sports@southwesttimes.com
RADFORD – The Radford boy’s basketball team kept their district record unblemished on Wednesday, overcoming a strong performance by Floyd County to take a 66-61 victory at home.
“We were lucky,” said Bobcats coach Rick Cormany. “We dodged a bullet. I’m doing a terrible job right now. I have a very unorganized basketball team. I’m not doing a good job of getting through to them. It’s my fault. I’ve got a team that is not very good right now and it is my fault.”
“I don’t have them organized. I don’t have them executing. I don’t have them disciplined. I’m just not a very good coach right now. I’ve got to find a way to get us better. We haven’t had enough practices to get better. We are playing so many games that we can’t get practices in. I’m just not very good right now. I am taking all the blame.”
The Bobcats (9-5, 6-0) returned a key piece to their lineup. Jerome Alexander played on Wednesday after breaking his arm during practice.
“He’s back, but he can’t do the things he did before,” Cormany said. “It’s good to have him back. He is limited. He played hard and I thought he battled. He is probably the only guy that I thought played all out.”
Through the early minutes of the game, both teams would be tied 6-6. Then, Radford broke free with a 7-0 run, led by William Minter and Dontae Carter. Minter would score five points and Carter added a bucket, giving Radford a 13-7 lead. Floyd (8-7, 4-2) would close the gap minimally before the end of the quarter, as the Bobcats held an 18-14 first quarter lead.
That lead would be erased to begin to the quarter, as Floyd would score on a lay up and two free throws, which tied the game. Radford would follow that up by scoring seven of the next nine points in the quarter, taking a 25-20 lead midway through the second.
Floyd County would pull back to within one point at 25-24 before Radford went on yet another run. Alexander, Palmer, and Dashon Devore all scored in a run that took the lead to 35-26 for Radford. A lay up by Floyd’s Joey Cundiff and a free throw closed the half and cut the Bobcat lead down to 35-29.
The Buffaloes would automatically go to work on that lead to start the third quarter. The team would go on a 13-7 run and tie the game at 42-42 midway through the first quarter. Radford would break away at the end of the quarter though, as Timmy Worles hit two free throws and a lay up, DJ Palmer scored a lay up, and Jerome Alexander hit a free throw. That took the lead to 51-46 heading into the fourth quarter.
Floyd refused to back down though and continued to claw back into the game for a chance to be the spoiler at home. The opening moments of the quarter saw a special moment, as Floyd’s Tucker Crawford broke the 1,000 point mark for his career.
That moment motivated the Buffaloes even more to get the victory. It took them nearly the entire quarter, but they would tie the game at 58-58 with just over two minutes to play, as Chandler Jones would score a fast break lay up. Dontae Carter would answer just seconds later with a fast break score of his own, giving Radford the lead back.
Time was winding down and it would take free throw misses by Radford for the Buffaloes to get a chance at the victory. Worles would make one of two free throws and open the door up with the Radford lead 61-59, but Floyd would not get the score on the following possession.
Jerome Alexander would be sent to the free throw line and once again, make just one of two attempts. Just like the first tries, Floyd would be unsuccessful on trying to tie the contest, as a pass to the left wing went out of bounds. Radford would score two more times – two free throws by Carter and a buzzer beating lay up by Josh Smith – that helped to seal the win.
D.J. Palmer led the Bobcats with 16 points. Dontae Carter scored 14 points, while Jerome Alexander scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had three blocked shots in his return.
Tucker Crawford scored a game-high 19 points for Floyd County. Joey Cundiff scored 15 points, Chandler Jones scored 12 points, and Cole Peters added nine points.
The Bobcats now prepare for a grueling two day home stand on Friday and Saturday, when they face off against district opponent Giles and Virginia’s No. 4 ranked team in Group AA, Cave Spring.
“I think every game we play will be hard because right now we just aren’t very good,” Cormany said. “We aren’t very organized. We aren’t in sync. I’m not even sure we are caring about each other. I’m not sure we aren’t caring about ourselves more than we are caring about the team.”
“This is a major nightmare for me. I can understand when Jerome was out and struggling a little bit, but we had too many breakdowns tonight and too many bad things happened in this game. We did not look very good. That’s a lack of coaching. That’s not a coach that has their team organized. I’m going to take the bullet on this one because I feel like it’s my fault.”
No comments:
Post a Comment