Photos by Leigh Downey
The James River boys basketball players gave the alumni something to cheer about with a 46-30 win over visiting Craig County last Saturday. It was “Alumni Day” in Springwood and a late run made it a good night for the present and former Knights.
River led this one 17-9 at the half but Craig battled back after intermission to cut the lead to one point, 28-27, in the fourth quarter. At that point Maddox Pichay hit a three-pointer to make it a four-point game, sparking an 18-3 River run to salt the game away.
Ryder Ward led River with 14 points and Mark Voight had a big day with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Kody Park contributed 10 points and six boards.
“Our guys answered the bell,” said River coach Ethan Humphries. “To get beat up on Friday night and turn around hours later to pull out a tight one showed some growth. With a one point game in the fourth and momentum with Craig our guys didn’t fold. I thought our experience from last year started to pay off. Maddox hit a big time shot at the right time and gave us life to finish the game.”
A night prior the Knights visited Radford and dropped a 52-23 decision. The game was close until late in the first half when the Bobcats closed out the half with a 15-2 run to up the score to 29-13 at intermission.
“Contrary to the final score the first 14 game minutes were all ours,” said Humphries. “Of their first 14 points, 12 came from threes by guys who hadn’t hit threes all year. We were doing the right things defensively, and then the last two minutes of the half effectively ended the game.”
Ward, Voight and Jack Beheler led River with six points each. With the back-to-back split River was 6-7 heading into Tuesday’s home game with Patrick County. On Thursday the Knights will be home again to host Glenvar.
