THE SPORTS DESK
Prep Basketball Notepad: Chargers facing first adversity
Chancellor first-year boys basketball coach Rob Reich was thrilled earlier this week about his team’s 6–0 start, but he was also cautious about making too much of a fuss about it.
He knew the Chargers would eventually face adversity at some point.
Like clockwork, it came in the form of an injury to star guard Chris Holmes. The senior, who averaged 18.2 points over the first six games, suffered a head injury that kept him out of the Chargers’ last-second loss to Massaponax on Wednesday night.
Holmes, the reigning Battlefield District player of the year, was injured when he hit his head on the court near the end of Chancellor’s 73–57 win over King George on Tuesday night.
Reich said Thursday that the injury does not appear to be serious, but he and the team’s training staff are taking extra precautions because it involved Holmes’ head.
Holmes was checked out by a doctor and given no timetable for a return. Reich said, however, that he does not expect Holmes to be out for a prolonged period of time.
Holmes, who is committed to play football at N.C. State next year, scored 25 or more points in three of the previous four games, and he was certainly missed against the Panthers on Wednesday night.
Ryan Greer scored 24 points for Chancellor, and Chris Patterson had 11, but no other Chargers player scored more than seven.
Chancellor had trouble guarding Massaponax point guard Aaron McFarland in the fourth quarter, and the Panthers post players gave the Chargers trouble the entire game, including forward Nate Grosskopf, who scored on a put-back at the buzzer to give his team a 59–57 win.
The Chargers host Culpeper tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Blue Devils are 7–0 and have beaten five of their opponents by 18 or more points.
Reich said he was not sure if Holmes would be available to play tonight. “You know with head injuries, if there’s any doubt, he will not play,” Reich said.
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STANDINGS
BOYS
COMMONWEALTH
School Dist.
Mountain View 5–0
North Stafford 3–1
Riverbend 4–2
Colonial Forge 4–2
Massaponax 2–3
Stafford 2–3
Orange 2–4
Albemarle 2–4
Brooke Point 0–5
BATTLEFIELD
School Dist.
Chancellor 2–0
Culpeper 2–0
Eastern View 1–0
Courtland 1–1
James Monroe 1–1
Caroline 1–2
Spotsylvania 0–2
King George 0–2
GIRLS
COMMONWEALTH
School Dist.
Colonial Forge 6–0
Massaponax 6–0
Albemarle 4–2
Riverbend 2–3
Mountain View 2–3
North Stafford 2–4
Brooke Point 2–4
Orange 1–4
Stafford 1–5
BATTLEFIELD
School Dist.
Courtland 2–0
Spotsylvania 2–0
Eastern View 1–0
Chancellor 1–1
King George 1–1
Caroline 1–2
James Monroe 0–2
Culpeper 0–2
—Nathan Warters
