Five different Gladiators combined for 10 three-pointers this afternoon and they needed every one of them to offset a sterling performance by James River's freshman phenom Ryan Steger, not to mention a still-mysterious score-keeping issue. But when the dust settled, the Gladiators left Buffalo Gap's Country Christmas Classic with a win that will officially go in the books as 60-49 although most of us feel that 62-49 is more accurate.
The controversy occurred during the 3rd/4th quarter bridge. The third had ended with RHS on top 48-40 and my scoring totals for the Big Red reflected the 48 points. There was a lengthy discussion between quarters and in the stands we assumed it was about the possession arrow, which was favoring Riverheads. The Gladiators did get the ball and the fourth quarter began, when all of a sudden the scoreboard read 46-40.
As fans discussed it in the stands, JR began a bit of a comeback and had the margin at one point down to 4 points (or was it 6?) making us wonder if we were being set up for a possible rip-off. But the Gladiators kept their poise and salted the win away at the foul line, making it a moot point. I was later told by a parent that the two scorekeepers had been "discussing" something and each one admitted to missing the same Riverheads basket. So even though the clock operator had 48 on the board, their books only showed 46. It is anybody's guess who did not receive credit for the bucket, but for the sake of this discussion the score will be 62-49 doggone it!
However at the beginning of the game, you would have thought there would be little if any doubt about the outcome as the Gladiators came out of the gates smoking. Grant Painter drained two triples in the first minute of action to give RHS a quick 6-0 lead, although it would be well into the second half before he would score again.
But Elijah Dunlap joined the party with two of his own and soon after that, Honor Robinson started to take control of the paint on the way to a (?) career high 19 points. Riverheads led 15-3 at the midway point of the first quarter and appeared to be on the way to a major blowout when Mr. Steger decided enough of this.
He drilled four triples in a row, each one seemingly farther back than the one before and when the quarter ended 19-14, he personally had accounted for 12 of the Knights' 14 points. He drilled two more to open the second quarter as JR took its one and only lead of the game at 20-19, coincidentally the only time Riverheads has trailed this season in any of its three games.
The Gladiators responded to Steger's outburst and pretty much shut him down the rest of the way. Unfortunately the youngster would later have to be carried off the floor in the middle of the final JR rally, leaving his fans to wonder if he might have been able to lead them back to victory if he had stayed in the game. He is sure to be a major weapon for the Knights this season.
With Riverheads on top 39-31 to open the second half, the game appeared headed for a 70-ish finish. But the shooting cooled off for both sides and the defenses took over, with each team scoring only 9 points in the third to set up the scoring confusion.
Although the officials could not be blamed for the scoring problem, they had issues of their own and had fans on both sides howling at times. In one particularly strange case, they all blew their whistles simultaneously on a block/charge call but none of them gave a demonstrative signal, so we did not know which way the call was going until they had a conference and apparently voted 2-1 on the call.
The Gladiators were short-handed today as Adam Painter, who had tied for high-scoring honors in Friday's win over Altavista, was out sick, leaving RHS with only 9 healthy bodies. For the most part they played the game with an all-senior, iron man top five and each either scored in double figures or came close. "My" totals had Robinson with 19, Dunlap with 14 including a team-high four treys, Painter with three triples and a foul shot, Zach Adams with 8 total points and one long-range bomb, and widebody Deacon Moore with 7, which also included a rare hit from behind the arc. The remaining 4 points and the 10th three-pointer came from sophomore guard Ryan Farris, who also had a key steal late in the game.
So the Big Red left Buffalo Gap with a 3-0 record on the season, all three of which have been double-digit wins. Due to their always-elongated football season, the Gladiators will have to hustle to get all their games in and as a result they are home Monday to Luray, followed by road games at Parry McCluer Thursday and Waynesboro Friday.
In a spirited and highly-competitive JV game that was every bit as exciting as the varsity contest, JR rallied from a halftime deficit, built an 8-point lead, and held off the Junior Gladiators 45-39. Riverheads at least got a thrill to end the third quarter when Bennett Dunlap took an inbounds pass with 4 seconds left, calmly dribbled just across half court and let it fly to beat the buzzer, which at the time brought Riverheads to within 4 points. Down the stretch they cut it to 2 on a couple of occasions but could never get the key basket to tie or take the lead. As a result the James River JVs finished 2-0 on the weekend and their varsity 0-2.
I left before the host team Bison took on Altavista in their doubleheader but will try to get back to you later tonight with a report on those two games.
The controversy occurred during the 3rd/4th quarter bridge. The third had ended with RHS on top 48-40 and my scoring totals for the Big Red reflected the 48 points. There was a lengthy discussion between quarters and in the stands we assumed it was about the possession arrow, which was favoring Riverheads. The Gladiators did get the ball and the fourth quarter began, when all of a sudden the scoreboard read 46-40.
As fans discussed it in the stands, JR began a bit of a comeback and had the margin at one point down to 4 points (or was it 6?) making us wonder if we were being set up for a possible rip-off. But the Gladiators kept their poise and salted the win away at the foul line, making it a moot point. I was later told by a parent that the two scorekeepers had been "discussing" something and each one admitted to missing the same Riverheads basket. So even though the clock operator had 48 on the board, their books only showed 46. It is anybody's guess who did not receive credit for the bucket, but for the sake of this discussion the score will be 62-49 doggone it!
However at the beginning of the game, you would have thought there would be little if any doubt about the outcome as the Gladiators came out of the gates smoking. Grant Painter drained two triples in the first minute of action to give RHS a quick 6-0 lead, although it would be well into the second half before he would score again.
But Elijah Dunlap joined the party with two of his own and soon after that, Honor Robinson started to take control of the paint on the way to a (?) career high 19 points. Riverheads led 15-3 at the midway point of the first quarter and appeared to be on the way to a major blowout when Mr. Steger decided enough of this.
He drilled four triples in a row, each one seemingly farther back than the one before and when the quarter ended 19-14, he personally had accounted for 12 of the Knights' 14 points. He drilled two more to open the second quarter as JR took its one and only lead of the game at 20-19, coincidentally the only time Riverheads has trailed this season in any of its three games.
The Gladiators responded to Steger's outburst and pretty much shut him down the rest of the way. Unfortunately the youngster would later have to be carried off the floor in the middle of the final JR rally, leaving his fans to wonder if he might have been able to lead them back to victory if he had stayed in the game. He is sure to be a major weapon for the Knights this season.
With Riverheads on top 39-31 to open the second half, the game appeared headed for a 70-ish finish. But the shooting cooled off for both sides and the defenses took over, with each team scoring only 9 points in the third to set up the scoring confusion.
Although the officials could not be blamed for the scoring problem, they had issues of their own and had fans on both sides howling at times. In one particularly strange case, they all blew their whistles simultaneously on a block/charge call but none of them gave a demonstrative signal, so we did not know which way the call was going until they had a conference and apparently voted 2-1 on the call.
The Gladiators were short-handed today as Adam Painter, who had tied for high-scoring honors in Friday's win over Altavista, was out sick, leaving RHS with only 9 healthy bodies. For the most part they played the game with an all-senior, iron man top five and each either scored in double figures or came close. "My" totals had Robinson with 19, Dunlap with 14 including a team-high four treys, Painter with three triples and a foul shot, Zach Adams with 8 total points and one long-range bomb, and widebody Deacon Moore with 7, which also included a rare hit from behind the arc. The remaining 4 points and the 10th three-pointer came from sophomore guard Ryan Farris, who also had a key steal late in the game.
So the Big Red left Buffalo Gap with a 3-0 record on the season, all three of which have been double-digit wins. Due to their always-elongated football season, the Gladiators will have to hustle to get all their games in and as a result they are home Monday to Luray, followed by road games at Parry McCluer Thursday and Waynesboro Friday.
In a spirited and highly-competitive JV game that was every bit as exciting as the varsity contest, JR rallied from a halftime deficit, built an 8-point lead, and held off the Junior Gladiators 45-39. Riverheads at least got a thrill to end the third quarter when Bennett Dunlap took an inbounds pass with 4 seconds left, calmly dribbled just across half court and let it fly to beat the buzzer, which at the time brought Riverheads to within 4 points. Down the stretch they cut it to 2 on a couple of occasions but could never get the key basket to tie or take the lead. As a result the James River JVs finished 2-0 on the weekend and their varsity 0-2.
I left before the host team Bison took on Altavista in their doubleheader but will try to get back to you later tonight with a report on those two games.
