Charleston – Coming off a loss Monday at Shady Spring, Class A No. 2 Greater Beckley Christian looked to rebound Wednesday against No. 8 Cameron at the Par Mar Shootout at the Big House.
It was not the day that the Crusaders had hoped for, however, inside the Walker Convocation Center at West Virginia State University.
Never leading in the contest, Greater Beckley dropped its second game in a row with a 66-62 setback.
“That is a huge win for our program and I am so proud of these kids right now. We had a big win against a rival last night before we came down here,” Cameron head coach Tom Hart said. “Greater Beckley is a phenomenal team and our kids were really focused after the short turnaround. We played tremendous defense today. We were patient on offense and got some good looks.”
The early going was like a broken record for Greater Beckley which fell behind quickly. The Crusaders trailed by as many as nine in the opening half and were down 28-22 at the break.
“We were lethargic in the first half. We also had 10 turnovers and just three assists. The first half is ultimately the reason we lost the game. We weren’t playing well and we weren’t moving the ball,” Greater Beckley Christian head coach Justin Arvon said. “We have to get past the selfishness stuff and we should be dominating the glass every trip down the floor. We are standing and watching and when you do that, you get down at halftime.”
Things went from bad to worse to start the second half for Greater Beckley as Cameron ran off eight straight points for a 35-22 lead.
A timeout from Arvon seemed to finally flip the switch into go-mode for the Crusaders.
“We have to be the ones coming into games with the mindset that we want to knock teams off. People are trying to knock us off every day. We have to be willing to make the little plays to be successful,” Arvon said. “Those plays are intensity based and unselfish plays. We didn’t make those in the first half, but we did in the second half.”
A 12-2 run over the next three minutes brought Greater Beckley within three before trailing by five to start the final quarter.
Cameron kept the pressure on the Crusaders outscoring them 12-4 in the first four minutes of the fourth period with eight points coming from Cole Burkett.
Trailing by 13 with 1:41 to play, Greater Beckley turned up the defense to a helter-skelter pace and made a frantic comeback.
An old-school three-point play from Kendrick Wilson made it a six-point game with 41 seconds to play, but down the stretch, Greater Beckley could not get the calls it thought it should have on contested shots at the rim.
“I felt like we played hard enough and intense enough in the second half to win. We were getting to the rim and getting fouled, but we weren’t getting any calls,” Arvon said. “When we did get to the line, we were 5 for 12. So that and turnovers ultimately lost the game, even if our kids were getting killed going to the basket.”
Kaden Smallwood scored 18 for Greater Beckley and Wilson finished with 15. John Rose scored 17 for the Crusaders.
Burkett ended the day with 17 points and Trevor Beresford had 16. Colson Witcherman added 10.
“I give credit to our kids for fighting back. I also give credit to their kids for putting it away,” Arvon said. “Cameron is a really good team and they are extremely well-coached. They play hard and they can knock down shots.”
GBC: 11 11 16 24 – 62
C: 12 16 15 23 – 66
Greater Beckley
Kendrick Wilson 15, Kaden Smallwood 18, Sherlock Padmore 6, Azel Carmichael 2, Sean-David Kadjo 2, Michael Judy 2, John Rose 17. Totals: 27-64 5-12 62.
Cameron
Ethan Haeberle 5, Cameron Powell 7, Cole Burkett 17, Colson Witcherman 10, Chris McCauley 7, Trevor Beresford 16, Chris Hartley 4. Totals: 25-56 12-20 66.
3-pointers – GBC: 3 (Smallwood 2, Rose); C: 4 (Haeberle, Powell, Witcherman, Beresford).
