In tonight's opening round of the Riverheads Tip-Off Tournament, the homestanding Gladiators and the Rappahannock County Panthers picked up victories in almost exactly the same fashion, by ramping up the intensity late in the game and wearing down their opponent with some timely outside shooting. RappCo won the opener 53-39 over James River and RHS defeated Bath County 51-41 in the nightcap. The two winners will now play for the tournament title tomorrow night around 7:00, following the consolation game between Bath and JR, two teams that know each other quite well. That one will tip off at 5:30
The two varsity games will be played in the new gym and at the same time, the Riverheads JVs will play a doubleheader in the old gym, as they will tangle with JR at 5:30 and then turn around and play the RappCo JVs after that. Of course all of this action will follow the big state semi-final football game, which starts at 2:00. Looks like for a December football game, we will get pretty lucky weather-wise with temps in the mid 60s and the rain expected to hold off until after the game is over. Best of luck to the Big Red in that one and safe travels to the Poquoson folks.
In tonight's opener, the Panthers were leading JR by only four points after three quarters, but they exploded in the fourth period, scoring the first 17 points to lead 51-30. JR then came alive and outscored them 9-2 down the stretch but the damage had been done. Most of that damage came from RappCo's team leader, 6'2" senior guard Andrew Deal, who knocked down some key triples and facilitated a number of other baskets.
Meanwhile their 6'9" widebody Nolan Prince impacted the game as well just by his presence. He is not a big time scorer but it was hard for JR to get anything inside when he was in the game and they did not have the outside shooting to match the Panthers. However, the biggest thrill of the night for the JR fans came in the final few minutes when reserve freshman guard Jeremiah Mays, who cannot possibly be more than 5'3", drained a triple almost immediately after entering the game.
The nightcap paired up two teams that conducted a clinic in how to play basketball when you are short.......in this case each team being short on numbers as well as short in stature. The Gladiators had been outnumbered 14-7 Tuesday night at Mountain View, so at least tonight it was more of a fair fight, as Bath only has nine on its roster.
As for size, the Gladiators do have some legitimate 6 footers but none of them are really cut out for post play, so they are all listed as guards. Bath is in a similar situation, as only two of their nine guys are listed as 6 foot or better.
Both teams made up for it with scrappy play as there were bodies on the floor all night, turnovers in large numbers, and the new foul rule was put into play, especially in the third quarter, which saw each team on the double bonus by the midway point of the period. The score had been tied at the end of both the first and second periods and was tied again at 27 when sophomore Joseph George, one of the taller Gladiators, scored his three points in short order, but they were mighty important points as they and gave the Gladiators some momentum and more importantly the lead for good.
First he stepped to the foul line and made one of two. Then he immediately stole the inbounds pass and laid it in to make the score 30-27 late in the quarter. From there the Big Red eased out to a 35-30 lead heading into the final period.
Over the first three quarters, JP Crawford had hit the only triple of the night for the Big Red. But once they turned up the intensity, Henley Dunlap and Grayson Ward each knocked down their first treys of the season. Dunlap would eventually hit another one and finished the night with 9 points, followed by 8 from Ward.
In addition to those triples providing nine crucial points down the stretch, the Gladiators also had some late-game success working the ball inside to Jackson Brammer. He only stands 6'1" and it is not likely that he will always be the Big Red's top inside threat, but posting him up worked well enough tonight against the smaller Chargers for him to score a game-high 16 to pace the home team. He even earned a few chances for an old-fashioned three point play.
For all four teams, the overall caliber of play was a little sloppy but that is to be expected this early in the season. Looking ahead to tomorrow's action, JR looks good enough to handle Bath in the consolation game but for the Big Red to have a shot against RappCo, they will have to find a way to neutralize Prince (remember RHS only has seven players) without fouling out the entire team. Also if Deal has the same game tomorrow that he did tonight, then the Gladiators will need more than the combined four triples they hit to keep pace with him.
Needless to say, it will be a monumental day in Greenville with the huge football game and four basketball games going on. Tune in tomorrow night to see how it all worked out.
The two varsity games will be played in the new gym and at the same time, the Riverheads JVs will play a doubleheader in the old gym, as they will tangle with JR at 5:30 and then turn around and play the RappCo JVs after that. Of course all of this action will follow the big state semi-final football game, which starts at 2:00. Looks like for a December football game, we will get pretty lucky weather-wise with temps in the mid 60s and the rain expected to hold off until after the game is over. Best of luck to the Big Red in that one and safe travels to the Poquoson folks.
In tonight's opener, the Panthers were leading JR by only four points after three quarters, but they exploded in the fourth period, scoring the first 17 points to lead 51-30. JR then came alive and outscored them 9-2 down the stretch but the damage had been done. Most of that damage came from RappCo's team leader, 6'2" senior guard Andrew Deal, who knocked down some key triples and facilitated a number of other baskets.
Meanwhile their 6'9" widebody Nolan Prince impacted the game as well just by his presence. He is not a big time scorer but it was hard for JR to get anything inside when he was in the game and they did not have the outside shooting to match the Panthers. However, the biggest thrill of the night for the JR fans came in the final few minutes when reserve freshman guard Jeremiah Mays, who cannot possibly be more than 5'3", drained a triple almost immediately after entering the game.
The nightcap paired up two teams that conducted a clinic in how to play basketball when you are short.......in this case each team being short on numbers as well as short in stature. The Gladiators had been outnumbered 14-7 Tuesday night at Mountain View, so at least tonight it was more of a fair fight, as Bath only has nine on its roster.
As for size, the Gladiators do have some legitimate 6 footers but none of them are really cut out for post play, so they are all listed as guards. Bath is in a similar situation, as only two of their nine guys are listed as 6 foot or better.
Both teams made up for it with scrappy play as there were bodies on the floor all night, turnovers in large numbers, and the new foul rule was put into play, especially in the third quarter, which saw each team on the double bonus by the midway point of the period. The score had been tied at the end of both the first and second periods and was tied again at 27 when sophomore Joseph George, one of the taller Gladiators, scored his three points in short order, but they were mighty important points as they and gave the Gladiators some momentum and more importantly the lead for good.
First he stepped to the foul line and made one of two. Then he immediately stole the inbounds pass and laid it in to make the score 30-27 late in the quarter. From there the Big Red eased out to a 35-30 lead heading into the final period.
Over the first three quarters, JP Crawford had hit the only triple of the night for the Big Red. But once they turned up the intensity, Henley Dunlap and Grayson Ward each knocked down their first treys of the season. Dunlap would eventually hit another one and finished the night with 9 points, followed by 8 from Ward.
In addition to those triples providing nine crucial points down the stretch, the Gladiators also had some late-game success working the ball inside to Jackson Brammer. He only stands 6'1" and it is not likely that he will always be the Big Red's top inside threat, but posting him up worked well enough tonight against the smaller Chargers for him to score a game-high 16 to pace the home team. He even earned a few chances for an old-fashioned three point play.
For all four teams, the overall caliber of play was a little sloppy but that is to be expected this early in the season. Looking ahead to tomorrow's action, JR looks good enough to handle Bath in the consolation game but for the Big Red to have a shot against RappCo, they will have to find a way to neutralize Prince (remember RHS only has seven players) without fouling out the entire team. Also if Deal has the same game tomorrow that he did tonight, then the Gladiators will need more than the combined four triples they hit to keep pace with him.
Needless to say, it will be a monumental day in Greenville with the huge football game and four basketball games going on. Tune in tomorrow night to see how it all worked out.
