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The Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team suffered a 79-44 home loss to new Valley District rival Rocktown on Thursday night in Lexington.
In a game between two teams that were meeting for the first time, Rocktown (5-8 overall, 2-3 district), a new school formed last year when Harrisonburg split into two schools, used its athleticism to build up an 11-3 lead midway through the first quarter. The Wildcats, who fell to 1-14 overall and 0-7 in the district after their seventh consecutive loss, then went on a 7-0 run. The scoring run started when Noah Hamm hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 11-10. Rocktown responded with a 7-1 run to end the quarter with an 18-11 lead.
In the second quarter, the Raptors hit three 3-pointers and gradually built up a 44-24 halftime lead.
Rocktown carried the momentum into the third quarter, capitalizing on RC turnovers and increasing its lead to 66-30 by the end of the third quarter.
Since the lead was 30 points or more, the teams played the entire fourth quarter with a running clock.
Ayden Groden led Rocktown with 28 points, scoring 18 points in the second half, while Keyton Benton added 15 points, and Jayden Robinson chipped in 12.
Bradi Ziegler led the Wildcats with 14 points, making four 3-pointers. Scoring six points each for the Wildcats were Hamm, Luke Eversole, Sam Ballstaedt and Gardner Clement. Clay Irvine chipped in four points, led RC with three steals, and grabbed three rebounds. Jaxon Johnson chipped in two points, while Christian Moore had three rebounds and one steal.
The Wildcats hit eighth 3-pointers, while the Raptors made five. RC committed 15 turnovers to Rocktown’s 12.
Reviewing the game, RC head coach Rob Winfield said, “It comes back on the coach. Obviously, we weren’t prepared to play. I didn’t do a good job getting them ready to play. We weren’t ready for their athleticism, their physicality, their effort.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Harrisonburg last night. On Thursday, in a game rescheduled from Tuesday of last week due to extremely cold temperatures, the Wildcats will continue district action at Broadway, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. They’ll have a rematch at Rocktown on Friday, beginning with the JV game at 6 p.m., before playing host to Spotswood on Tuesday, starting with JV action at 5:30 p.m.
