The James River boys will be the eighth seed when the Class 2A, Region C basketball tournament opens this week.

River will get a home game to open the tournament, hosting ninth seeded Fort Chiswell at 6 p.m. Friday. The tournament includes all 13 Region C teams with the top three getting first round byes. Radford is the top seed, followed by Martinsville and Dan River.

Radford remained undefeated at 23-0 on Monday as the Bobcats eliminated James River from the Three Rivers District tournament, 58-33, at Radford. River trailed just 11-8 after the first quarter but the Bobcats shut out the Knights in the second period to open a 30-8 halftime lead, and it was all down hill from there. Jacob Wagner led River with 10 points while Walker Andrews and Darious Cheatwood had seven each.

“Now we’ll concentrate on the regional,” said River coach Mike Goad. “That’s the most important thing.”

River will take a 14-10 record into the tournament. Last week the Knights finished the regular season strong with back-to-back wins over Carroll County. Last Tuesday at home the Knights beat Carroll 78-54. Cheatwood had 23 points, River Clonch had 13, Wagner had a dozen and Andrews had 11.

A night later, in Hillsville, River swept the series with a 63-46 win. Cheatwood had 18 while Wagner and Andrews had 15 each.

On Friday, River opened the Three Rivers tournament with a 62-37 win over Floyd, as Andrews scored 20 points. Cheatwood had 17 and Wagner had 16.

That set up Monday’s district semifinal against Radford. The Bobcats and Alleghany were scheduled to play in the district championship on Tuesday at Radford.