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Struggling with rebounding and taking care of the ball, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team suffered a 63-43 home loss to Valley District rival Harrisonburg on Friday night in Lexington.
With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 0-3 in the district, and they would end the week at 1-10 overall after a 48-43 loss at Parry McCluer on Saturday night. (See separate story.)
On Friday, the Wildcats, who were coming off a 72-68 home loss to PM a week earlier, kept the game close early, trailing 11-8 after the first quarter.
RC cut the lead to 11-10 when Bradi Ziegler made an inside basket at the start of the second quarter, but the Blue Streaks (1-7 overall, 1-2 district) responded by going on an 11-0 run to extend their lead to 2310, getting second-chance shots by grabbing offensive rebounds. RC’s Gardner Clement made three inside baskets to cut Harrisonburg’s lead to 23-16, but the Blue Streaks made two inside shots to take a 27-16 lead into halftime.
To start the second half, an inside shot from Ziegler and a 3-pointer from Sam Ballstaedt trimmed Harrisonburg’s lead to 27-21, but the Blue Streaks answered to build a 16-point lead, going up 39-23 with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. The Wildcats scored six straight points to cut the deficit to 11, 39-39. heading into the fourth quarter.
It was all Harrisonburg in the final frame, as the Blue Streaks went on a 10-0 run in the first three minutes to extend their lead to 49-28, capitalizing on six Wildcat turnovers. The Blue Streaks stayed comfortably ahead for the rest of the game, outscoring RC 24-4 in the quarter.
The Wildcats committed 21 turnovers, while the Blue Streaks had nine, and Harrisonburg pulled down 27 rebounds, while RC grabbed 19 boards.
On the struggles with turnovers and rebounds, RC head coach Rob Winfield said, “That’s just a reflection on me because, obviously, I didn’t have them prepared to play. I didn’t have us ready to go. You look back, you look at a million different things that you could’ve done differently, from a coaching standpoint.”
Harrisonburg’s Yandel Robles led all players with 21 points, with Lazaro Valdivia and Merhowe Gebrenegus each scoring 14 points for the Blue Streaks.
Ballstaedt led the Wildcats with 11 points, making three 3-pointers, while Clement scored 10 points and pulled down five rebounds. Ziegler added nine points, three rebounds and a steal for RC, while Clay Irvine chipped in seven points and two boards. Brayden Camden led RC with five rebounds to go along with one point and a steal, and took a charge. Noah Hamm chipped in three points and two rebounds, Brady Edwards scored two points, Ethen Camden grabbed two rebounds, and Christian Moore had a rebound and a steal.
RC hit six 3-pointers, while Harrisonburg made three triples. The Wildcats will continue district action at Spotswood on Friday before playing host to Turner Ashby on Tuesday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. on both nights.
