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The Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team suffered a pair of losses last week, falling 81-48 last Tuesday at Fort Defiance before losing at home 83-40 to Spotswood on Friday. The Wildcats (1-11 overall, 1-3 Valley District) entered this week on a sixgame losing streak.
With the nondistrict win, Fort completed a sweep of the season series. When the teams met on Dec. 6 in Lexington, Fort won 9171. The Indians would improve to 4-6 with a 108-82 win over Riverheads on Friday.
In last Tuesday’s game, the Wildcats struggled against Fort’s talented offense. Gio Armendariz Cruz scored a season-high 22 points to lead the Indians, while Sam Garber added 19 points, hitting five of Fort’s 12 3-pointers. Tripp Hanger added 10 points for Fort, and Carter Fink chipped in eight.
Leading RC was Henry Lambert, scoring 15 points, while Milo Mulitalo added 12 points, Sam Ballsteadt had six points on two of the team’s five 3-pointers, and Ian Johnson chipped in four points.
SHS 83, RC 40
Facing undefeated Spotswood, the Wildcats 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.
Breaking away from a game that was close early on, the Trailblazers (11-0, 5-0) knocked down 11 3-pointers and used their defensive press to force 16 RC turnovers, while Spotswood committed eight turnovers.
“There’s a reason they’ve won so many in a row,” said RC head coach Rob Winfield of the Blazers, who have dominated the Valley District in recent years. “My game plan was to try to kind of back off a little bit, take away the layups, force them to shoot threes. I did a heck of a job of that, because they hit the heck out of the three today.”
Noting he hadn’t seen film of Spotswood hitting a lot of 3-pointers, Winfield said, “You’re watching high school games, you’re limited on tape, you’re limited on stats. I tried to play the percentages and take stuff away from the rim. From what I asked our guys to execute, they did a good job. That’s on coach for a bad game plan.”
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.
Lambert led the Wildcats with 13 points, knocking down three 3-pointers but facing tough defense the whole night, and pulled down four rebounds. “They’re not dumb,” said Winfield of the Blazers. “Everybody worried about Henry is gonna face-guard him, make it tough for him, and make his life miserable. That’s just the reality of it.”
Mulitalo added 10 points and led RC with six rebounds, two steals and one block. Ballstaedt contributed eight points and one steal and took a charge, and Gardner Clement came off the bench to chip in seven points.
Commenting on how his players did against Spotswood’s defensive press, Winfield said, “We’ve still got those young kids who are just getting pressed and pressed, and I thought tonight we did a better job of being in the right spots, but they’re the best pressing team we’ve played.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Turner Ashby last night and will continue district action at home against William Monroe on Friday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, in games rescheduled due to inclement weather, the Wildcats will make the short trip to Buena Vista to take on rival Parry McCluer. The varsity boys’ game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., following the 1 p.m. junior varsity girls’ game, the 2:30 p.m. JV boys’ game and the 4 p.m. varsity girls’ game. RC will then return to district action on Tuesday when they play host to Broadway, starting with JV action at 5:30 p.m.
