Coming into the James River District championship, the Goochland boys basketball team had a lot of momentum with 10 straight wins dating back to a January 12th victory over Amelia County. Monday’s meeting served as a rubber match between the two. While the Bulldogs got off to a decent start and hung in when the Raiders got hot in the second quarter, there was no miracle cure in the second half. With Amelia’s offense hitting every shot in sight, Goochland never really had a chance from the third quarter until the end, with the Raiders rolling to a 68-51 win.
“We had to keep them off the boards, they’re such a good rebounding team,” said Amelia coach Kevin Rathers. “It seemed like they dared us to shoot the ball from outside and so I told the guys to do it. The guys responded and hit a lot of them and it helped us out a lot.”
Goochland started things with a 7-4 lead as both teams ran their offenses slowly but surely and the Bulldogs capitalized on their height advantage. But, what the Raiders lack in height, they more than make up for with speed. Amelia started knocking down three pointers and then attacking the basket shortly there afterwards to take a 12-11 advantage late in the first. That was the middle of what became a 17-6 run for the Raiders as they went up 21-13 early in the second quarter.
“They did a fantastic job knocking down shots so you have to give credit where it’s due — they put the ball in the hole,” said Bulldogs coach Preston Gordon. “We also gave them too many open looks though. This is one of the worst defensive basketball games we’ve played all season, but we talked about it and this is something we can fix. Rebounding, not getting beat in transition and one of our other principles — where are we forcing the ball. All of that is fixable. We’re capable.”
Goochland closed the gap to within two possessions at 25-20, but it would be as close as they’d get the rest of the way forward. Amelia finished the half with a quick run to head into the third quarter up 33-24 as Eric Medley led the way with a 10-point effort in the second. And with a 7-0 run to open things up out of the break with Jared Baker getting warm, it was suddenly 40-24 with little wiggle room going forward as Amelia continued to finish at the basket and bury the bulk of its shots from beyond the arc.
As it turned out, the Bulldogs had one final push in them to get the deficit down to 44-34 late in the third, but it was all Raiders after they called a timeout and closed out the fourth quarter.
“It’s upsetting but we’ve still got a game, and hopefully games left,” Gordon said. “From here on it’s must win. We have to come back focused in practice and get back to the basics that got us here.”
Medley led all scorers with 16 points. Bake was close behind with 15 of his own. Brendon Stanford had 11 points.
For the Bulldogs, Jack Twombly had a team high with 15 points while Deion Harwood finished with 13 led by his trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter.
Goochland will host Brunswick in the Quad River Tournament (Conference 34) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
