Ballgame over at Dudley High School tonight, where the Unbeaten Reidsville Rams(18-0) came calling on the Dudley Panthers…
Here is how the matchups went, as we had them set here from you at the website earlier today…
Reidsville girls(7-8) vs. Dudley(13-7)…..Final:Dudley 62, Reidville 26
Reidsville boys(18-0) vs. Dudley(13-7)…..Final:Reidsville 65, Dudley 55
We also had this lead-in for you…
Reidsville boys led by Kendre Harrison and Dionte Neal, plus Dudley led in by Jerron Blackwell, CJ Jones, CJ Neely, Nasir Newkirk, and Ishmael Mande…
And most that went true to form with Dionte Neal and Kendre Harrison combining for 41 of the Reidsville Rams 65 points…Neal with 22 pts. and Harrison added 19…Dudley got a team-leading 18 points from Neely, while Jerron Blackwell pumped in 14 points for the Panthers…But one of the wild things is, that CJ Neely and Nasir Newkirk didn’t even start the game, and Newkirk did not dress and he did not play at all…Newkirk hoping to be back by Friday…Neely didn’t get the starting nod, but he had one of his best games of the season…He got into some foul trouble right before the end of the first half, but he came out after the break, and he hit layup, after layup, after layup…I don’t think Neely threw down one single dunk, but he made sure he got the sure-thing, he made sure all of those layups he shot were going in…Nine field goals for Neely and not one single trip to the charity stripe/foul line…Blackwell connected on five Free Throws, he hit a three and cashed in on 3 twos…The next top scorer for Dudley was CJ Jones with nine points….
This game at Dudley tonight, sort of reminded of the good old BIG games from the past at Dudley, when Word of God and John Wall would stop by, or the times when the Durham Hillside Hornets and Bobby Perry would walk through the door, there at the Chester Bradley Gymnasium…And tonight was much like the big non-confernce games Dudley would play versus Oak Hill, at the Greensboro Coliseum, back when Oak Hill was coached by Steve Smith, and they had players like Ty Lawson….
Tonight Dudley was tasked with trying to stop or slow down Dionte Neal and Kendre Harrison…Harrison started strong and he finished strong, but in between he spent many of his minutes on the Reidsville Rams bench saddled with two early fouls….Harrison picked up his second foul in the second quarter of the game, and it came at right around the 5:30 mark, with that much time on the clock, left in the first half…So, Harrison was forced to sit, and he had to watch his Ram teammates do all they could to maintain a 3-5 point lead, and hope his Reidsville hoop friends could hold off the Panthers, till Harrsion could re-join his mates at the start of the second half…And Harrison was right back on the court when the whistle hit to begin half number two…
Dionte Neal is the real deal…He wheels and deals and he burns up calories quickly, so Neal can’t afford to miss a meal..He is not big, but he is quick and he has nice soft/smooth shot as he goes to the basket…Neal kept Reidsville in front while Harrison was seated on the pine, and you could tell a big difference in the level of play by the Rams, with Harrison not in the game…But again, Neal was able to help seal the deal, and when Neal would get a steal, he would finish with a move or two, to the bucket, and the Neal steal, would end up on the Rams’ highlight reel…
Reidsville has a HUGE fan base, and the way the crowd packed Dudley’s Chester Bradley Gymnasium, it would make you think that the whole town of Reidsville came out to support their Rams on this night…You could see Reidsville Rams gear all over that buidling tonight…Also got to lay it out there that the Reidsville fans came to see their now (19-0) Rams, but to make it totally clear, these fans are there to see what Neal and Harrison are going to do next…Neal and Harrison carry this team like Stockton and Malone used to carry the Utah Jazz…Dionte Neal and Kendre Harrison today’s version of Batman and Robin, just like John Stockton and Karl Malone carried that moniker back in their day, in the NBA…
One more Dudley Panthers perk was the job that Dudley did on the offensive boards, especially when Harrison was down with the foul trouble…Dudley with Andrew Rogers and Ishmael Mande banging the boards, and guys like CJ Jones and CJ/Carlos Neely following their shots, Dudley had the second and third chances they were looking for on the offensive end….Jerron Blackwell hit several little floaters and pull-up follow shots that came as a result of Dudley keeping the ball alive on their offensive end of the floor..
To me, I think Dudley played as good as, if not better than they did last Friday night in their Triple Overtime loss to the Smith Golden Eagles…Dudley had kids like Lishawn Speller and Zion Nichols contributing and they were not called on much last Friday night…Tonight, it was like once he got in the game, after not starting, CJ/Carlos Neely was at ease, and he was not pressing or trying to hard to make it work…Everything was flowing in a positive way in this game for Neely…He looked as comfortable and confident as he has in any game we have seen him play this season…
Overall a whale of game, and the crowd was Extra-Large…With the Smith game last Friday night, and the Reidsville game tonight, Dudley has hosted sellout, or near sellout crowds, in back-to-back contests/games……
Great night for a basketball game, at James B. Dudley High School, and it sort of seemed like a Saturday…It seemed like in the good old days, those good old games, always came on a Saturday night, at about this stage of the season…
Got to love it, when you can Pack the Place that Price helped build….
Dudley girls 62, Reidsville 26
Dudley(14-7)/Reidsville(7-9)
End of First Quarter:Dudley 21, Reidsville 8…Halftime:Dudley 50, Reidville 11…End of Third Quarter:Dudley 56, Reidville 20…Final:Dudley 62, Reidsville 26
Dudley scoring:Ariana Moses, Janiah Terry and Jewel Pass with 11 points a-piece, Kimora Haith and Raylen Baker each with 7 points, Nadi Vonreichbauer with 6, Benmoumen with 3, Vinson 2, Jackson 2…
Reidsville scoring:Slade 7 points, Wise 6, Land 6, Dalton 5, Stephens 2
Reidsville boys 65, Dudley 55
Reidsville(19-0)/Dudley(13-8)
End of First Quarter:Reidsville 15, Dudley 12…Halftime:Reidsville 31, Dudley 27…End of Third Quarter:Reidsville 50, Dudley 38…Final:Reidsville 65, Dudley 55
Reidsville scoring:Diante Neal 22 points, Kendre Harrison 19, Sharpe 14, Jones 6, Lee 2
Dudley scoring:CJ/Carlos Neely 18 points, Blackwell 14, CJ Jones 9, Mande 5, Speller 5, Rogers 2, Nichols 2…
I really hope Dudley AD and Coaches will work out a deal with Reidsville to play every year Home and Away like the old days. The crowd last night at Dudley with Reidsville was bigger than the Dudley -Smith game, because the band wasn’t there. Reidsville fans came strong and hyped. I hope Dudley can put other strong fan base teams like Durham Hillside and GW Danville back on the schedule too. All three Schools use to play Dudley on the regular during the 1990 to 2015 period, then it stopped. Carlisle High School from Martinsville, Va bought a decent crowd too a few weeks ago too. Definitely it felt like a 90’s vibe.