Little Giants can't keep up

Rockbridge County stormed into Waynesboro and took advantage of the reeling Little Giants on Wednesday night, coming within a hair of leading the game wire-to-wire and winning by 10, 60-50.

“They were the better team tonight,” Waynesboro head coach C. Jay DeWitt said.

The Giants (14-3) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening minutes, but the Wildcats went up 3-2 and never trailed again. Standout point guard Andrew Rowsey netted a game-high 27 points for Rockbridge.

Waynesboro has now lost back-to-back contests after falling at R.E. Lee on Saturday.

“It’s two games in a row where we just got beat,” DeWitt said. “It’s not a district game, but you’re playing for pride – they were 16-1 and we were 14-2 – so we’re disappointed, but they certainly controlled the game and deserved the win. It’s only one game, and we just need to regroup.”

Alex Graves put his best effort forward, ending up with a team-high 24 points. However, he was the only Giants scorer in double figures, as the rest of the roster struggled mightily shooting.

Rowsey’s 3-pointer at the 6:35 mark of the second quarter put the Wildcats ahead by double digits for the first time, where they would stay for most of the second half. He would finish with a total of five 3s, while the Giants failed to hit a single one.

After Rowsey eluded Waynesboro defenders the length of the court down the sideline, he found Javon Cress underneath for the score with seconds left in the third, putting Rockbridge up by 11, 44-33, going into the final frame.

Cress added to the Wildcats’ attack with 19 points.

Rockbridge (17-1) scored on its first five possessions of the fourth as the lead expanded to 16, putting the game out of reach for the Giants.

“This is huge. We have so much respect for those guys. C. Jay [DeWitt] does a great job with them, they’re always well coached and as a team, they’re just mentally tough,” Rockbridge head coach Darrell Plogger said. “They’ve been through battles together and they’ve been in states the last couple of years. Any time you can come into their gym and get a win, it’s satisfying.”

The Wildcats are in the middle of a brutal stretch of four games in five days. They play Northside Friday before going to Salem for the Roy Stanley Memorial Shootout on Saturday.

The Giants return to district action on Friday when they travel to Fort Defiance, and also play in Saturday’s Roy Stanley Memorial Shootout, in which they will face Patrick Henry (Roanoke).