varsity.roanoke.com

With just an eight-man roster and facing a team that has plenty of athletes, the Lord Botetourt boys basketball team might have been forgiven if thoughts of making a run for it flitted through their heads.

Instead the short-handed Cavaliers decided they were not, in fact, undermanned and instead ran right at the Martinsville Bulldogs.

Rick Alderman scored a career-high 34 points as Lord Botetourt pressured Martinsville the whole game and scored a 67-59 victory in the opening round of the Northside Invitational Tournament at Northside High School on Saturday.

The Cavaliers will face tournament host Northside in the semifinals on Monday at 7:45 p.m.

Franklin County will play Liberty in the other semifinal game starting at 6 p.m.

Blacksburg and William Byrd will meet in the consolation bracket at 2:30 p.m. Monday followed by Martinsville against Staunton River at 4:15 p.m.

The championship game will be played Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. at Northside, with the third place game at 6 p.m. and the consolation final at 4:15.

Lord Botetourt coach Jon Cook said having today off will be good for his team, but Alderman likes to run.

"We've got eight guys so we've got to keep in shape," Alderman said. "We run and play hard."

Alderman also had seven rebounds and four assists.

Hunter Foley had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, and Matt Moats blocked seven shots.

Jarez Turner led Martinsville with 15 points. Demetrius Jones and Ronwyn Pritchett each added nine.

MARTINSVILLE (4-4)

Tyler 2 0-0 4, Tarpley 1 0-0 2, Scott 3 1-2 7, Scales 2 0-0 6, Belcher 1 0-0 2, Jones 3 3-3 9, Green 1 0-0 3, Turner 7 2-2 16, Prichett 4 1-2 9. TOtals 23 7-9 58.

LORD BOTETOURT (7-3)

Matthias 1 0-0 3, Arnold 1 0-0 2, Alderman 15 4-10 34, Hunsberger 3 1-2 7, Foley 4 5-6 15, Bane 1 0-0 2, Flowers 0 0-0 0, Moats 1 2-4 4. Totals 26 12-22 67.

Martinsville 6 16 14 22--59

Lord Botetourt 16 13 14 24--67

3-point goals -- Martinsville 3 (Scales 2, Green), Lord Botetourt 3 (Foley 2, Matthias). Fouls -- Martinsville 18, Lord Botetourt 11. Fouled out -- Pritchett.

Franklin County 66, Blacksburg 45

J.T. Edwards scored 19 points and Chris Tyree added 17 as the Eagles beat Blacksburg despite foul trouble by starters Greg O'Neal and Earl Gill.

The Eagles led by just six points at halftime, but outscored the Bruins 14-2 over the first five minutes of the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Edwards hit three 3-pointers, grabbed a steal and blocked a shot from behind Blacksburg's Reece Whitsett in that stretch.

Whitsett, Morgan Jones and Chris Price each had six points for the Bruins. Sam Walker led the team, hitting three 3-pointers late in the game for nine points.

D.A. Reynolds scored 10 points for Franklin County and Tae Gilbert, playing extended time with Gill in foul trouble, scored seven.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

Gill 1 0-0 2, Spencer 0 0-0 0, Dunn 0 2-2 2, Gilbert 3 1-1 7, Witcher 0 1-2 1, Royal 0 1-2 1, Reynolds 3 4-4 10, Edwards 6 3-5 19, C. Tyree 6 3-3 17, J. Tyree 0 1-2 1, O'Neal 3 0-0 6. Totals 22 12-16 66.

BLACKSBURG

Henderson 0 3-4 3, Walker 3 0-0 9, Brown 1 2-2 4, Maxey 0 0-0 0, Carr 0 3-4 3, Jackson 0 1-2 1, Cooper 2 0-0 4, Travis 0 2-2 2, Whitsett 2 1-4 6, Price 3 0-0 6, Sowers 0 1-2 1, Jones 3 0-0 6. Totals 14 13-20 45.

Blacksburg 8 12 6 19--45

Franklin County 15 11 17 23--66

3-point goals -- Franklin County 6 (Edwards 4, C. Tyree 2), Blacksburg 4 (Walker 3, Whitsett). Fouls -- Franklin County 20, Blacksburg 18. Fouled out -- O'Neal.

Liberty 68, William Byrd 59

Chris Harman scored eight of his game-high 22 points in the final 4:37 as the Minutemen held off a rallying William Byrd squad.

Liberty was up by seven, 49-42, going into the fourth quarter, but the Terriers opened the quarter on a 9-2 run capped by a driving layup by Wesley Brugh to tie the score at 51. From there it was nip and tuck, with the Terriers even taking a two-point lead on a pair of free throws by Bradley Mattox with 3:43 to play.

But Justin Martin drove in for a layup on the other end to retie the score, then after a turnover, dished to Ryan Nichols for another score.

Then the Minutemen turned to Harman to press the pedal down. He scored on a reverse layup, then drove in for another score and netted a three-point play to stretch the lead to seven points with 1:47 to go. Anthony Reynolds, who'd been gobbling up clutch defensive rebounds for Liberty, stole the ball and fed Harman for a fastbreak layup and the game was safely out of the Terriers' reach.

Nichols scored 14 points for Liberty and Reynolds, Calton Payne and Martin each scored nine.

Jake Mankin led William Byrd with 16 points. Mattox and Jon Zommerman each had 13.

Andrew Vest scored 13 points for the Terriers.

LIBERTY (6-2)

Reynolds 4 0-0 9, Hayden 0 0-0 0, M. Harman 0 0-0 0, Gilchrist 1 0-0 3, Blake 0 0-0 0, Payne 4 1-1 9, C. Harman 9 3-9 22, Martin 3 1-2 9, Nichols 6 2-2 14, Stith 1 0-0 2, Sparrow 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 7-14 68.

WILLIAM BYRD

Mattox 5 2-2 13, Palmer 1 0-0 2, Brugh 2 0-0 4, Vest 5 0-1 11, Conner 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0-0 0, Zimmerman 4 5-6 13, Mankin 7 0-0 16. Totals 24 7-11 59.

Liberty 15 21 13 19--68

William Byrd 13 19 10 17--59

3-point goals -- Liberty 5 (Martin 2, Reynolds, Gilchrist, C. Harman), William Byrd 4 (Mankin 2, Mattox, Vest). Fouls -- Liberty 16, William Byrd 11. Fouled out -- none.

Northside 80, Staunton River 56

Stevan Richie scored eight of his 12 points in the first three minutes of the second half in the midst of a 20-3 run that turned a Northside lead into a Vikings blowout over Staunton River.

Neil Brown scored 13 points for the Vikings and Ryan Palmieri added 10.

Wesley Gates and Meech Coles each scored 15 points to lead Staunton River.

STAUNTON RIVER (1-6)

Jagoda 0 0-0 0, Gates 5 5-9 15, Dillon 1 0-0 2, Adkins 0 1-2 1, Coles 5 5-7 15, Eggleston 2 5-8 9, Cunningham 1 0-0 2, See 2 0-0 4, Persinger 1 4-6 6. Totals 18 20-32 56.

Northside (6-2)

Phelps 1 0-1 2, Pound 3 0-0 7, Palmieri 2 4-4 10, Curry 0 0-0 0, Burroughs 3 1-3 6, Thornbury 3 0-0 8, Smith 3 1-2 7, Gilliard 2 0-2 6, Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Chen 0 0-0 0, Duckett 4 0-0 8, Brown 6 0-0 13, Richie 6 0-1 12, Hanley 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 6-13 80.

Northside 14 12 30 24--80

Staunton River 8 9 17 22--56

3-point goals -- Staunton River none, Northside 8 (Palmieri 2, Thornbury 2, Gilliard 2, Brown, Pound). Fouls -- Staunton River 14, Northside 26. Fouled out -- none.