Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Goochland Bulldogs will play their first game of the James River District Tournament Feb. 13 on the road. The team is currently in fifth place and three district losses last week didn’t improve their post-season chances.

  The Bulldogs traveled to Randolph Henry to take on the Statesmen early in the week and put in a lack luster performance, according to coach Preston Gordon.

  “I don’t know if it was the bus ride or what, but we came out flat and just never found a rhythm,” Gordon said. “The effort was not very good, to say the least.”

  Wednesday night, the team rebounded and played well against Fluvanna, but came up short late in the game. “We had good effort against Fluvanna and stayed with them right until the end,” Gordon said.

  The Bulldogs got off to a fast start against Buckingham at home on Friday but couldn’t maintain the pace in the second half. GHS jump out to a first quarter lead highlighted by a 9-point opening stanza performance by James Brooks (21 points).

  “James really took care of it in the first quarter, but in the second half, they started keying on him,” Gordon said. “I thought he did a great job distributing the ball.”

  Knights coach Russ Gowin had his team focus on Brooks but they still couldn’t contain the senior guard. “He is a phenomenal player and he really kept them in it tonight,” Gowin said. “He made some acrobatic shots and we knew he is a great player.”

  The Knights fought back to take the lead, but Evan Smith’s 2-pointer at the first half buzzer put the Bulldogs on top 28-27.

  “We came out and played awesome tonight,” Gordon said. “Both teams were hot and it went back and forth, but we had a bad second and third quarter.”

  The Knights opened a 10-point lead and took full advantage of charity shots while the Bulldogs only went to the line twice during the game. Buckingham scored 17 points on free throws in the 11-point victory.

  Defense, or lack of, also played a part in the Bulldog loss.

  “We didn’t get the defensive stops when we needed it tonight,” Gordon said. “When we did have the perfect rotation, we were late on the backside help. That’s where we need to get better.”

  The Bulldogs take on Bluestone this Tuesday and finish the regular season at Amelia on Friday.

  “I expect our kids to compete and play hard,” Gordon said. “We’re going to go down fighting. I don’t care what the clock says or what the score is, we are going to keep playing hard.

  Goochland is 8-10 overall and 5-7 in the district. The top four teams host opening games in the JRD tournament.

  “We’ve got to start playing better as a team,” Gordon said.

  To do so it will take a combination of better defense and more players contributing on offense. “We’ve got to play better defense and find someone else who can put the ball in the hole.”
 
BUCKINGHAM 79, GOOCHLAND 64
BUCKINGHAM (15-2, 9-2 James River) — Ayers 23, Johnson 24, Briley 7, Chambers 0, Woodson 0, Booker 0, Koonce 4, Scott 11, Bartee 10, Boatwright 0. Totals 25 24-36 79.
GOOCHLAND (8-10, 5-7) — Ce. Johnson 7, Z. Johnson 8, Norris 2, E. Smith 4, Mattox 0, S. Smith 0, Co. Johnson 6, Adams 8, Hayden 2, Brooks 27, Stone 0, Zbinden 0. Totals 27 1-2 64.
Buckingham…..... 18 9 26 26 — 79
Goochland…........ 21 7 16 20 — 64
3-point goals — B: Johnson 3, Ayers, Bartee; G: Brooks 6, Ce. Johnson 2, Co. Johnson.
Highlights — B: James Brooks 8 assists; Zakelle Johnson 9 rebounds; Josh Hayden 7 rebounds.