As already reported, the Big Red lost at Cumberland 71-61, but for a 1 vs. 8 pairing, it was a mighty competitive game, one that the Gladiators can be proud of. Any time you give your coach as much effort as they did tonight, everybody comes away knowing that they did all they could and gave it their best shot.
This game tonight revolved around Cumberland's sometimes uncanny three-point shooting vs. the incredible inside game of RHS' Joe George, who scored a career high 31 points and kept the Gladiators in the game until the bitter end. The Dukes decided to live and die by the three because they lacked the presence of a true big man inside, and it was clear that they most likely followed that game plan all season.
Some of their shots were NBA range but if I am being honest, they went to the well so often that if Riverheads had in fact managed to catch up and win the game, the Dukes would have had themselves to blame because they kept firing up threes even down to the final seconds when any other team would have been killing the clock. As a result, they gave the Gladiators that many more opportunities to find George down low and he responded with a 10 field goal, 11 foul shot evening.
As for the Gladiators' three-point efforts, they did not hit their first one until the final minute of the third quarter. By the end of that period, the Dukes were up 53-37, and if you have seen as many 16-point third-quarter deficits as I have, then you know that more often than not, they turn into 30-point blowout losses.
Instead the Gladiators caught fire in the fourth, knocked down three more triples, and because of all the opportunities Cumberland was giving them, found George inside that much more often. That all resulted in a 24-point fourth quarter in which they twice cut the lead down to four points.....at 58-54 and again at 60-56.
Based on my own observation and the lack of protests from the crowd, the officiating was decent in this one, but unfortunately there was one controversy, and wouldn't you know it happened right in the middle of that Gladiator comeback. With the score at 58-54, a Cumberland player drove down the lane and took some contact.
A whistle blew and I personally saw one referee signal a block on Riverheads' Andy Fox. However, there must have been some doubt on the part of the other two stripes, because we were treated to about a five-minute conference out on the floor. They finally decided to go with the block call. However a second aspect of the controversy was that it was Fox's fifth foul and the Cumberland fans picked up on that long before anyone else seemed to, and their squawking got Fox out of the game. Finally they knocked down the shots to make it 60-54 but the Gladiators immediately cut it back to four at 60-56. Another Duke triple made it a seven-point lead, only to see RHS stay within striking distance one last time at 63-58.
Cumberland then scored six in a row to open up a double digit lead before RHS Senior Gabe Miller rattled in a three to make it 69-61. His bucket made it the first time this season that the Gladiators scored 60 in a game, so that was another moral victory of sorts.
Other than George's career-high game, sophomore point guard Jaxon Duff added 15, including two triples. Miller finished with six points, Chase Donathan had five, including the remaining RHS triple, and Fox scored four points. Three other Gladiators, two of whom were playing in their final game, hustled their butts off and helped make the game the dogfight it was, but they failed to score.
You don't normally think of a losing effort being your best game of the season, but for my money, that may have been the case tonight. The Gladiators will graduate five seniors, but the well will not be dry because the Big Red had a spunky little JV team this year that cannot WAIT to show their stuff on the varsity stage.
With the win, Cumberland is now 18-3 and I believe they will host Rappahannock County next Wednesday in the regional semi-finals. The winner of that game will advance to next Friday's final at Louisa High School. I hate to burst their bubbles, but there is a certain bunch of Bulldogs, and I don't mean the Brunswick ones, who will most likely be cutting down the regional nets. But giving respect where it is due, the Cumberland/RappCo winner will get a deserved berth in the state tournament just by advancing to that Friday regional final.
And speaking of teams that deserve respect, hats off to both the Riverheads and Stuarts Draft JV girls teams today. As you have hopefully been reading about, the RHS juniors entered today's tournament championship game out at Alleghany with a perfect record, needing just one more game to complete that perfect season. I did not attend that one and have not seen a final score, but I got enough updates to know that the Cougar Cubs upset them and took home the championship trophy. So congrats to both teams. There was also a boys' JV championship game at that same event that I believe was between Staunton and the homestanding Alleghany team. I will check on that one here momentarily and add a footnote to this review.
Next up for Riverheads fans will be Tuesday when they will host Luray in the semi-finals of the 1-B varsity girls tournament. The stakes will be the same as they are for the Cumberland/RappCo boys.......win and you are in the regional final as well as the state tournament...........lose and the season is over. The Lady Gladiators and Bulldogs have not played one another this season but they have some common opponents in Page County and Stonewall Jackson. On paper it looks like a good match-up.
As promised...I see that the Staunton boys JVs finished with a 20-1 record by holding off Alleghany 65-60 earlier today.
This game tonight revolved around Cumberland's sometimes uncanny three-point shooting vs. the incredible inside game of RHS' Joe George, who scored a career high 31 points and kept the Gladiators in the game until the bitter end. The Dukes decided to live and die by the three because they lacked the presence of a true big man inside, and it was clear that they most likely followed that game plan all season.
Some of their shots were NBA range but if I am being honest, they went to the well so often that if Riverheads had in fact managed to catch up and win the game, the Dukes would have had themselves to blame because they kept firing up threes even down to the final seconds when any other team would have been killing the clock. As a result, they gave the Gladiators that many more opportunities to find George down low and he responded with a 10 field goal, 11 foul shot evening.
As for the Gladiators' three-point efforts, they did not hit their first one until the final minute of the third quarter. By the end of that period, the Dukes were up 53-37, and if you have seen as many 16-point third-quarter deficits as I have, then you know that more often than not, they turn into 30-point blowout losses.
Instead the Gladiators caught fire in the fourth, knocked down three more triples, and because of all the opportunities Cumberland was giving them, found George inside that much more often. That all resulted in a 24-point fourth quarter in which they twice cut the lead down to four points.....at 58-54 and again at 60-56.
Based on my own observation and the lack of protests from the crowd, the officiating was decent in this one, but unfortunately there was one controversy, and wouldn't you know it happened right in the middle of that Gladiator comeback. With the score at 58-54, a Cumberland player drove down the lane and took some contact.
A whistle blew and I personally saw one referee signal a block on Riverheads' Andy Fox. However, there must have been some doubt on the part of the other two stripes, because we were treated to about a five-minute conference out on the floor. They finally decided to go with the block call. However a second aspect of the controversy was that it was Fox's fifth foul and the Cumberland fans picked up on that long before anyone else seemed to, and their squawking got Fox out of the game. Finally they knocked down the shots to make it 60-54 but the Gladiators immediately cut it back to four at 60-56. Another Duke triple made it a seven-point lead, only to see RHS stay within striking distance one last time at 63-58.
Cumberland then scored six in a row to open up a double digit lead before RHS Senior Gabe Miller rattled in a three to make it 69-61. His bucket made it the first time this season that the Gladiators scored 60 in a game, so that was another moral victory of sorts.
Other than George's career-high game, sophomore point guard Jaxon Duff added 15, including two triples. Miller finished with six points, Chase Donathan had five, including the remaining RHS triple, and Fox scored four points. Three other Gladiators, two of whom were playing in their final game, hustled their butts off and helped make the game the dogfight it was, but they failed to score.
You don't normally think of a losing effort being your best game of the season, but for my money, that may have been the case tonight. The Gladiators will graduate five seniors, but the well will not be dry because the Big Red had a spunky little JV team this year that cannot WAIT to show their stuff on the varsity stage.
With the win, Cumberland is now 18-3 and I believe they will host Rappahannock County next Wednesday in the regional semi-finals. The winner of that game will advance to next Friday's final at Louisa High School. I hate to burst their bubbles, but there is a certain bunch of Bulldogs, and I don't mean the Brunswick ones, who will most likely be cutting down the regional nets. But giving respect where it is due, the Cumberland/RappCo winner will get a deserved berth in the state tournament just by advancing to that Friday regional final.
And speaking of teams that deserve respect, hats off to both the Riverheads and Stuarts Draft JV girls teams today. As you have hopefully been reading about, the RHS juniors entered today's tournament championship game out at Alleghany with a perfect record, needing just one more game to complete that perfect season. I did not attend that one and have not seen a final score, but I got enough updates to know that the Cougar Cubs upset them and took home the championship trophy. So congrats to both teams. There was also a boys' JV championship game at that same event that I believe was between Staunton and the homestanding Alleghany team. I will check on that one here momentarily and add a footnote to this review.
Next up for Riverheads fans will be Tuesday when they will host Luray in the semi-finals of the 1-B varsity girls tournament. The stakes will be the same as they are for the Cumberland/RappCo boys.......win and you are in the regional final as well as the state tournament...........lose and the season is over. The Lady Gladiators and Bulldogs have not played one another this season but they have some common opponents in Page County and Stonewall Jackson. On paper it looks like a good match-up.
As promised...I see that the Staunton boys JVs finished with a 20-1 record by holding off Alleghany 65-60 earlier today.
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