The top six teams get a first round bye so the Cavaliers won’t play until Tuesday, when they play host to sixth-seeded Bassett. On Monday 10th-seeded Magna Vista will be at seventh-seeded Christiansburg, while eighth-seeded William Byrd will host ninth-seeded Carroll County.
If the favorites win through the first two nights, the Cavaliers will be back at Northside on February 24 to play the second-seeded Vikings, who play the Christiansburg-Magna Vista winner in the second round. The Cavaliers were at Northside for the Blue Ridge District tournament semifinal round on Monday of this week and dropped a 63-43 decision.
LB trailed just 25-22 at the half Monday but the Vikings came out pressing in the second half and opened a 15-point lead by the end of the third period. Northside improved to 20-3 with the win while LB dropped to 15-8.
“Northside played one of their best games of the season,” said LB coach Andrew Hart. “They played hard on defense and shot well on offense. They deserved to win. We didn’t shoot the ball well and had an off-night. It happens in sports.”
Tyler Meade led LB with 12 points, while Ashton Bramblett had 10. The Cavs shot an uncharacteristic 29 percent for behind the three-point line, hitting just eight of 27 attempts.
Botetourt missed out on a chance to grab a share of the BRD regular season title when LB lost to William Fleming in Daleville last Thursday, 69-58. Had the Cavaliers won that game they would have been tied with Fleming and Northside for the regular season championship. Instead, with Fleming’s win, the Colonels are regular season champs with Northside second and LB third. The BRD tournament championship will be decided tonight with a third Northside-Fleming game in Roanoke.
“Fleming brought their ‘A game’ and we couldn’t quite make enough plays to keep up,” said Hart. “We battled and fought but they were just flat out better on this night. Hats off to them for playing with some motivation after we beat them the first game.”
Bramblett had 20 to lead LB, while Jackson Crawford scored 14 points and Conner Tilley had 13 and seven rebounds. Dylan Salvi had six assists for the Cavaliers.
“We will regroup and work hard in practice this week to get ready for our region tournament next week,” said Hart.