Of the four district games played tonight in boys basketball, three of them had at least some degree of surprises in their results. The only game that went totally as expected was Alleghany's win over Rockbridge.
In other action, Fort Defiance squeezed out an overtime win in Staunton, and Wilson had to fight like the dickens to hold off Stuarts Draft 64-62 in what should have been expected to be an easy win. In fact, if they had not won that one, then Stuarts Draft would have gone 4-0 on Wilson's home floor tonight, since the Cougar girls won both their games and the SD boys' JVs knocked off Wilson 59-55.
That results in a tie between the SD and Riverheads JVs for the fourth spot in the tournament that starts Thursday at Alleghany. We can only assume that there was already some sort of tie-breaker procedure in place to determine which one of them will get to go, since there is not enough time to have a tie-breaking game.
In the remaining games of the evening, Riverheads won three out of four over Waynesboro, but in the one that meant the most to Little Giant fans, the boys varsity contest, they grabbed a very early lead to build some confidence and held off several RHS challenges to win 56-46. So that made for a successful Senior Night for the Purple and Gold.
That game could not have started off worse for Riverheads as the Giants won the tip and took it in lighting fast for a lay-up. The guy was fouled on the attempt to put the home team ahead 3-0 just four seconds into the game. Soon after they drained back to back triples to make the score 9-2 with less than two minutes gone.
Riverheads rallied back to within 12-11 by the end of the quarter, and actually took a pair of one-point leads early in the second. But Waynesboro used its quickness and some timely three-point shooting to spurt back out to a 31-19 halftime lead.
The second half featured the teams exchanging scoring flurries. First Waynesboro eased out to its biggest lead of the night at 37-21 but in no time the Gladiators were back to within 41-35. Waynesboro held its composure and the closest RHS got was 51-46 in the final minute before the Giants scored the last five points of the night.
The news was not all bad for Riverheads as there were some details that were worth keeping in perspective. First of all, despite the loss, the Big Red still finished in sixth place in the Shenandoah with a 4-12 district mark, a game ahead of the Giants and Buffalo Gap, each at 3-13, with Rockbridge bringing up the rear at 2-14. Also, since the Gladiators were already locked into the number eight seed for the upcoming Region 1-B playoffs, that does not change either and they will still head to Cumberland Saturday night for a quarterfinal game.
As for tonight's Gladiator scoring, Coach Weller had to be pleased to get three-pointers from five different players in the game. But by far the biggest surprise of the evening was the play of 6'8" reserve center Langdon Doyle. He has played sparingly most of the season but was pressed into extra duty tonight and responded with a career-high 11 points. He is just a junior so tonight's performance should boost his confidence and PT for next season.
In tonight's JV game, the Gladiators were on a mission and it showed. They needed a win tonight and a Stuarts Draft loss to Wilson in order to claim the number four seed for tomorrow's semi-final round of the JV tournament. The Big Red played lights out and blitzed the Little Giants 56-32. However, Stuarts Draft's mildly surprising road win creates a tie for that number four spot. At this late hour, I personally have no idea how that tie will be broken, but even if the Big Red does not get to participate in the tournament, they have had a great season.
They (the Riverheads JVs) got another very pleasant surprise tonight with the return to action of Hunter Campbell. He was injured very early in the season and was presumed to be lost for the year. But he came into tonight's game late, played as well as his teammates, and even knocked down a corner triple to let the fans know that he will be more than ready next year to make up for lost time.
Meanwhile, down at Riverheads, the Lady Gladiators won both games over Waynesboro and in both cases, they will be back in action in very short order. The unbeaten Gladiator JVs will be the number one seed in the girls' tournament and will just need two more wins to finish with a spotless record. They recorded an easy 36-10 win over the Little Giants tonight and it appears that the two will play again tomorrow night in a 1 vs 4 match-up out at Buffalo Gap.
As for the varsity girls, they won tonight 58-39, so next up is their quarterfinal Region 1-B game Friday night, when they as the number 2 seed will host number 7 seed Brunswick. If they win that, they will advance to the regional semis and host again on Tuesday.
In other action, Fort Defiance squeezed out an overtime win in Staunton, and Wilson had to fight like the dickens to hold off Stuarts Draft 64-62 in what should have been expected to be an easy win. In fact, if they had not won that one, then Stuarts Draft would have gone 4-0 on Wilson's home floor tonight, since the Cougar girls won both their games and the SD boys' JVs knocked off Wilson 59-55.
That results in a tie between the SD and Riverheads JVs for the fourth spot in the tournament that starts Thursday at Alleghany. We can only assume that there was already some sort of tie-breaker procedure in place to determine which one of them will get to go, since there is not enough time to have a tie-breaking game.
In the remaining games of the evening, Riverheads won three out of four over Waynesboro, but in the one that meant the most to Little Giant fans, the boys varsity contest, they grabbed a very early lead to build some confidence and held off several RHS challenges to win 56-46. So that made for a successful Senior Night for the Purple and Gold.
That game could not have started off worse for Riverheads as the Giants won the tip and took it in lighting fast for a lay-up. The guy was fouled on the attempt to put the home team ahead 3-0 just four seconds into the game. Soon after they drained back to back triples to make the score 9-2 with less than two minutes gone.
Riverheads rallied back to within 12-11 by the end of the quarter, and actually took a pair of one-point leads early in the second. But Waynesboro used its quickness and some timely three-point shooting to spurt back out to a 31-19 halftime lead.
The second half featured the teams exchanging scoring flurries. First Waynesboro eased out to its biggest lead of the night at 37-21 but in no time the Gladiators were back to within 41-35. Waynesboro held its composure and the closest RHS got was 51-46 in the final minute before the Giants scored the last five points of the night.
The news was not all bad for Riverheads as there were some details that were worth keeping in perspective. First of all, despite the loss, the Big Red still finished in sixth place in the Shenandoah with a 4-12 district mark, a game ahead of the Giants and Buffalo Gap, each at 3-13, with Rockbridge bringing up the rear at 2-14. Also, since the Gladiators were already locked into the number eight seed for the upcoming Region 1-B playoffs, that does not change either and they will still head to Cumberland Saturday night for a quarterfinal game.
As for tonight's Gladiator scoring, Coach Weller had to be pleased to get three-pointers from five different players in the game. But by far the biggest surprise of the evening was the play of 6'8" reserve center Langdon Doyle. He has played sparingly most of the season but was pressed into extra duty tonight and responded with a career-high 11 points. He is just a junior so tonight's performance should boost his confidence and PT for next season.
In tonight's JV game, the Gladiators were on a mission and it showed. They needed a win tonight and a Stuarts Draft loss to Wilson in order to claim the number four seed for tomorrow's semi-final round of the JV tournament. The Big Red played lights out and blitzed the Little Giants 56-32. However, Stuarts Draft's mildly surprising road win creates a tie for that number four spot. At this late hour, I personally have no idea how that tie will be broken, but even if the Big Red does not get to participate in the tournament, they have had a great season.
They (the Riverheads JVs) got another very pleasant surprise tonight with the return to action of Hunter Campbell. He was injured very early in the season and was presumed to be lost for the year. But he came into tonight's game late, played as well as his teammates, and even knocked down a corner triple to let the fans know that he will be more than ready next year to make up for lost time.
Meanwhile, down at Riverheads, the Lady Gladiators won both games over Waynesboro and in both cases, they will be back in action in very short order. The unbeaten Gladiator JVs will be the number one seed in the girls' tournament and will just need two more wins to finish with a spotless record. They recorded an easy 36-10 win over the Little Giants tonight and it appears that the two will play again tomorrow night in a 1 vs 4 match-up out at Buffalo Gap.
As for the varsity girls, they won tonight 58-39, so next up is their quarterfinal Region 1-B game Friday night, when they as the number 2 seed will host number 7 seed Brunswick. If they win that, they will advance to the regional semis and host again on Tuesday.