Lord Botetourt threw a monkey wrench into the Blue Ridge District boys basketball race Tuesday night with a convincing 68-49 win over Northside at the Viking gym.
The Cavalier win left three district teams holding two losses, with another pair still in position to make a move as the stretch run in the regular season begins.
Northside entered Tuesday night’s game alone in first place, but the Vikings must have felt like someone had placed a lid on their basket.
The Vikings saw shot after shot rim out, rattle out and clang off the back of the cylinder as Botetourt slowly mounted a 29-20 halftime lead.
“These nights happen,” Northside head coach Billy Pope noted outside the Viking locker room. “It’s frustrating, We just never could hit the big shot. Once shots start missing, everyone begins to press and you try too hard.”
“We scrambled hard but couldn’t get a strong run going,” Pope added. “It wasn’t from lack of effort.”
Botetourt led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter and 45-30 heading to the final frame. The Vikings closed to within 56-45 with 2:30 left, but the Cavaliers beat the Northside press for a 6-0 run to put things out of reach.
Justin Goode led the Botetourt attack with 22 points, while Thomas Hickman added 18 points and Dustin Hassell chipped in 12 for the Cavs.
Chance Hall was the only Viking scorer to reach double digits, tossing down 12 points for Northside.
“We’re taking it one step at a time,” Botetourt head coach Chad Conner said. “Northside is a very good team. They bring so much pressure for 32 minutes, but tonight we were able to handle it. Shooting the ball well also helps a lot.”
“We were confident tonight,” the Cavs Goode pointed out. “We handled the ball well against their press. A big win for sure- this shakes things up in the district.”
The teams meet again Feb. 5th when the Vikings travel to Daleville.
by Bill Turner
