figures including a career-high 10 points for freshman Jaxon Duff, and five players combined to hit 11 three-pointers.
Perhaps the happiest guy in the gym was senior Will Gardner, who needed a confidence boost after a couple of sub-par showings the last couple of times out. He missed his first three attempted triples tonight but he kept shooting as the experts tell you to do and the next one went in. He went on to score a team-high 17 points, which included three of those 11 triples. The other two double-digit scorers were J P Crawford with 14 and Henley Dunlap with 11.
Saturday's session begins again at 2:30 with what should be two more competitive JV games. The JVs by the way are not playing for a trophy. Instead their match-ups were pre-set. Rapp Co and Buffalo Gap will play at 2:30 and Riverheads will tangle with Stonewall around 4:00.
BG and Stonewall will then meet in the consolation game at 6:00, which should favor the Bison. Then RHS and RappCo will battle for the championship around 7:30. On paper that one would appear to come down to the Big Red's outside shooting against Deal's inside presence.
