Roanoke, Va. – The Lord Botetourt Cavaliers opened their season Wednesday, hosting James River. The Cavaliers came away victorious, beating the Knights 78-62. Kyle Arnholt lead the way for Lord Botetourt with 25 points, and James River’s Patrick Clevenger had 24 for the Knights.
Meanwhile, Roanoke County schools hit the practice courts Wednesday after being cleared to compete Tuesday afternoon.
Cave Spring’s auxiliary gym certainly sounded the same as a lot of practices in the area. The biggest difference since Tuesday is Roanoke County schools have been cleared for competition, which means teams can integrate passing the ball at practice. Because of this, head coach Jacob Gruse has taken the extra precaution to carry around hand sanitizer to spray on players hands between touches, and players are always masked, but the team has made it clear they will do anything to compete. And their wish was granted.
“It was like Christmas morning for the kids,” Gruse said. “Just to think our kids were that excited just to pass the basketball, it tells you, we try to teach lessons through the game of basketball, we took everything for granted. Last year, I think taught us a lesson when we got the rug pulled out from under us leaving for the championship game, it really put everything in perspective.”
“It was like the worst of the worst news coming then we got amazing news,” senior Charlie Urgo recalled Tuesday’s announcement. “You practice every day like you’re going to play so that’s our attitude towards every practice, that you’re going to play. If there’s any teams I want to play it’s the teams in the county, so that’s my attitude towards it.”
Schedules for the county schools are still being worked out as practices continue this week.