Sluggish Veterans falls to hot-shooting Riverdale
For the first quarter, Veterans led despite being a step slow on both sides of the court. That caught up to the Warhawks soon enough.
Riverdale turned a two-point deficit after one quarter to a seven-point lead in the first three minutes of the second quarter and maintained control for a 74-65 win in a GHSA Class 5A boys playoff game Saturday.
The Raiders had a quality afternoon shooting, with eight 3-pointers, and took advantage of sloppy ball-handling to get the road win. They converted four second-quarter turnovers into points en route to a 39-31 halftime lead. The margin grew to 14 three minutes into the third quarter, but Veterans rallied behind Craig Luckey and Josh Linder to get within 51-46 with 2:26 left in the third.
A backbreaker, and tone-setter, came at the end of the third quarter after a Veterans turnover with 2.8 seconds left. Johnathan Foster, who buried the Warhawks with 28 points, caught the inbounds pass in the left corner, pump-faked a defender into the air and past him, and swished a jumper for a 58-50 lead entering the fourth.
Veterans trailed by six with six minutes left, and was down by 14 less than four minutes later. The 6-foot-9 Linder had 30 points for Veterans, which ended its season at 11-14.
Two who mattered
Linder: The lanky senior didn’t get an abundance of touches but still had yet another 30-point game. He had three blocks and 11 rebounds.
Foster: The smooth guard was solid all game but made six straight free throws in a minute span in the fourth quarter as the Raiders kept solid control. He had two 3-pointers and was 10-of-12 from the line, to go with four steals.
Turning point
The Warhawks struggled to cover shooters all afternoon, yet led after one. They let a chance to get some momentum slip away with five empty possessions on their first six in the second quarter, while the Raiders scored on three straight trips. Riverdale went on a 13-2 run and was in charge.
Observations
A sluggish day: Riverdale may have had the afternoon ride from just south of Hartsfield-Jackson International, about 100 miles, but the Raiders were fresher and faster all game long. More often than not, their perimeter shots were fairly uncontested, and they beat the Warhawks down the court on one end and slowed any fast-break attempts on the other.
Same story: One problem Veterans has faced all season is a scoring imbalance. It usually has been Linder and another teammate, the Warhawks unable to regularly mount game with three or four players in double figures. This time, Linder had 46.2 percent of his team’s points, Rodney James adding 10.
They said it
Brooks on the Warhawks’ energy: “It wasn’t there the entire game. It showed in spurts. We didn’t compete, we didn’t hustle. We had a couple guys giving great effort, and a couple guys … tired. I don’t want to say tired, just wasn’t giving as much effort as I know they can give. That’s the main thing, hustle and effort.”
Brooks on the Warhawks’ perimeter defense: “You hit two threes, you wouldn’t expect to leave this guy wide open, after we’d tell them, ‘Don’t leave this guy,’ You put them on a guy, and still, the guy … I don’t know. It’s a lot of things.”
Brooks on the tempo keeping Veterans alive: “The pace allowed for it, but you’ve got to get stops. That’s the bottom line. We preached that from day one. If you don’t play any defense, you can’t win games. You can’t expect to outscore teams every time.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2017 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Sluggish Veterans falls to hot-shooting Riverdale."