White, Wildcats dispatch Raiders

RINGGOLD — Appomattox County’s game plan was working to perfection for the first three quarters against the high-scoring Dan River Wildcats. The slow-it-down, grind-it-out pace kept the Raiders within four entering the final quarter.

Darren White then decided to take control of the contest.

White scored 12 of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter and Dan River hit nine of its last 10 free throws to pull away and defeat Appomattox 66-53 Friday night in a Dogwood District clash.

White, who scored his points in the first three quarters on breakaway dunks and putbacks, finally got into a rhythm in the offense, as Dan River (7-0, 2-0 Dogwood) was able to isolate the 6-foot-4 swingman on the smallish interior players of Appomattox.

“I wanted to take control of the game, but keep my teammates involved and that’s what I did,” White said. “We kept our cool at the end.”

Appomattox (6-2, 0-1 Dogwood), however, did not keep its cool at the end, as the Raiders’ players were visibly frustrated with the way Dan River was playing them. Appomattox coach Brantley Shields picked up a technical foul with less than a minute left after a collision under the Wildcats’ basket.

“I think their physicality during the game kind of wore on us a bit,” Shields said. “They were pushing us around a little bit and I didn’t think we did a very good job of responding to it.”

The Raiders opened the contest on a hot note, taking a 9-5 lead following Rionn Pradia’s second 3-pointer of the quarter. Pradia finished the contest hitting four 3-pointers, but none after the midway portion of the third quarter after he fell hard on his right ankle while contesting a rebound with Dan River’s Terrence Womack.

Through the second and third quarters, the Raiders and Wildcats had five ties and two lead changes, the last tie coming at 32-all with two minutes left in the third quarter. After that, the Wildcats went on an 14-4 run to open the gap to 46-36 with 5:29 left in the fourth, the first double-digit lead of the contest.

“We were well prepared for the kind of game they played,” said R.J. Myers, who finished with 11 points and two rebounds. “We came out, we executed and we proved ourselves tonight.”

From there, it was free throw shooting that kept the Wildcats ahead. Dan River hit 12-of-16 from the charity stripe in the last four minutes of the contest, keeping any Appomattox rally at bay. The Raiders were never able to get closer than six during the last four minutes.

White also added a team-high 12 rebounds and three steals to his tally. Kevin Eldridge added 12 points, four rebounds and two steals for the Wildcats.

Michael St. John led Appomattox with 15 points and Pradia finished with 12.

“We knew it was going to be a battle. They’re a strong team and I felt that we took their punches constantly and it was a heavyweight bout,” Dan River coach Jacob Gruse said. “And we constantly took their punches and I thought we threw a couple punches back there at the end and kind of got over the top.”