Banner Year in Bradshaw: River View boys' record season ended too soon
Mar. 2—BRADSHAW — It is to be certain an humbling experience to have one's state tournament hopes dashed at the verge of success — particularly when you managed to fight your way into the side of your sectional bracket that was most likely to beat the odds.
However, when the memory of the River View boys basketball team's stinging 68-48 loss to Greater Beckley Christian in the Class A, Region 3, Section 1 semifinals is given a little time to fade a little bit, other memories of the Raiders' winningest basketball campaign may begin to shine through the haze.
"I hate it for the boys. But right now I'm going to try to enjoy these next couple of days before we get started back in something else, I guess. I'm going to try to enjoy it the best I can," said River View head coach Roger Hale, whose team's 17-6 finish was a program high-water mark.
The Raiders put together 15 win seasons in 2015 and 2017, which stood as the program high water mark for seven seasons.
This year River View opened with a 4-1 showing before Christmas. Coming out of the holiday break, the Raiders went on an eight game winning streak that had lofty ambitions stirring.
River View defeated Greater Beckley Christian 85-79 on Feb. 19, a victory that helped ensure the Raiders wouldn't have to risk elimination in the sectional semifinal by two-time defending Class A state champion James Monroe. The Mavericks had defeated River View 83-41 on Feb. 12.
If the Raiders managed to get past GBC and make it into the sectional finals, the worst-case scenario would be getting sent on the road to play in the co-regional championship game.
It was simply not meant to be. Like James Monroe, GBC is a team with state tournament credentials.
On Wednesday night, those credentials were flashed.
"They [the Crusaders] shoot the ball really well. They put pressure on us in transition. They could get up and down the court really well," whose bigger, stronger team struggled at times to keep up.
"I don't think we got back down the court like we should have on defense. Even when we made a basket I thought they got back a little better than we did," Hale said.
"Foul trouble also got us. We played our aggressive style and we just got in a little bit of foul trouble. But we didn't knock down shots, either," he said.
Jackson Danielson, a gifted Wyoming East transfer who raised his teammates' level of play when he came to Bradshaw, led the Raiders with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Danielson expects to pursue a college football career at Bluefield University.
River View will lose four players off this year's team to graduation. Gone will be the 6-foot-5 Danielson and 6-foot-10 post Ethan Justice.
He expects three or four returning who played significant varsity minutes this year. Ashton Hunt, a junior who will return next year, scored nine.
The Raiders' playing style may — or may not — have to change again. But Hale expects to count on Hunt and fellow junior Kaiden Newberry a lot next year.
"They both basically played starter minutes.
"We had to adapt to our personnel and I think we did that pretty well, because we had a more uptempo team this year. We probably didn't shoot as good as some of the teams I've had in the past. We didn't shoot threes like we did before," Hale said.
"But as far as tempo, it was a really uptempo team."
