Fans tonight were basically treated to two games in one as visiting Wilson took early control and built as much as a 27 point first-half lead before Riverheads made an inspired comeback and cut the lead down to 10 before the Hornets closed out a 63-51 win that no doubt left both coaches at least somewhat pleased with their team's effort.
The key to that early surge by the Hornets was an obvious difference in both size and depth. The Hornet roster boasts one 6' 8" player and eight more that stand 6'1" or better, whereas Riverheads has only 1 guy that measures 6'2" and four others that are quoted as either 6'1" or 6 foot even. From those stats you can guess which team was going to control the boards.
In addition to taking advantage of that differential, the Hornets also hit the Big Red with relentless full court pressure for basically the entire game. They were able to two-platoon in order to keep fresh bodies on the floor without losing much effectiveness. Riverheads also played everyone on the roster, but only the starting five dotted the scoring column tonight.
The Hornets' early domination was so evident that the clock was all the way down to 2 1/2 minutes in the second quarter before anyone other than J P Crawford scored for Riverheads. He had eight at that point and finally a couple teammates managed to score before halftime but the Wilson pressure had taken its toll as the visitors raced off to the locker room, feeling secure about their 39-15 lead.
At that point just about everyone in attendance expected the score to get worse before it got better, but to their credit the Big Red came out fired up and the second half was almost a role reversal in terms of applying pressure and working for good shots. The Gladiators went on to score more points in the third period than they had the entire first half and at one point had the lead down to 46-36 late in the third.
Crawford was the main architect of that comeback as my unofficial stats had him scoring 18 of his team-high 26 in the second half. I am reasonably sure that is a career-high for him and it included three triples, although most of his second-half points came on hard drives into the lane. No other Gladiator scored in double figures as the remainder of the starting five (Henley Dunlap, Jackson Brammer, Grady Campbell, and Grayson Ward) each scored between 4 and 8. Unfortunately for the Big Red, they did not have an especially productive night from behind the arc, as Campbell was the only other player to connect on a triple and he only had one of them.
I don't keep score for visiting teams but the Wilson depth seemed so obvious that I would be surprised if any one guy scored more than 10-12 for them. If they had a strong second-half showing, it would have been from sophomore Keyvon Jones. To strike even more fear into the hearts of the rest of the Shenandoah District, the aforementioned 6'8" player, Micah Adams, is only a freshman and another 9th grader, Mason McWhorter, also played a great game. Translation.........this Hornet team is not going away any time soon.
But as already mentioned, the Gladiators are to be commended for not giving up and fighting back. They could have easily folded at halftime and gone on to lose by 40 but Coach Weller no doubt peeled off some wallpaper and got them to understand what needed to change in order to close the gap. Hopefully they can avoid that slow start Friday when they travel to Fort Defiance, a place where they won at the buzzer last year. And since I mentioned Wilson's youth, let's not forget that Riverheads does not have a single senior on this year's team. So for both these squads, their best basketball is likely to be still ahead of them.
Speaking of teams that still have plenty of time left to shine, the Wilson JVs made it a clean sweep tonight, as they won that one 45-24. Unlike the varsity game, Riverheads kept things fairly close in the first half as Wilson did not take a double-digit lead until the third quarter. They were then able to pull away gradually as it seemed like just about every Junior Hornet on the floor could hit the three.
Next up as mentioned is the Fort Defiance trip for the Gladiators on Friday, while Wilson will host Waynesboro for what should be a cakewalk. After that, everyone will most likely spend a quiet weekend watching it snow. As of now, Riverheads has a Monday night trip to Bath County on the schedule, but that one may need to be re-scheduled if the weathermen are accurate.
The key to that early surge by the Hornets was an obvious difference in both size and depth. The Hornet roster boasts one 6' 8" player and eight more that stand 6'1" or better, whereas Riverheads has only 1 guy that measures 6'2" and four others that are quoted as either 6'1" or 6 foot even. From those stats you can guess which team was going to control the boards.
In addition to taking advantage of that differential, the Hornets also hit the Big Red with relentless full court pressure for basically the entire game. They were able to two-platoon in order to keep fresh bodies on the floor without losing much effectiveness. Riverheads also played everyone on the roster, but only the starting five dotted the scoring column tonight.
The Hornets' early domination was so evident that the clock was all the way down to 2 1/2 minutes in the second quarter before anyone other than J P Crawford scored for Riverheads. He had eight at that point and finally a couple teammates managed to score before halftime but the Wilson pressure had taken its toll as the visitors raced off to the locker room, feeling secure about their 39-15 lead.
At that point just about everyone in attendance expected the score to get worse before it got better, but to their credit the Big Red came out fired up and the second half was almost a role reversal in terms of applying pressure and working for good shots. The Gladiators went on to score more points in the third period than they had the entire first half and at one point had the lead down to 46-36 late in the third.
Crawford was the main architect of that comeback as my unofficial stats had him scoring 18 of his team-high 26 in the second half. I am reasonably sure that is a career-high for him and it included three triples, although most of his second-half points came on hard drives into the lane. No other Gladiator scored in double figures as the remainder of the starting five (Henley Dunlap, Jackson Brammer, Grady Campbell, and Grayson Ward) each scored between 4 and 8. Unfortunately for the Big Red, they did not have an especially productive night from behind the arc, as Campbell was the only other player to connect on a triple and he only had one of them.
I don't keep score for visiting teams but the Wilson depth seemed so obvious that I would be surprised if any one guy scored more than 10-12 for them. If they had a strong second-half showing, it would have been from sophomore Keyvon Jones. To strike even more fear into the hearts of the rest of the Shenandoah District, the aforementioned 6'8" player, Micah Adams, is only a freshman and another 9th grader, Mason McWhorter, also played a great game. Translation.........this Hornet team is not going away any time soon.
But as already mentioned, the Gladiators are to be commended for not giving up and fighting back. They could have easily folded at halftime and gone on to lose by 40 but Coach Weller no doubt peeled off some wallpaper and got them to understand what needed to change in order to close the gap. Hopefully they can avoid that slow start Friday when they travel to Fort Defiance, a place where they won at the buzzer last year. And since I mentioned Wilson's youth, let's not forget that Riverheads does not have a single senior on this year's team. So for both these squads, their best basketball is likely to be still ahead of them.
Speaking of teams that still have plenty of time left to shine, the Wilson JVs made it a clean sweep tonight, as they won that one 45-24. Unlike the varsity game, Riverheads kept things fairly close in the first half as Wilson did not take a double-digit lead until the third quarter. They were then able to pull away gradually as it seemed like just about every Junior Hornet on the floor could hit the three.
Next up as mentioned is the Fort Defiance trip for the Gladiators on Friday, while Wilson will host Waynesboro for what should be a cakewalk. After that, everyone will most likely spend a quiet weekend watching it snow. As of now, Riverheads has a Monday night trip to Bath County on the schedule, but that one may need to be re-scheduled if the weathermen are accurate.
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