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Friday, Jan. 5 – Facing undefeated Spotswood, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team suffered an 83-40 home loss in Valley District action on Friday night in Lexington.
It was the sixth consecutive loss for the shorthanded Wildcats (1-11 overall, 1-3 district), who were missing four players due to illness and injury, while Spotswood improved to 11-0 overall and 5-0 in the district.
Breaking away from a game that was close early on, the Trailblazers knocked down 11 3-pointers and used their defensive press to force 16 RC turnovers, while Spotswood committed eight turnovers.
RC’s Sam Ballstaedt hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the game, which was tied 8-8 before Spotswood went up 13-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Blazers then got going from three-point range, sinking five treys in the second quarter and outscoring RC 25-14 in the period to take a 38-22 lead into halftime.
The Blazers carried the momentum into the third quarter, when they hit another five triples and outscored RC 30-9 to extend their lead to 68-31 going into the fourth quarter. Because the lead was 30 points or more, the teams played with a running clock for the entire fourth quarter, and both teams got in their reserves.
Spotswood’s Cam Pacheco led all players with 21 points, sinking four 3-pointers, while teammate Jackson Li added 17 points, hitting five triples. Tyler Sprague added 16 points for the Blazers, while Ja’Corey Shelton chipped in nine.
Henry Lambert led the Wildcats with 13 points, knocking down three 3-pointers, while Milo Mulitalo added 10 points. Ballstaedt contributed eight points for RC, and Gardner Clement came off the bench to chip in seven.
The Wildcats will continue district action on Tuesday when they play at Turner Ashby, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Friday’s game, please see our Jan. 10 newspaper.
