Statesmen Challenge Nationally Ranked Caldwell
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Howard Community College | 34 | 45 | 79 |
|
Richard Bland College | 42 | 43 | 85 |
By Bryant Marks
SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, VA -- On Saturday, the Richard Bland College Statesmen fight to the final minutes against #20 Caldwell Community College but were just outdone after big shots from their opponents, falling 76-69.
On the season the team is now 10-12 overall and 2-5 in Region X Conference play. Still with 6 games remaining there is enough time to flip the recent script for the Statesmen and give the team momentum heading into the postseason. Their next game will be against Howard Community College, Tuesday at 7 pm here at Statesman Hall.
Starting off the first half the Statesmen struggled to find their rhythm on offense and were outrebounded by Caldwell. That is until Corbin Slayton entered the contest off the bench and proved a jolt of energy to the team added in 10 points and mulitple assists. Now that the ball was moving on offense, the Statesmen found a groove on defense as they forced multiple turnovers for fastbreaks. The team though was fighting hard to defend the perimeter of Caldwell's offense as they launched three after three. Even with the Cobra's shooting from beyond the arc the Statesmen trailed only by 2 at the half, 38-36. Coming out for the second half, RBC jumped out to an early lead coming from all players in their lineup as every player got to the charity strike at least one time in the second half, converting 17 of their 20 shots. Now leading the Statesmen controlled the floor for much of the half, forcing Caldwell into bad shots and turnovers. Caldwell would never fall behind double-digits as they hung in the game until 6 minutes remaining where they added up enough shots to tie the game at 62. The Cobras would take the lead with 3 minutes left in the game and would not trail again, despite the hard effort of Statesmen. The final score of Saturday's game was 76-69 with #20 Caldwell on top.
Leading Richard Bland today were Corbin Slayton with 17 points, Kenneth Southerland with 13 points, and Jared Watkins with 12 points.