A showdown of the top two teams in the James River District on Monday ended with a Randolph-Henry High School (R-H) varsity boys basketball team victory.

The Statesmen battled host Goochland High School and handed the first-place Bulldogs a 57-51 loss, snapping their 10-game winning streak with their first district defeat of the season.

“We really looked good to tell you the truth,” Randolph-Henry Head Coach James Graves said. “Goochland plays a very similar style to what we play, so we usually play pretty well against them.”

He noted that his team beat the Bulldogs on the road last year, and while they beat the Statesmen in Charlotte Court House that season, it was without Nasheim Pettus.

On Monday, senior guard/forward Tremaine Pugh led Randolph-Henry with 14 points, senior guard Jordan Jones had 10 points and senior guard Nasheim Pettus and senior center Kevon Boyd had seven points apiece.

Contrasting his team with the Bulldogs, Graves said, “I’d say the biggest difference is they live a little bit more by the three-point shot than we do, but we took control in the third quarter, and the kids played under control. We could have sealed the deal a little bit earlier. We missed a couple of foul shots down the stretch that could have made it so it wasn’t so close at the end, but it’s a big win. You beat them, they’re the ones who haven’t really lost to anybody.”

After their road game Tuesday at Amelia, the Statesmen (8-4, 7-1 JRD) host Amherst County on Thursday at 7 p.m.