Photo by Leigh Downey
The James River boys basketball team has a couple tough tests to open the New Year. River was scheduled to play at home against Floyd County on Tuesday, then play at Alleghany on Thursday. Both are Three Rivers District games, although Class 3 Alleghany isn’t in the same region with River and Floyd.
“In my opinion, Floyd is the Region 2C favorite and Alleghany is the district favorite,” said River coach Ethan Humphries. “It’ll be a good measuring stick for us this week that we can learn a lot from.”
The Knights come into the new year at 2-7 after dropping a 55-42 game to the host Little Giants at Waynesboro High last Friday. The host Giants led 13-2 after the first quarter and increased the lead to 24-4 before the visiting Knights fought back, cutting the lead to 28-14 at the half. River got as close as 40-33 in the third period but couldn’t catch the Giants.
“We got dominated in the first 12 minutes of the game play and we just don’t have the firepower to come back from a 20-point deficit,” said Humphries. “I thought after the first 12 minutes our guys played with some fight and will, but we just can’t get behind like that.”
Trey Taylor had all but nine of River’s points as he scored 33 to go with six steals. The Knights are hoping to get some others to step up with a tough schedule looming.
“As we head into district play, it’s David versus Goliath every night so if we don’t come with a chip on our shoulders there will be a lot more starts like that,” said Humphries.
