After honoring its four seniors, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team put forth a strong effort against a talented, sharpshooting Fort Defiance team, but the Wildcats suffered an 86-64 home loss on Friday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats (4-17 overall, 2-12 district), playing their fourth game in five days, had a much better showing than in their last meeting with Fort, a 75-22 road loss on Jan. 13.
Before the rematch, the Wildcats recognized seniors Xavier Flowers, Jaxon Johnson, Price Lunsford and Avery McDaniel. All four players started and contributed valuable minutes. Johnson, a fourth-year player, led the seniors with seven points, while Lunsford and McDaniel each chipped in two points, and Flowers provided rebounding and size.
The Indians (11-8, 9-4) went to the 3-point shot early and often, lighting it up for 15 treys in the game, while the Wildcats hit nine triples.
Fort scored its first 12 points on 3-pointers, racing to a 12-5 lead before RC’s Bradi Ziegler hit a triple to cut the lead to 12-8. The Indians maintained a small lead for the rest of the first quarter, taking a 23-17 advantage into the second quarter.
Ziegler cut Fort’s lead to 25-22 by making a layup, and Brenden Staley trimmed it to 26-24 on an inside shot, but the Wildcats would get no closer, as Fort then went on an 11-0 run and took a 41-30 lead into halftime.
Continuing the shoot well from outside and capitalizing on RC turnovers, the Indians controlled the third quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 25-13 to take a 66-43 lead into the fourth quarter.
Fort led by as many as 31 points early in the fourth quarter. With the game out of reach, both games got in their reserves, and the Wildcats’ seniors played much of the final few minutes, much to the delight of their fans. A moment that received a lot of applause was when RC’s Maliq Corbin banked a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the game.
Ziegler led the Wildcats with 21 points, sinking four 3-pointers, while Brayden Camden scored 16 points, making three treys. Also contributing were Christian Moore with nine points and Staley with four.
Leading Fort with 16 points each were Gio Armendariz Cruz and Jasigh Ransome, who hit four 3-pointers. Also scoring in double figures for the Indians were Tripp Hanger with 13 points,, including four triples, and Evan Braun with 11, while Ayden Thorton chipped in nine.
RC committed 22 turnovers, while Fort had 15.
The Wildcats will play their final home game of the season when they face district leader Wilson Memorial (17-2, 11-0) on Saturday. The junior varsity game is scheduled for 1 p.m., with the varsity game slated to follow at 2:30. RC will wrap up the season at district foe Alleghany next Wednesday, starting with JV action at 6 p.m.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Friday’s game and comments from Johnson and RC head coach Rob Winfield, please see our Feb. 18 newspaper.
