By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Nov. 28 — The Luray boys basketball team put up a tough fight against a tough opponent in their season opener at home Tuesday night. The Bulldogs outscored a talented, Class 3 East Rockingham squad during the second and fourth quarters, but fell short overall in the non-district matchup, 66-60.
The Eagles jumped out to a 19-13 lead after the first eight minutes behind nine points from senior Kainen Shifflett. East Rock hit a trio of triples in the first frame and shot over 57 percent from the floor. Luray shot only 4-for-11 from the floor in the first, but went 5-of-6 from the line. East Rock held a six-point, 19-13 lead after the first quarter.
Luray would continue a similar trend in the second quarter, hitting only two shots from the floor (2-for-13), but hitting 8-of-12 (67 percent) from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 12-11 in the second frame despite trailing by as much as 10 at one point. Luray was able to cut that deficit in half at the free throw line and went into the locker room down by five at halftime, 30-25.
East Rock junior Dean Robertson scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, but Luray’s shooting also came alive as well. After only hitting 25 percent from the floor in the first half, the Bulldogs sunk 14-of-25 (for 56 percent) in the second half, including their only two three-pointers of the night.
Luray narrowed the margin to as little as two points at 34-32 midway through the third, but East Rock would maintain a six- to eight-point lead most of the second half. The Bulldogs made one last push with less than two minutes to play and brought the score within four at 60-56 after two free throws from Connor Hilliard. The sophomore then hit a late three-pointer with only 20 seconds left on the clock to make it 65-60. One final free throw by the Eagles capped the scoring.
Hilliard lead Luray in scoring with 15 points, followed by freshman Ayden Haddock with 14 and fellow sophomore Matthew Owens with 13.
East Rock was lead by Robertson’s 18 points and 12 from Shifflett. Three other Eagles had nine points.
Next up, Luray will travel to Warren County to take on the Wildcats next Tuesday, Dec. 5.
The Takeaway
Despite a tough loss to a tough, Class 3 opponent to open up the ’23-’24 season, the LHS boys basketball program is on the right track to becoming truly competitive in the region. After being the bottom dwellers of the Bull Run District for a few years, the Bulldogs are now building a program that will not only contend for extended post-season play this year, but for a few more seasons to come.
Down in the paint, Luray will be anchored by 6’3″ senior Ryder Liscomb and 6’4″ senior Christian Lentz. The Bulldogs should have some height advantage in at least half of their games with the two seniors posting up in the front court and hopefully grabbing a lot of boards — both offensively and defensively.
In the backcourt, the sophomore duo of Connor Hilliard and Matthew Owens provide two solid ball handlers with great game presence and basketball “smarts” — oh, and they can both shoot pretty well from outside as well (despite Monday’s percentages).
Add in the athleticism of freshman Ayden Haddock and this team looks like it could be competitive for several years. A big part of that competitiveness comes from multi-sport athletes like Lentz (baseball-1B), Haddock (football-QB) and Liscomb (football-WR/LB), but also from Cameron Weaver (golf, baseball-SS/P) and Braden Ancell (football-RB/LB), as well as several others on the 13-man roster.
The ’23-’24 Luray boys basketball team is taller, more talented and has more depth than other Bulldog teams in recent years. There is a building excitement about what they may be capable of this season.
For full schedules, rosters and standings — check out the Bull Run District website.
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