In the opening game of the Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team suffered a 72-36 home loss to Roanoke Catholic on the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 23, in Lexington.
With the loss, their 10th in a row, the Wildcats fell to 3-13. Roanoke Catholic (9-6) raced to an 8-2 lead, but Bradi Ziegler hit a pair of 3-pointers to help the Wildcats cut it to 13-8 by the end of the first quarter. Ziegler, who scored all 14 of his team-high points in the first half, knocked down two more 3-pointers in the second quarter, but the Celtics forced several Rockbridge turnovers and scored well in transition to extend their lead to 36-16 by halftime.
The Celtics carried the momentum into the second half, going up by as many as 27 points and taking a 50-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
With the game out of reach, both teams got in reserves for the final few minutes. Two reserves that contributed for Rockbridge were Price Lunsford, who scored five points and helped the Wildcats with his rebounding, and Rowe Carter, a 5-foot-2-inch sophomore guard moving up from the junior varsity squad. Carter made all four of his free throw attempts for four points, much to the delight of the students and teachers who got out of class to watch the game.
“It was nice to get a lot of guys in,” said RC head coach Rob Winfield.
Jayden Johnson led the Celtics with 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers, while Yajae Hairston scored 12 points, and Andrew Lewis Jr. chipped in 10.
After the game, Johnson and Hairston were named to the alltournament team, as were Wildcats Ziegler and Lunsford. Also contributing for Rockbridge was Christian Moore with seven points on a pair of 3-pointers and a free throw, all in the second half.
The Celtics knocked down eight 3-pointers, while the Wildcats hit six treys.
It was an off night for Rockbridge junior starting guard Brayden Camden, who was held to two points. “He’s got to play well for us to play well,” said Winfield. “He didn’t play up to his normal standards.”
Assessing the lopsided loss, Winfield saw some potential in his team to improve. “I still think, at times, we’re a good half-court defensive team,” he said. “We’ve got some work to do from a coaching standpoint, a schematic standpoint of working on guarding in transition. We just don’t do a good job.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Buffalo Gap last night. They’ll continue Shenandoah District action at home against Stuarts Draft on Thursday and Wilson Memorial on Friday before playing at Riverheads on Tuesday. All three nights are scheduled to start with junior varsity action at 6 p.m., with the varsity games slated to follow at 7:30.
