.jpg)
Despite a strong finish to the season, the Rockbridge County High School boys just missed advancing to the Region 3C tournament, finishing 11th place in Region 3C.
Ten teams advanced to the Region 3C tournament, and RC’s Valley District rival Broadway got the 10th spot. In their final game of the season, the Wildcats (11-11 overall, 5-3 district) earned a 59-49 home win over Broadway on Tuesday of last week.
Following an 0-7 start to the season, the Wildcats made an impressive turnaround, winning 11 of their final 15 games, under the direction of second-year head coach Rob Winfield.
Winfield said it was “still a very good year and a great finish” for the Wildcats.
Last year, the Wildcats went 5-17 overall and 1-7 in the district. Early this season, they appeared headed down a similar path, but they started to improve in mid-December when RC athletic director Adam Haynes joined the staff as an assistant coach. Haynes, who was the head boys basketball coach at Bassett High School for six years, contributed his coaching expertise, and the Wildcats also added former head coach Darrell Plogger as an assistant coach.
After a pair of close losses to Staunton and Alleghany in mid-December, the Wildcats earned their first win by beating county rival Parry McCluer 47-41 on Dec. 22 in Lexington. That victory started a six-game winning streak by the Wildcats, only stopped by a 70-50 loss to Valley District champion Spotswood on Jan. 13.
RC defeated every team in the district except Spotswood, and the Wildcats split a pair of games with Broadway, but Broadway finished just ahead of the Wildcats in the Region 3C standings to earn the final playoff spot.
The Wildcats will miss their four seniors: Peyton Jay, Brandon Mays, Andreas Poindexter and Daronde’ Stores.
There was no one dominant player for RC, but Mays had some big scoring nights, highlighted by a career-high 31 points in the Wildcats’ 82-62 home win over Harrisonburg on Jan. 6, when he hit six 3-pointers. Poindexter was a valuable guard on offense and defense, Stores made big defensive plays throughout the season, and Jay got some quality minutes after recovering from an early season ankle injury.
The Wildcats look forward to the return of several promising players, led by juniors Henry Lambert, Milo Mulitalo and Keaton Owsley and freshmen Matthew Burkhart and Lincoln Hundley.
