Until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Buckingham County looked like it was in control, but just couldn’t knock down the free throws to truly seize the lead. On the other hand, while Goochland was out of sync offensively during that same stretch, it wouldn’t simply go away. In the final two minutes of play, both teams found what was missing, with the Knights finishing the night by hitting 10 of their last 11 foul shots, and the Bulldogs offense knocking down shots under pressure. The two counter-balanced in the end though, with Buckingham hanging on for a 45-37 win on the road as junior Leon Ragland led the way with a double-double effort on the evening.
“I can’t say enough about Leon Ragland, he’s our go-to guy and he is clutch and we had to rely on him tonight to put this game on ice,” said Buckingham coach Russ Gowin. “Goochland’s tough, and especially in this building. This was a big win for us. I thought both teams struggled through the first three quarters, but also, both teams played great defense. It was physical and the tempo was controlled. Finally though, finally we got going in the fourth.”
About those first three quarters — they were defined by turnovers and offensive struggles. Goochland went into the second quarter sporting a 9-7 lead but went more than four minutes without a point during the second. Buckingham had its own issues, so with 3:35 left in the first half, the game was tied at 11-11. The Knights were able to take a 17-14 advantage going into the break.
“We just need a better effort,” said Goochland coach Preston Gordon. “We didn’t have the right energy. We were flat the whole game. I’m not sure what it was. We just couldn’t get it going.”
The third quarter saw little movement, as the Knights attacked the basket, but struggled from the free throw line and the Bulldogs continued to struggle with turnovers and shooting from the field. As such, the Knights went into the fourth up just 24-20. But thanks to Cory Alexander and Reggie Hobbs, Goochland was able to tie things up at 27-27 early in the fourth.
“Preston does such a good job over here at Goochland and both teams were short handed tonight and when that happens someone has to step up,” Gowin said. “Alexander had a great game for them but for us it was Terrence Tyree who came off the bench and was huge for us.”
Buckingham, behind Tyree, Ragland and B.J. Gough, where able to take a 35-30 advantage with two minutes left to play in the fourth. Then things got interesting. Suddenly the Knights couldn’t miss from the free throw line as they hit eight straight from the line, but Alexander couldn’t miss from the field for the Bulldogs, as he had nine fourth quarter points. Goochland never got closer than within five points of the lead though as the trade off between its own field goals and the fouls on the other end simply evened out.
“We just tried to stay focus and not put too much pressure on ourselves,” Ragland said. “We hit the big throws. It was a big win for us. We’re in a pretty good spot in the district standings heading into the tournament, but we know we can still play better.”
Ragland led scorers with a 22-point 10-rebounds effort. Gough and Tyree each finished with nine points. Gough had a big game on defense with six steals, while Tyree wasn’t far off with four of his own. Byrcen Newby chipped in seven rebounds.
For Goochland, Alexander had 16 points. Hobbs finished with 11 but only four other Bulldogs made it into the scoring book and nobody else had more than three points.
“We were awful shooting the ball,” Gordon said. “They struggled too, but we had 25 turnovers. Anytime we turn the ball over like the results don’t look good.”
Buckingham hosts Amelia while Goochland heads to Central Lunenburg, both on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
