Led by a career-high 31 points by Bradi Ziegler, including seven 3-pointers, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team ended a busy week with a 57-45 home win over Shenandoah District rival Buffalo Gap on Friday night in Lexington.
With the victory, the Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak, bouncing back from road losses to Stuarts Draft on Tuesday and to Staunton on Thursday and evened up their overall record to 3-3. It was the first district win for RC, now 1-3 in the district.
Ziegler, a junior guard, started out the game on fire, hitting four 3-pointers in the first quarter and making a layup for 14 points. He cooled down in the second quarter, and the Bison (1-3 overall, 0-3 district) battled back, cutting RC’s lead to 20-15, but a pair of baskets from RC sophomore forward Fisher Newhall and a 3-pointer from Ziegler helped the Wildcats take a 27-19 halftime lead. In the first half, Ziegler scored 17 points, making five treys.
The Wildcats went up by 10 points early in the second half when Brayden Camden hit a pull-up jump shot, but Gap then went on an 8-0 run, forcing four RC turnovers, to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 29-27.
The Bison took their first lead, 32-31, on a layup by Aiden Astarb with 2:26 left in the third quarter. Ziegler came to the rescue again, scoring on a turnaround shot and a jump shut to give the Wildcats a 35-32 lead. Gap then drew a couple of fouls and went up 36-35, but Ziegler made a 3-pointer at end of the quarter to give the Wildcats the lead back, 38-36.
RC opened the fourth quarter with a triple from Ziegler and an inside shot from Newhall to extend its lead to 43-40. Astarb then knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three, but the Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 51-40. Jaxon Johnson fueled the run with a pair of free throws and two inside baskets, one on a nice pass from Ziegler. The Wildcats maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way, converting from the free throw line to finish the game.
Newhall scored a career-high 12 points in his first season for the Wildcats, while Johnson added six points, and Camden chipped in four.
Astarb led the Bison with 19 points, making three 3-pointers, while Brendon Brown, Isaac Goff and Nolan Ward each scored eight points.
RC committed 15 turnovers, while Gap had 16.
The Wildcats will return to action on Monday when they travel to take on nondistrict rival Turner Ashby, starting with the junior varsity game at 2 p.m.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Friday’s game, please see our Dec. 24 newspaper.
