Riverheads 44 Parry McCluer 35
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
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The boys are really playing well right now. The Defense is the major difference I see. Really great game guys.
Shout out to the girls for their win the other night as well. I really believe the schedule they play will be a major benefit come playoff time.
Shout out to the girls for their win the other night as well. I really believe the schedule they play will be a major benefit come playoff time.
I look for Riverheads and Cumberland to be the 2 teams representing Region B in the state tournament. Same two as last year, if I'm not mistaken. Dont sleep on Carver Academy though. They have a really good player in Jaaber, whose dad won a state title and was also the point guard for Virginia Union when they won the national championship.
Here I am guys. Thanks for your patience. First of all, to clear up any lingering confusion, yes it was the Riverheads BOYS team that knocked off Parry McCluer tonight 44-35. In fact the Riverheads girls are off until Tuesday night.
For me the headline I would promote for this game, and it has been a longggg time coming, would be "Gladiators Finally Beat Cartolaro." The average fan in the gym tonight was of course unaware of this, but the legendary PM coach has had Riverheads' number since early in this century. According to my records, the Big Red was 0-11 against him going into tonight, including a loss in the 2004 state championship game played at the Siegel Center.
For those who still might not be following me, during his tenure at Altavista he beat Riverheads six times in playoff games while John Corbett was coaching the Gladiators. Some of those were close ones but the Red Pride just could not get over the hump. Then since his transfer to PM, he has picked up another five regular season wins over Riverheads, all of which came with Chad Coffey on the Big Red bench. But finally tonight that monkey is off the Gladiators' back and I am sure Coach Coffey is very happy to have been the one to do it.
However, RHS may have paid a price for this victory as senior forward Drew Bond crumpled to the floor during an especially wild third quarter tonight and left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. He later returned to the bench to cheer on his teammates but never returned to action and of course it remains unknown at this point if his season (and therefore his career) at Riverheads may have ended prematurely.
The Big Red essentially won this one in the first two minutes as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never trailed in the contest. Ironically it was Bond who got the party started with a pair of reverse lay-ups, followed by an Elijah Dunlap triple. PM then stroked a couple from behind the arc to make it 7-6 before Dunlap hit another to make it 10-6. Grant Painter, who would factor quite prominently in the game for Riverheads, especially in the fourth quarter, then scored the first of his game-high 19 points as the first quarter ended with a 14-9 lead for the home team.
PM continued to concentrate on the perimeter for its offense, hitting two more triples before finally connecting on their first two-point basket of the game at the 2:43 mark of the second quarter. Riverheads meanwhile was able to maintain its working margin and the teams went to the locker room with the score reading 24-16.
PM scored the first two baskets of the second half to trim the lead to 24-20 and the pessimist in me started whispering to my neighbors "oh boy he is going to do it to us again." But the Gladiators clamped down and scored the next two themselves to move the margin back to 8.
The injury to Bond occurred around the five minute mark and no one sitting in my area saw what happened to him so it is anybody's guess at this point. But the pain was obvious and when he did return to the bench later, he was sporting both ice and a sling.
By the way, someone had mentioned PM's injury situation. Whatever the case, each team only dressed out 9 guys tonight and considering the physicality of the game down the stretch, it is amazing that only one guy fouled out to the best of my knowledge.
Speaking of the physicality, that aspect of the game almost got completely out of hand in the third quarter. Fans are going to be fans and they are not going to like every call, but one call in particular tonight that occurred about 30 seconds before the Bond injury was so blatantly wrong and ridiculous that I will not even bother to describe it because I would not want the ref in question to come on here and gain some satisfaction from reading about himself.
That particular call did go against Riverheads but before the quarter ended (with a 30-24 Riverheads advantage), a few other questionable calls were made, some against each team, before the stripes finally seemed to get their act together in the fourth quarter.
PM clawed its way back to within 32-29 but could never tie or take the lead. A contested Dunlap shot from the lane touched every bit of the rim before dropping in to give RHS some breathing room and from that point on, it was pretty much the Painter show, as mentioned above.
The Gladiators decided late in the game that if they were going to win this one, they needed to have the ball in his hands and the junior team leader responded by leading the delay game to perfection, avoiding costly turnovers, and more importantly, stroking the foul shot opportunities he was given. I had him unofficially going 7 for 8 in that fourth quarter and his final two gave the Gladiators their biggest lead of the night and eventual final score of 44-35.
The non-district win of course does nothing to settle any of the Shenandoah Scramble, but does give RHS a guaranteed winning season at 12-7 with Page coming to town Tuesday night for Senior Night. The Gladiators are still hoping for a home game in the first round of the Shenandoah tournament but whether or not they achieve that, they are a lock to host at least the first game in the Class 1, Region B playoffs.
Tonight's JV game was also a physical, downright-ugly-at-times affair in which the Blues led wire to wire just like Riverheads would do in the varsity game. However, the Gladiators certainly made them work for it as a Bennett Dunlap triple closed the McCluer lead to just one at 31-30 with only 17.4 seconds left in the game. PM then threw the inbounds pass away, giving RHS a golden opportunity to take its first lead of the game and pull out a most improbable win. But the stars did not align for the Big Red as they got a good look at a go-ahead bucket but it rimmed out and the Blues added two foul shots for a 33-30 lead.
However, the drama was still not over as the Gladiators had 7 seconds still to work with. They brought the ball upcourt and although the Blues had only three team fouls, they inexplicably chose not to use any of them and actually gave Dunlap a wide open look at the potentially game-tying triple. It did not fall and the Blues held on for the win. The Gladiator JVs still have two games left, the prelim on Tuesday night and a make-up date for a JV doubleheader against Wilson next Wednesday. If they pull off wins in both of those, that might give them a winning season also, or at least a break-even one.
Two more items of good news for the Big Red about tonight's win......... They proved that they could maintain their poise on back to back nights against a team they might not have necessarily been expected to beat; and they avoided the fatigue factor that sometimes creeps in if you play back to back nights. Each of those factors might bode well moving into the post-season.
For me the headline I would promote for this game, and it has been a longggg time coming, would be "Gladiators Finally Beat Cartolaro." The average fan in the gym tonight was of course unaware of this, but the legendary PM coach has had Riverheads' number since early in this century. According to my records, the Big Red was 0-11 against him going into tonight, including a loss in the 2004 state championship game played at the Siegel Center.
For those who still might not be following me, during his tenure at Altavista he beat Riverheads six times in playoff games while John Corbett was coaching the Gladiators. Some of those were close ones but the Red Pride just could not get over the hump. Then since his transfer to PM, he has picked up another five regular season wins over Riverheads, all of which came with Chad Coffey on the Big Red bench. But finally tonight that monkey is off the Gladiators' back and I am sure Coach Coffey is very happy to have been the one to do it.
However, RHS may have paid a price for this victory as senior forward Drew Bond crumpled to the floor during an especially wild third quarter tonight and left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. He later returned to the bench to cheer on his teammates but never returned to action and of course it remains unknown at this point if his season (and therefore his career) at Riverheads may have ended prematurely.
The Big Red essentially won this one in the first two minutes as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never trailed in the contest. Ironically it was Bond who got the party started with a pair of reverse lay-ups, followed by an Elijah Dunlap triple. PM then stroked a couple from behind the arc to make it 7-6 before Dunlap hit another to make it 10-6. Grant Painter, who would factor quite prominently in the game for Riverheads, especially in the fourth quarter, then scored the first of his game-high 19 points as the first quarter ended with a 14-9 lead for the home team.
PM continued to concentrate on the perimeter for its offense, hitting two more triples before finally connecting on their first two-point basket of the game at the 2:43 mark of the second quarter. Riverheads meanwhile was able to maintain its working margin and the teams went to the locker room with the score reading 24-16.
PM scored the first two baskets of the second half to trim the lead to 24-20 and the pessimist in me started whispering to my neighbors "oh boy he is going to do it to us again." But the Gladiators clamped down and scored the next two themselves to move the margin back to 8.
The injury to Bond occurred around the five minute mark and no one sitting in my area saw what happened to him so it is anybody's guess at this point. But the pain was obvious and when he did return to the bench later, he was sporting both ice and a sling.
By the way, someone had mentioned PM's injury situation. Whatever the case, each team only dressed out 9 guys tonight and considering the physicality of the game down the stretch, it is amazing that only one guy fouled out to the best of my knowledge.
Speaking of the physicality, that aspect of the game almost got completely out of hand in the third quarter. Fans are going to be fans and they are not going to like every call, but one call in particular tonight that occurred about 30 seconds before the Bond injury was so blatantly wrong and ridiculous that I will not even bother to describe it because I would not want the ref in question to come on here and gain some satisfaction from reading about himself.
That particular call did go against Riverheads but before the quarter ended (with a 30-24 Riverheads advantage), a few other questionable calls were made, some against each team, before the stripes finally seemed to get their act together in the fourth quarter.
PM clawed its way back to within 32-29 but could never tie or take the lead. A contested Dunlap shot from the lane touched every bit of the rim before dropping in to give RHS some breathing room and from that point on, it was pretty much the Painter show, as mentioned above.
The Gladiators decided late in the game that if they were going to win this one, they needed to have the ball in his hands and the junior team leader responded by leading the delay game to perfection, avoiding costly turnovers, and more importantly, stroking the foul shot opportunities he was given. I had him unofficially going 7 for 8 in that fourth quarter and his final two gave the Gladiators their biggest lead of the night and eventual final score of 44-35.
The non-district win of course does nothing to settle any of the Shenandoah Scramble, but does give RHS a guaranteed winning season at 12-7 with Page coming to town Tuesday night for Senior Night. The Gladiators are still hoping for a home game in the first round of the Shenandoah tournament but whether or not they achieve that, they are a lock to host at least the first game in the Class 1, Region B playoffs.
Tonight's JV game was also a physical, downright-ugly-at-times affair in which the Blues led wire to wire just like Riverheads would do in the varsity game. However, the Gladiators certainly made them work for it as a Bennett Dunlap triple closed the McCluer lead to just one at 31-30 with only 17.4 seconds left in the game. PM then threw the inbounds pass away, giving RHS a golden opportunity to take its first lead of the game and pull out a most improbable win. But the stars did not align for the Big Red as they got a good look at a go-ahead bucket but it rimmed out and the Blues added two foul shots for a 33-30 lead.
However, the drama was still not over as the Gladiators had 7 seconds still to work with. They brought the ball upcourt and although the Blues had only three team fouls, they inexplicably chose not to use any of them and actually gave Dunlap a wide open look at the potentially game-tying triple. It did not fall and the Blues held on for the win. The Gladiator JVs still have two games left, the prelim on Tuesday night and a make-up date for a JV doubleheader against Wilson next Wednesday. If they pull off wins in both of those, that might give them a winning season also, or at least a break-even one.
Two more items of good news for the Big Red about tonight's win......... They proved that they could maintain their poise on back to back nights against a team they might not have necessarily been expected to beat; and they avoided the fatigue factor that sometimes creeps in if you play back to back nights. Each of those factors might bode well moving into the post-season.
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Congrats to coach Coffey. His kids definitely won the hustle part of the game. PM was sluggish and gave up to many offensive rebounds. I had mentioned about injuries , which did seem to mess up our offensive rhythm. We did have one kid who has been hurt the entire year come back tonight. He didn’t play but hopefully will factor in as the season wraps up. Good luck the rest of the way. Maybe we can meet one more time this year if all goes well for both teams. Time will tell
Riverheads and Cumberland can not both make the state tournament. They would meet in the semifinals as the 2 and 3 seeds. Carver has already clinched the 1 seed and William Campbell is locked into the 4 seed. So, Riverheads and Cumberland are locked into the 2 and 3 seeds, all that's left to be decided there is which one gets the higher seed.
Obviously I haven't seen any seeds or even seen anyone post them. But definitely thanks for the update.
Funny you should ask because there is a discussion going on over at the 2-A board about the same thing. My understanding is that power points determine the pairings for at least some regionals. If you are a 1-A team and your district has a tournament, my understanding is that your tournament has no impact on your standing in your region.
Right now, according to the Shenandoah District website, the Carver Academy boys have the number one seed locked in 1-A, Region B. Going into tonight's games, Riverheads has the two seed and Cumberland is third. However the difference is close and I guess it could change depending on tonight's final regular season results.
As for the girls, the Riverheads girls have the number one seed in Region B all sewn up.
Right now, according to the Shenandoah District website, the Carver Academy boys have the number one seed locked in 1-A, Region B. Going into tonight's games, Riverheads has the two seed and Cumberland is third. However the difference is close and I guess it could change depending on tonight's final regular season results.
As for the girls, the Riverheads girls have the number one seed in Region B all sewn up.
The Lady Gladiators are headed for a one way ticket to meet Surry County. I truly believe a surprise in the East is on the menu. Great Season so far girls.