Rock The Ribbon - Parry McCluer 70 Riverheads 57 - FINAL (Boys)

[pizzzzza]

Parry McCluer holds off Riverheads' comeback
Patrick Hite, phite@newsleader.comPublished 4:48 p.m. ET Jan. 27, 2018

LEXINGTON - The up-and-down season for Riverheads continued Saturday afternoon at Rockbridge County High School.

After a three-game winning streak that followed a three-game losing streak, Riverheads is back on the down, dropping its second straight game Saturday at the Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout. Parry McCluer stopped Riverheads 70-57.

Riverheads is now 7-10 with another nondistrict game set for Monday at Fort Defiance.

The Gladiators fell behind by 18 at the break and were able to trim the Parry McCluer lead to 12 after three and down to six in the fourth quarter.

Riverheads' Zack Adams tries to avoid Parry McCluer's Zach Claytor Saturday in the Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout. (Photo: Patrick Hite/The News Leader)

"We gave a good effort in the second half," Riverheads coach Chad Coffey said. "But if we had given a good effort in the first it might not have been the same ballgame. We didn't execute offensively or defensively."

Coffey didn't think his team was tired, despite a seven-point loss on the road at Luray Friday night.

What is so puzzling is that these two losses on back-to-back nights come just days after Riverheads beat Wilson Memorial by 32 points.

The coach also didn't want to blame the highs and lows of the season on a young team, although Riverheads does have just one senior and has five sophomores on the roster.

Riverheads' Drew Bond puts up a show Saturday in the Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout. (Photo: Patrick Hite/The News Leader)

"It's the game," Coffey said. "It's the nature of the beast we're playing. We came out, we weren't shooting real well. Anybody who knows us knows that, when we're shooting well we're tough to handle. When we're not we can struggle a bit."

Among those sophomores is Braeson Fulton, who led Riverheads Saturday with 23 points, including 18 in the second half. Fulton had four 3-pointers in in those final two quarters as he tried to bring his team back.

Sophomore Grant Painter had 15 points, the only other double-figure scorer for the Red Pride Saturday.

Riverheads got its deficit to six, 53-47, with just over four minutes left in the game, but a 3-pointer by Parry McCluer's Zach Claytor was the "dagger," according to Coffey.

Riverheads Grant Painter drives around a Parry McCluer defender Saturday afternoon at Rockbridge County High School. (Photo: Patrick Hite/The News Leader)

Still, the coach was able to take away some positives from a disappointing loss.

"I thought we got a lot of good things out of it in the second half," Coffey said. "We got it where we wanted it. We talked about one possession at a time. When we were down 19, there's no 19-point shot on the court. You just chip away at it, chip away at it, cut it down one possession at a time. We did that. Our goal was to get it down to four or six with about three minutes to go and we did that."

 

[rhsgrad]

What is puzzling to me is I thought Riverheads won Friday night. Is the news leader story wrong?

 

[beablue]

I thought they won as well

 

[longtimerhsfan]

The above two posters beat me to the punch and chimed in while I was typing this.

First and foremost, I am now officially joining the bandwagon that is openly criticizing the News Leader. So before I do my thing about today's game, allow me to correct the HUGE MISTAKE in the above article. Riverheads most certainly DID NOT LOSE at Luray last night. They won 69-62 and it is very irresponsible for this writer to not know that. He has all these alleged quotes from the Riverheads coach, so how could he have talked to him at all after today's game and still come away with the impression that we lost last night? Something is not right here and I find it very annoying. Anyway, Riverheads' CORRECT record after today's game is 8-9.

That tirade leaves me very little time to tell you about today's game, but in a nutshell, the Blues pulled a fast one on us and showed us a ringer that we had not seen before. His name is Rob McCoy and I am about 95% certain he did not play the first time around. I asked a PM student and he said something about him having been out of town when we played them the first time.

Whatever the case, he was clearly the difference today for the Blues. He dropped in at least three triples in the first quarter as PM took an 18-10 lead. Then as the game progressed, he showed an all-around excellent offensive game and although I don't have any PM totals, I am sure he was the leader for them.

The slow start for Riverheads "might" have been as a result of their having played (AND WON!) last night, so maybe the energy level was not what it could have been. However, they did make a significant comeback effort in the second half and cut an 18-point deficit down to just six. They had possession at least once with a chance to cut it further but just ran out of gas and the Blues were able to salt it away. So if you are a PM fan you might say "we should have won by 20", but if you are Big Red fan, you might think "if we had only made one or two shots at the right time, it could have been a closer game."

Braeson Fulton led RHS' comeback as he canned three triples in the third quarter on the way to a team-high 23 points. I believe that is one point shy of a career high for him. Classmate Grant Painter chipped in with 15 and a third sophomore, Zach Adams, came off the bench and gave the Big Red some serious hustle time to finish as the third leading scorer with 8.

Riverheads will continue its frantic pace to finish the season as they travel to Fort Defiance Monday night and then host RE Lee Tuesday, not to mention two more games before the week is out. There was no JV game today since those teams don't factor in to the Rock the Ribbon event.

In conclusion, kudos to the organizers for greatly enhancing this event this year. They assembled more games with a higher caliber of talent, the crowds were better, the PA guy was better (although I could have done without the UVa spoiler alert....Go Hoos!), and it was just an overall better atmosphere. I am sure this event is here to stay.

I just wish this reporter had not ruined my day with his big gaffe. These kids deserve better.

 

[pizzzzza]

They did win......69-62 over Luray.

I guess just an oversight on the writer.

 

[beablue]

PM's defensive pressure was the best I've seen out of them this season. They contested every pass and shot in the first half. They seemed to be less aggessive the second half though. As for McCoy being a ringer. That was more points than he's had all season combined. He came the week before Christmas and had gone back home to move down here the first time we played. His dad coaches football at Svu. He ended the night with a game high 28. Great effort by the Blues today. Keep it up.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

He definitely made them go today. And you are certainly right about them contesting every pass. They have the quickest, most active hands of any team I have ever seen.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

I owe an apology to this writer. Prior to my post above, I e-mailed him and asked him to make the correction. He wrote back and said that he had gotten his information about the Luray loss from the Shenandoah District website. So I just checked that, and here we are almost 24 hours later, and it STILL shows that Luray won that game last night. So whoever posted that information, YOU are the one who created this misunderstanding. Please make that correction if you are reading this.

 

[HokieTDTech]

Good job Blues !! Keep up the good work !!!

 

[gtownfencecrew]

I owe an apology to this writer. Prior to my post above, I e-mailed him and asked him to make the correction. He wrote back and said that he had gotten his information about the Luray loss from the Shenandoah District website. So I just checked that, and here we are almost 24 hours later, and it STILL shows that Luray won that game last night. So whoever posted that information, YOU are the one who created this misunderstanding. Please make that correction if you are reading this.

Those scores are entered by the ADs 99% of the time. So one of them made the mistake.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

I guess since the score entered was correct (69-62) the mistake that was made involved the difference between entering it as a W as opposed to a L. It has happened before and likely will again. People like me tend to go overboard when they see something they know is not right.

Looks like my team and yours will settle the question of 5th vs. 6th place next week when we travel up there to see you. I don't see either one making a big move either up or down the standings between now and then. I assume that will be Senior Night for you guys and that you will be fired up for us?

 

[gtownfencecrew]

I guess since the score entered was correct (69-62) the mistake that was made involved the difference between entering it as a W as opposed to a L. It has happened before and likely will again. People like me tend to go overboard when they see something they know is not right.

Looks like my team and yours will settle the question of 5th vs. 6th place next week when we travel up there to see you. I don't see either one making a big move either up or down the standings between now and then. I assume that will be Senior Night for you guys and that you will be fired up for us?

It will be Senior Night....now whether we're fired up or not will be the question.