Photo by Jim Devinney
The Lord Botetourt boys will open the Region 3D basketball tournament with a game at Cave Spring next Tuesday, February 20. LB is the fifth seed in the 10-team tournament while Cave Spring is fourth, earning a chance to host the quarterfinal game.
The seventh and eighth seeds in the tournament will host opening round games on Friday of this week. The top six, including the Cavaliers, got a first round bye and will open next Tuesday after the field is pared to eight. The winner of the LB-Cave Spring game would most likely play top-seeded Northside at Virginia Tech in the semifinal round with a berth in the state tournament on the line.
Botetourt comes into the regional with an overall record of 11-12 after dropping their Blue Ridge District tournament opener to Franklin County in Daleville last Friday. The Cavs had beaten the Eagles by 13 and 14 points in their two regular season meetings but Friday the Birds came to play and upset LB, 52-36. Botetourt led 34-31 after three quarters but were outscored 21-2 in the fourth quarter.
“Franklin County played much tougher and harder than they did in our previous matchups. They were eager and ready to get a win, so they deserve a lot of credit for pulling this one out,” said LB coach Andrew Hart. “It was a rough second half, especially the fourth quarter. I thought our guys fought hard and played well on defense for about three and a half quarters.”
Conner Dowdy led LB with 14 points but no one else had more than seven. Carson Edwards had eight rebounds.
“Offensively, we just had an off night and weren’t able to overcome the mistakes that we made,” said Hart. “Hopefully, as the case with all of our setbacks, we can use it as a learning experience. We will be fresh and ready to go for our region tournament matchup.”
