The Lord Botetourt boys overcame a sluggish first quarter to defeat a short-handed James River basketball team, 74-42, on Wednesday of last week in Springwood. With the win LB swept the county series in this very unusual season.
Due to coronavirus concerns River competed with eight players, and two of them were junior varsity call-ups. Despite that the Knights led 6-4 after the first quarter as LB went 0-for-9 from three-point range.
“James River played really hard and battled tough,” said LB coach Andrew Hart. “Luckily for us, after the first quarter we were able to make a lot of jumpers and create some turnovers.”
Botetourt finished with 15 made threes and scored 51 points in the second half. After the first quarter the Cavaliers were 15-for-25 from behind the arc.
Conner Tilley led the Cavs with 14 points while twins Owen and Nate Prince had 10 each. George Toliver led River with 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting, and he also had 10 rebounds. Jake Braun had a dozen points and 14 rebounds.
“Kudos to LB and good luck to them in their upcoming postseason,” said River coach Ethan Humphries. “They are making Botetourt proud this year.”
The Cavs were back in action Friday at Franklin County, improving to 9-1 with a 61-55 win in Rocky Mount. Tyler Meade had 13 points and seven boards to lead LB, freshman Jackson Crawford had 11 points and Tilley had 10. Botetourt hit 15 of 18 free throws in the win
“We came out a little flat and missed some easy opportunities but we were able to remain steady throughout the game and build a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter,” said Hart. “We stepped up and made our free throws to finish the game. Any time you win on the road, it is a good day.”
The Cavs were scheduled to host Radford on Tuesday, followed by a home game with William Fleming on Thursday. Hart was trying to find another game for Friday but did not have one scheduled as of press time.
Meanwhile, the James River boys continued to battle with a skeleton crew, playing three games in four days. On Friday at Rockbridge the Knights lost 92-69 despite 42 points by Toliver. He made 18 of 26 field goal attempts and was just two points shy of the school record. Braun had 25 points and 17 boards and Heath Andrews had 11 assists. River had 39 field goals on 35 assists for the game.
“Rockbridge was a fun game to play,” said Humphries. “They really pushed the pace and I loved the way we didn’t settle against their press. Guys were sharing the ball all night and that makes for fun basketball.”
A day later the Knights hosted unbeaten Radford and trailed just 22-21 at the half before falling 52-32. Braun led the team with 11 points as River played with just seven against one of the top teams in the state.
“This game will probably go down as one of the best efforts we’ll ever coach,” said Humphries. “We were extremely proud of the way our guys executed. To take on the number one or two team in the state, being shorthanded like we were, and holding it to striking distance until midway through the fourth quarter really shows what can be accomplished when guys play for each other and play within their abilities.
“Guys were playing through injuries and coming off a crazy paced Rockbridge game where they played a ton of minutes. I’m sure they were dog tired but, the only thing that mattered to them was competing at a high level and taking advantage of their opportunity. That’s a game that I’ll remember for a very long time and one of the reasons I love coaching this group,” the coach said.
River, now 2-5, should be back at full strength this week, but the schedule was still to be determined at press time. Monday and Tuesday games were cancelled and the team is at Floyd tonight, but nothing else is set in stone.
“At this point it’s just trying to get games in so the guys can get used to playing together and get in shape,” said Humphries. “It feels like the fifth time it’s been ‘opening week’ for us.”
