Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt boys will be going into the belly of the beast when they play at Northside in basketball Friday. The host Vikings are in a familiar spot atop the Blue Ridge District standings.
Northside comes into the week at 12-1 overall, having lost a non-district game to Class 4 E.C. Glass, by one point, for their only loss. They’re coming off a 75-40 thumping of the Knights at arch-rival Cave Spring on Monday.
Botetourt was 4-8 overall coming into the week with a home game against Franklin County on Tuesday that was too late for publication. Last week the Cavs opened district play with a 75-70 overtime loss to William Fleming in Roanoke.
“We got behind 11-0 early but responded well throughout the rest of the game against a solid opponent,” said LB coach Josh Aliveto. “The players showed a lot of toughness by fighting back and taking the game to overtime where we eventually ran out of steam.”
Landon Hayes led the Cavs in scoring with 24 points and Conner Dowdy added 13. Carson Edwards filled out the stat sheet with 15 points, 18 rebounds, and six assists.
Last Friday at Alleghany the Cavaliers dropped another close one, 59-55, to the host Cougars in a non-district affair. Hayes was the leading scorer again with 18 points, 12 of which came from behind the 3-point line. Blake Lovern added 13 along with five assists and Edwards had 10 points and seven assists.
“Alleghany was a tough opponent to end a long week,” said Aliveto. “As a team, we showed great resiliency once again but came up short at the end. We are learning how important each possession is against quality opponents and are showing great strides in this area.”
