It was Senior Night at Nelson tonight and the crowd was more than ready for a home team victory. But the Gladiators did not oblige as they won their second straight Senior Night game after winning their own against Wilson just last night.
I am actually not sure of the final score. When we left the gym, the scoreboard read 55-40, and that same score has already been reported on the News Leader website. But when I got home and totaled my points, I only had 53 for the Big Red. Yet my totals for the three leading scorers (Hostetler and Painter each with 13, and Fulton with 12) match what the paper has. The action was fast and furious over the final minute so I could easily have missed a bucket by someone else.
At any rate, to be fair to Nelson the final score does not reflect the true closeness of the game, as RHS led only 43-38 with about two minutes left, before the freshmen duo of Fulton and Painter stole a few passes and took them in for lay-ups, sometimes getting fouled, and all of that action padded the score in the closing moments.
The first few minutes of the game looked anything but close as Hostetler came out firing from the get go. He found the left corner to his liking and dropped in a triple within the first 20 seconds and moments later, hit again from the same spot. Not too long after that, he decided to try the other corner and found that it worked just as well and at one point the score was Hostetler 9, Nelson 2.
The Governors however settled down and got into the game in the second period. Riverheads had stretched a 13-10 first quarter lead out to a 19-12 advantage, but the home team scored eight in a row to take their first lead of the game at 20-19. Each team then added a foul shot to send Nelson to the locker room ahead 21-20 and possibly sensing the upset.
Riverheads scored first in the third to move ahead by one, but the rest of the quarter was a seesaw affair. Nelson took its largest lead of the game at 33-30, but RHS retaliated with Hostetler's fourth triple of the game to tie the score and a Painter triple put the Big Red ahead 36-33. Nelson then got a closing basket as the teams went to the sidelines with RHS clinging to a 36-35 lead and the issue still very much in doubt.
Nelson had already hit a few clutch threes of their own to match the five that Riverheads hit, and they stroked one more to open the fourth quarter and take the lead one final time at 38-36. But the game was all Big Red after that, as they held the Governors to only two more points for the rest of the game.
Stepping up the defensive intensity was definitely the key to the win, as the Gladiators used their quickness to force turnovers and take them in for lay-ups. Down the stretch, they got calls for an intentional foul and a traditional three-point play as the points came in bunches toward the end. So take your pick......it was either 53-40 or 55-40, and if the latter is correct, then I shorted somebody two points in my notes.
The Big Red travels to Stonewall Friday, with a chance to finish 7-7 in district play and 10-10 overall, and possibly nail down the number two seed for the Conference 44 playoffs. Some sources claim they already have enough points to earn the first round bye and host a semi-final, but I will leave that question to the folks whose job it is to figure that stuff out.
Speaking of "figuring out things," the JV game tonight was a real head-scratcher. The Gladiators were cruising along with a 22-12 lead midway through the second quarter when the bottom fell COMPLETELY out. Their shots stopped falling, they suffered a bad case of turnover-itis, and Nelson scored 17 points in a row before the Big Red finally got another shot to drop late in the third stanza.
But it was too little too late as the Junior Governors were not about to relinquish that momentum. They went on to post a 42-28 win, as Riverheads scored only 6 points the entire second half. The Gladiators had won the first match-up 47-30.
I am actually not sure of the final score. When we left the gym, the scoreboard read 55-40, and that same score has already been reported on the News Leader website. But when I got home and totaled my points, I only had 53 for the Big Red. Yet my totals for the three leading scorers (Hostetler and Painter each with 13, and Fulton with 12) match what the paper has. The action was fast and furious over the final minute so I could easily have missed a bucket by someone else.
At any rate, to be fair to Nelson the final score does not reflect the true closeness of the game, as RHS led only 43-38 with about two minutes left, before the freshmen duo of Fulton and Painter stole a few passes and took them in for lay-ups, sometimes getting fouled, and all of that action padded the score in the closing moments.
The first few minutes of the game looked anything but close as Hostetler came out firing from the get go. He found the left corner to his liking and dropped in a triple within the first 20 seconds and moments later, hit again from the same spot. Not too long after that, he decided to try the other corner and found that it worked just as well and at one point the score was Hostetler 9, Nelson 2.
The Governors however settled down and got into the game in the second period. Riverheads had stretched a 13-10 first quarter lead out to a 19-12 advantage, but the home team scored eight in a row to take their first lead of the game at 20-19. Each team then added a foul shot to send Nelson to the locker room ahead 21-20 and possibly sensing the upset.
Riverheads scored first in the third to move ahead by one, but the rest of the quarter was a seesaw affair. Nelson took its largest lead of the game at 33-30, but RHS retaliated with Hostetler's fourth triple of the game to tie the score and a Painter triple put the Big Red ahead 36-33. Nelson then got a closing basket as the teams went to the sidelines with RHS clinging to a 36-35 lead and the issue still very much in doubt.
Nelson had already hit a few clutch threes of their own to match the five that Riverheads hit, and they stroked one more to open the fourth quarter and take the lead one final time at 38-36. But the game was all Big Red after that, as they held the Governors to only two more points for the rest of the game.
Stepping up the defensive intensity was definitely the key to the win, as the Gladiators used their quickness to force turnovers and take them in for lay-ups. Down the stretch, they got calls for an intentional foul and a traditional three-point play as the points came in bunches toward the end. So take your pick......it was either 53-40 or 55-40, and if the latter is correct, then I shorted somebody two points in my notes.
The Big Red travels to Stonewall Friday, with a chance to finish 7-7 in district play and 10-10 overall, and possibly nail down the number two seed for the Conference 44 playoffs. Some sources claim they already have enough points to earn the first round bye and host a semi-final, but I will leave that question to the folks whose job it is to figure that stuff out.
Speaking of "figuring out things," the JV game tonight was a real head-scratcher. The Gladiators were cruising along with a 22-12 lead midway through the second quarter when the bottom fell COMPLETELY out. Their shots stopped falling, they suffered a bad case of turnover-itis, and Nelson scored 17 points in a row before the Big Red finally got another shot to drop late in the third stanza.
But it was too little too late as the Junior Governors were not about to relinquish that momentum. They went on to post a 42-28 win, as Riverheads scored only 6 points the entire second half. The Gladiators had won the first match-up 47-30.
