It was a different, closer encounter than the first go-around between James River District archrivals Buckingham County and Goochland on Monday night. The Bulldogs came out firing from outside to start, but it was the Knights outside shooting early in the fourth quarter that wound up hurting the most. Thanks a balanced offensive performance with the five players scoring eight or more, the Knights were able to hold off a late Goochland surge in the fourth to pick up a 66-58 win on the road and season sweep of the Bulldogs.
“Goochland always does a good job, they’re well coached, so I was proud of our guys for hanging in there,” said Buckingham coach Russ Gowain. “We had a big lead that they whittled down to five to make things a bit interesting but our kids stayed with it. It was a huge win for us as all the teams are trying to posture ourselves for Conference play coming up, Conference 35 for us and Conference 34 for them. Everyone is looking to build momentum here at the end and any time you can win on the road in this district and against a big rival you’re happy.”
The start of the last three quarters were all the strengths for Buckingham. The Knights entered the second half with a 31-26 lead and were quickly up 40-28 with a 9-2 run fueled by Tariq Gough and B.J. Gough. However, late in the third quarter the Bulldogs were able to pull within five points of the lead as B.J. Snead led the way. The Knights went into the fourth up seven and doubled it with Michael Allen and Leon Ragland converting on back-to-back possessions to make it 55-41.
“We did a lot of passing tonight,” said Tariq Gough. “We passed the ball, shared it a lot at the top. We want to feed the big men when we can, but it starts with sharing the ball at the top and trying to penetrate off of that.”
The Bulldogs made it interesting after a few Knights turnovers and a pair of 3-pointers from Deion Hardwood. Goochland was able to get to within seven with over a minute to go, but could not get a pair of looks inside to fall. From there, the Knights put the game away at the free throw line where they went 12-for-15 in the fourth with Tariq Gough leading the way with his 5-for-6 showing.
“Our three guards all had 15 points and hit a lot of free throws,” Gowain said. “We’ve struggled with free throws at times this year, sometimes missing quite a few but tonight we hit them and some really big ones there in the fourth. We needed them all tonight.”
The Knights never trailed after the first few minutes of the second quarter, but the Bulldogs held the lead up until that point. With Sneed, Harwood and Josh Chandler combined for four 3-pointers in the first quarter, the Bulldogs were up 15-13.
“We were 4-for-7 from three in the first half and just weren’t as good in the second half, couldn’t get the shots to fall,” said Goochland coach Preston Gordon.
The Knights took the lead to start the second though with Brycen Newby leading a 6-0 run to make it 19-15.
“The plan is always to attack the basket, try and get the and-1,” Tariq Gough said.
Three different Buckingham players finished with 15 points including Ragland, Tariq Gough and B.J. Gough. Allen and Terrence Tyree both had eight points. Ragland led the way with eight rebound. Both Newby and Michael Mabry had three blocks.
For Goochland, Snead poured in a game 30 points. Harwood finished with 14 points. Chandler chipped in nine.
“He puts the whole team on his shoulders,” Gordon said of Snead. “Sometimes he doesn’t have to do that because we have guys making shots. However, in the second half, we didn’t have enough other guys hitting shots, not like in the first half.”
The Bulldogs host Central Lunenburg tonight for their senior night at 7 p.m.. It will also be a “Purple Out” at Goochland as they look to raise money for cancer research. The Knights travel to Amelia County tonight, also at 7 p.m.
