.jpg)
Wednesday, Dec. 6 – Despite leading for much of the first half, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team couldn’t stop a sharpshooting Fort Defiance team and suffered a 91-71 home loss on Wednesday night in Lexington.
The first half of the nondistrict contest was a back-and-forth affair, with the Wildcats (0-3) jumping out to a 5-0 lead before the Indians (1-2) came back to take an 18-12 lead. Fort, which hit 18 3-pointers in the game, got its high scoring by using “The Grinnell System,” a strategy intended to produce a fast-paced style of play, with frequent 3-pointers, mass substitutions every 90 seconds and high scores.
RC, coming off a 67-60 road loss to Salem the night before, responded to Fort’s run by going on a 13-2 run to end the first quarter with a 25-20 lead. The Wildcats built their lead to 13 points in the third quarter and took a 49-44 lead into halftime. Leading the Wildcats with 14 of his team-high 17 points was Sam Ballstaedt, who hit four of his five 3-pointers in the first half.
The Indians started the second half by hitting three 3-pointers to go on a 9-0 run and take a 53-49 lead. RC would get the lead back later in the third quarter before Fort sank a triple to take a 60-58 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats went cold in the fourth quarter, and the Indians capitalized on RC turnovers to build their lead to double digits. Also hurting the Wildcats was Sam Garber, who scored 13 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter. Garber punished the Wildcats with seven 3-pointers in the game. At the end of the night, Fort hit free throws to extend the lead to 20 points.
Other than Ballstaedt, RC’s leading scorers Ian Johnson with 14 points, Milo Mulitalo with 13 and Ethen Camden with 11. Henry Lambert and Noah Hamm chipped in six points each. The Wildcats made seven 3-pointers.
Aside from Garber, Fort’s leading scorers were Gio Armendariz Cruz with 12 points, Jasigh Ransome with 10, and Austin Metz with seven.
RC committed 17 turnovers, while Fort had 14.
The Wildcats will continue nondistrict action on Friday when they play at Alleghany, starting with the junior varsity game at 5:30 p.m.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Wednesday’s game, please see our Dec. 13 newspaper.
