1/30/07

Riverside-Dominion: A more convincing rivalry
by Aaron Nix

This friday, the Knights played a game that all Knights fans could be proud of. A couple of weeks ago, the Knights went into Riverside Military School and lost by two in a heartbreaking double overtime loss. This game proved to be just as competitive. From tipoff the Knights went on a 10-4 scoring run. However, at the end of the first quarter, the Knights were back into the same boat, the Knights being up by only a deuce. The second quarter exploded with a white-hot intensity Knights' fans havent witnessed in a while. The second quarter rocked the gym, both teams scoring back-to-back-to-back. While the RMA Eagles did advantage in free-throw shooting this game, the Knights also were getting fouled, sending Eagles star Lister to the bench in the third. The 4 Knights guards ran the floor like there was no tomorrow and played with a more complex chemistry than Dr. Taylor could understand. Then adversity struck as it usually does, in the second half. The Knights were getting scoring opportunities but the short jumpers weren't falling. What's more unfortunate is the fact that RMA was capitalizing on those mistakes. In the middle of the third, the Knights relinquished their 2 1/2 quarter lead. With calm nerves, the Knights pulled back ahead when Senior Josh Williams came into the game and dominated the defensive rebounding game. With more opportunities to score, the Knights went on a 8-3 run, regaining the lead and springboarding their offense into the fourth quarter. The Knights still tying and changing leads, went into the last 1:30 with the game tied. The court was set up into a three-point line shell offense. The pass went from PG Wright to SG Atalla to PF Meyer then back to Atalla who passed it to a rolling Smith who kicked it out to Wright again. The floor was isolated for Junior Bo Wright with 10 seconds left to go. He makes a quick drive to the right side, and a slash to the hoop on not one, not two, but three defenders. He shoots, he scores! Knights win by two.