The Gladiators pitched a 12-0 shutout at the home team tonight for the first six minutes of the game and then held on for dear life as they battled against a whole slew of problems to pick up a much-needed 49-42 win over the James River Knights. With the victory RHS is now 2-3 on the season but still making do with only a seven man roster due to the extended football season. I am told that situation may continue into at least one of next week's games as well.
That short-handed situation in fact was more treacherous tonight than usual because one player picked up two quick fouls, another suffered what appeared to be a wrist injury in the second quarter and never even returned to the gym, and still another fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. In that latter situation, there was some additional confusion because the state-of-the-art scoreboard at JR was always running one foul behind what the PA guy would say. So when the player in question, Grayson Ward, fouled out, the scoreboard only read four. But since the Gladiators held on to win, it turned out to be a non-factor.
So as the game ended, if you have followed the story line, The Big Red only had five players left period, and one of those, Gabe Lloyd, had four fouls on him. He was the one who had the two early ones but he miraculously managed to avoid fouling out. So if the game had continued any longer, we could have had one of those weird situations where a team would have to finish a game with fewer than five players. I have heard of it happening around here but never witnessed a game like that.
With so few players available, this one HAS to be called a team effort because even the lower scoring guys quite obviously did their part in the win. But the scoring was led by the Junior Duo of J P Crawford and Henley Dunlap. My unofficial stats had them finishing with 19 each, but the scoreboard had it 20-18 in favor of Crawford.
Interestingly enough they almost took turns controlling the scoring. JP hit a pair of early threes and scored 16 of the Gladiators' 27 first-half points. Dunlap then came on strong in the second half as he hit a crucial triple from the corner, had a nice inside assist to Lloyd, and knocked down half a dozen second half foul shots, as The Knights were pretty slap-happy themselves tonight. I believe either two or or three of their nine-man roster fouled out.
After that early 12-0 spurt, the Gladiators went on to take their biggest lead of the night at 17-3. JR then found the range and scored the next nine to trim it to 17-12. From that point on, the Gladiators managed to lead wire-to-wire, so JR never got over the hump, but you just felt like they might have a run in them. But due to Dunlap's strong second half, the Gladiators were able to hold on.
It was a doubly successful night for the visiting Gladiators as the JV team ran its record to 4-1 with a 43-28 win over the Junior Knights. RHS actually trailed after one, but scored the first 13 points of the second quarter to take control. JR staged a mini-rally down the stretch and cut it to four at 32-28, but Riverheads closed out the game on an 11-0 run. They too are getting the job done with just a seven-man roster.
Next up for Gladiator fans is of course the big football game tomorrow morning at Salem. Sounds like the weather will be awesome for that. The basketball team then returns home Tuesday for a re-match against Central, followed by a road trip Thursday to Rappahannock County. The Big Red will have their hands full in both of those, but hopefully those games will help toughen them up for district play, which is right around the corner.
That short-handed situation in fact was more treacherous tonight than usual because one player picked up two quick fouls, another suffered what appeared to be a wrist injury in the second quarter and never even returned to the gym, and still another fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. In that latter situation, there was some additional confusion because the state-of-the-art scoreboard at JR was always running one foul behind what the PA guy would say. So when the player in question, Grayson Ward, fouled out, the scoreboard only read four. But since the Gladiators held on to win, it turned out to be a non-factor.
So as the game ended, if you have followed the story line, The Big Red only had five players left period, and one of those, Gabe Lloyd, had four fouls on him. He was the one who had the two early ones but he miraculously managed to avoid fouling out. So if the game had continued any longer, we could have had one of those weird situations where a team would have to finish a game with fewer than five players. I have heard of it happening around here but never witnessed a game like that.
With so few players available, this one HAS to be called a team effort because even the lower scoring guys quite obviously did their part in the win. But the scoring was led by the Junior Duo of J P Crawford and Henley Dunlap. My unofficial stats had them finishing with 19 each, but the scoreboard had it 20-18 in favor of Crawford.
Interestingly enough they almost took turns controlling the scoring. JP hit a pair of early threes and scored 16 of the Gladiators' 27 first-half points. Dunlap then came on strong in the second half as he hit a crucial triple from the corner, had a nice inside assist to Lloyd, and knocked down half a dozen second half foul shots, as The Knights were pretty slap-happy themselves tonight. I believe either two or or three of their nine-man roster fouled out.
After that early 12-0 spurt, the Gladiators went on to take their biggest lead of the night at 17-3. JR then found the range and scored the next nine to trim it to 17-12. From that point on, the Gladiators managed to lead wire-to-wire, so JR never got over the hump, but you just felt like they might have a run in them. But due to Dunlap's strong second half, the Gladiators were able to hold on.
It was a doubly successful night for the visiting Gladiators as the JV team ran its record to 4-1 with a 43-28 win over the Junior Knights. RHS actually trailed after one, but scored the first 13 points of the second quarter to take control. JR staged a mini-rally down the stretch and cut it to four at 32-28, but Riverheads closed out the game on an 11-0 run. They too are getting the job done with just a seven-man roster.
Next up for Gladiator fans is of course the big football game tomorrow morning at Salem. Sounds like the weather will be awesome for that. The basketball team then returns home Tuesday for a re-match against Central, followed by a road trip Thursday to Rappahannock County. The Big Red will have their hands full in both of those, but hopefully those games will help toughen them up for district play, which is right around the corner.
