There were some odd little things going on in Greenville tonight but when all was said and done, the Staunton Storm did what they have apparently been doing to everyone else in the Shenandoah.........they pressed relentlessly all night to the tune of a 67-28 win, a score that sounds almost identical to last night's win over Waynesboro. From what I have been reading, no one in the district has come within 25 points of them this year, although they have not yet played Stuarts Draft. However, since SD put in an appearance just last night in the same RHS gym and left with "only" an 11 point win, I for one have a strong opinion as to who the better team will be when they play their two games against one another.
The Storm is certainly aptly named as they come at you in rushes and waves and attack from all directions. They have a deep 15 man roster, and each one is cat quick, so if they get in foul trouble, who cares? For example, exactly half the Riverheads points tonight were scored at the foul line. In fact one Gladiator player, J P Crawford, finished the night with 8 points but all were scored from the charity stripe as he went scoreless from the field, despite being the Big Red's most dependable three point shooter.
The Gladiators did get three point baskets from Ethan Mulcahy and Grady Campbell, but for each of them their one triple represented their only points of the night. The only Big Red player who came close to having a productive night offensively was point guard Henley Dunlap, and that was because he sacrificed his body enough to get some tough shots to fall on driving lay ups. He finished with 11 points to lead the Gladiators.
If there was such a thing as an "average" possession for Riverheads tonight, it would consist of trying to bring the ball up court and having it stripped somewhere along the way because of The Storm's quick hands and trapping strategy. They would then take it in for a lay up. In that regard, they are different from the area's other high pressure team, Fort Defiance, as they try to kill you from behind the arc.
Staunton does all of this with a surprising lack of size. I expected to see an aircraft carrier or two, but no one stands more than 6'2", so that might explain why they rely on their quick hands and feet to the extent they do. They are a well-coached and well-oiled machine but there were two instances late in tonight's game, not to mention another in the JV game, that left me less than impressed with their sportsmanship.
First of all with about two minutes left in the game, one of their players delivered a cheap shot to the mid-section (or maybe even lower) of RHS' Joseph George, who has just returned from an injury and was seeing his first action in several weeks. I personally did not see it until he doubled over on the floor, but the protests from the Gladiator coaches over the non-call went on for the duration of the game and left little doubt about what had happened.
Then when Staunton had the final possession of the game with about 20 seconds left and the margin being what it was, instead of dribbling out the clock as most teams would do, one of their guys still fired up a three pointer. It missed but that is not the point.
As for the JV's, one of their guys was hit with a taunting infraction, their second technical of the game. I will get to the first one in minute. Both Staunton teams are impressive and as I have been telling you on here, their program is going to dominate the district for years to come, but they could stand to be a little bit more humble about their talent.
As for the first of the two JV technicals, we had something happen tonight that I have certainly never seen in a game. BOTH games opened with a Riverheads player stepping to the foul line and hitting two free shots before the opening tip. I have seen it happen in just one game of course, but both???
I was told by another fan that the JV call was about dunking in pre-game warm ups. So maybe we can assume that the same occurred prior to the varsity game, which would explain that technical. Whatever the case, it did give RHS a 2-0 lead in each game.
One more quirky detail about the varsity game and then I will tell you about the highly entertaining JV game........in the fourth quarter of the varsity game, the teams combined for a grand total of 3 points. That was because of the running clock being put into play. As a result, Staunton scored only one point and RHS two, and I am pretty sure those also came from the foul line, so we had an entire quarter, albeit a quickly played one, with neither team hitting a basket.
As for the JV game, as mentioned it started off with the two foul shots. That sort of set the tone for that game as the team of lady referees (also a first for me) let it be known from the get go that they were going to run a tight ship. So that game featured a TON of whistles. However I had no problem whatsoever with their consistency.
Staunton eventually won 57-35 but that score was by no means indicative of the closeness of the game. Riverheads led for most of the first half and only a late Staunton surge gave them a four point halftime lead. When they opened up the lead again in the third, Riverheads got back in it and stayed within striking distance.
Staunton still needed a 22-11 fourth quarter to put the game away and the whistles kept coming until the very end, as each team had two guys foul out in the final two minutes of the game. A loss is a loss as they say, but from my viewpoint the Big Red scrapped in this one like I have not seen out of them this year.
So far I have not seen scores from the two girls games played in Staunton tonight. It would be nice to hear that RHS pulled out wins in one or both of those.
There will be no rest for the weary as the Gladiator teams will all battle Wilson Friday, with the girls at home and the boys hitting the road. The Staunton boys will host Buffalo Gap Friday in what should be another runaway win for them.
The Storm is certainly aptly named as they come at you in rushes and waves and attack from all directions. They have a deep 15 man roster, and each one is cat quick, so if they get in foul trouble, who cares? For example, exactly half the Riverheads points tonight were scored at the foul line. In fact one Gladiator player, J P Crawford, finished the night with 8 points but all were scored from the charity stripe as he went scoreless from the field, despite being the Big Red's most dependable three point shooter.
The Gladiators did get three point baskets from Ethan Mulcahy and Grady Campbell, but for each of them their one triple represented their only points of the night. The only Big Red player who came close to having a productive night offensively was point guard Henley Dunlap, and that was because he sacrificed his body enough to get some tough shots to fall on driving lay ups. He finished with 11 points to lead the Gladiators.
If there was such a thing as an "average" possession for Riverheads tonight, it would consist of trying to bring the ball up court and having it stripped somewhere along the way because of The Storm's quick hands and trapping strategy. They would then take it in for a lay up. In that regard, they are different from the area's other high pressure team, Fort Defiance, as they try to kill you from behind the arc.
Staunton does all of this with a surprising lack of size. I expected to see an aircraft carrier or two, but no one stands more than 6'2", so that might explain why they rely on their quick hands and feet to the extent they do. They are a well-coached and well-oiled machine but there were two instances late in tonight's game, not to mention another in the JV game, that left me less than impressed with their sportsmanship.
First of all with about two minutes left in the game, one of their players delivered a cheap shot to the mid-section (or maybe even lower) of RHS' Joseph George, who has just returned from an injury and was seeing his first action in several weeks. I personally did not see it until he doubled over on the floor, but the protests from the Gladiator coaches over the non-call went on for the duration of the game and left little doubt about what had happened.
Then when Staunton had the final possession of the game with about 20 seconds left and the margin being what it was, instead of dribbling out the clock as most teams would do, one of their guys still fired up a three pointer. It missed but that is not the point.
As for the JV's, one of their guys was hit with a taunting infraction, their second technical of the game. I will get to the first one in minute. Both Staunton teams are impressive and as I have been telling you on here, their program is going to dominate the district for years to come, but they could stand to be a little bit more humble about their talent.
As for the first of the two JV technicals, we had something happen tonight that I have certainly never seen in a game. BOTH games opened with a Riverheads player stepping to the foul line and hitting two free shots before the opening tip. I have seen it happen in just one game of course, but both???
I was told by another fan that the JV call was about dunking in pre-game warm ups. So maybe we can assume that the same occurred prior to the varsity game, which would explain that technical. Whatever the case, it did give RHS a 2-0 lead in each game.
One more quirky detail about the varsity game and then I will tell you about the highly entertaining JV game........in the fourth quarter of the varsity game, the teams combined for a grand total of 3 points. That was because of the running clock being put into play. As a result, Staunton scored only one point and RHS two, and I am pretty sure those also came from the foul line, so we had an entire quarter, albeit a quickly played one, with neither team hitting a basket.
As for the JV game, as mentioned it started off with the two foul shots. That sort of set the tone for that game as the team of lady referees (also a first for me) let it be known from the get go that they were going to run a tight ship. So that game featured a TON of whistles. However I had no problem whatsoever with their consistency.
Staunton eventually won 57-35 but that score was by no means indicative of the closeness of the game. Riverheads led for most of the first half and only a late Staunton surge gave them a four point halftime lead. When they opened up the lead again in the third, Riverheads got back in it and stayed within striking distance.
Staunton still needed a 22-11 fourth quarter to put the game away and the whistles kept coming until the very end, as each team had two guys foul out in the final two minutes of the game. A loss is a loss as they say, but from my viewpoint the Big Red scrapped in this one like I have not seen out of them this year.
So far I have not seen scores from the two girls games played in Staunton tonight. It would be nice to hear that RHS pulled out wins in one or both of those.
There will be no rest for the weary as the Gladiator teams will all battle Wilson Friday, with the girls at home and the boys hitting the road. The Staunton boys will host Buffalo Gap Friday in what should be another runaway win for them.
