Gallery by Tina Laney
Prior to the start of boys basketball game between Mercer Christian Academy and Greater Beckley Christian, the two teams shook hands.
After the game the two combatants prayed together.
In between, the Cavaliers (2-2) and the Crusaders battled to the final seconds before a winner was decided.
When the horn sounded Greater Beckley (1-0) had dodged a strong effort by the visitors from Mercer County to take a 56-52 win.
Greater Beckley assistant head coach Scott Lawson, who was subbing for head coach Justin Arvon who is serving a two-game suspension after an ejection in the final game last year, was happy with the win, but admitted at times, it did look like the first game of the season for his squad.
“We didn’t execute well in a lot of our offensive sets. We are integrating a lot of new guys,” Lawson said. “(Kellen) Heffernan is new to the program. Eli Gunter moved here from Alabama, he hasn’t played before. (Keegan) Davidson is a freshman. We are still trying to figure some things out as far as that goes.”
With the game tied at 44-44 early in the fourth quarter, Greater Beckley made the first move of the final period with three straight points from Averyk Woodson.
Mercer Christian answered immediately with buckets from Isaac Sharp and Chance Watkins to retake the lead with five minutes to play in the contest.
Over the next three minutes, however, Greater Beckley big man Aaron Hall flexed his muscle to spark a run by the Crusaders.
“We really struggled with that dump off to Aaron. He is tough,” Mercer Christian head coach Jeff Boothe said. “I don’t remember him being that good of a finisher last year. He has improved a lot.”
Hall converted a stickback to give Greater Beckley lead back before making a lay up off a nice assist from Davidson who had penetrated the Cavaliers defense.
A drive and dish from Woodson to Hall pushed the lead to 53-48 with a 1:45 to play and the home team looked in full control.
“We have to get Aaron in the flow. He was starting to get there when he got two early fouls on moving screens,” Lawson said. “He scored a couple of buckets, then we had to take him out of the game.”
On the Mercer Christian side, shot selection in the midst of that stretch did not help its case during crunch time.
“We took two bad ones right in a row. That was the reason for the timeout. We were down three points with a couple minutes to go and I told them we didn’t need the 3-pointer,” Boothe said. “I think we panicked a little bit. Good shooters took them, but it wasn’t the shot we wanted.”
The Crusaders went for the knockout blow on the next possession, but when in a moment of excitement, an errant lob pass to Hall went awry and the game turned into a nail-biter down the stretch
“We were trying to make a lob there to Aaron. Of course the player says he is open, but he had two guys on him and the ball got knocked away,” Lawson said. “I did get aggravated. I went to slap the clipboard and it came out of my hands and I deserved a technical for sure.”
The two technical free throws made it a one possession game, but Greater Beckley immediately forced a turnover and converted one of two free-throws to bump the lead back to four points.
Kyle Carpenter was then fouled in the lane with 24 seconds to play and cut the lead in half with two makes from the charity stripe.
The Cavaliers received one last chance for the win or a tie when the Crusaders turned it over on the next possession. The shot however, was just short of the mark.
“I asked the boys if they wanted to go for the win and they said yes. I was happy with the shot,” Boothe said.
Two free throws from Woodson sealed the win for Greater Beckley.
“M.J. (Patton) getting in foul trouble hurt us. We didn’t have him for the last couple of minutes of the first half, but I am happy with it,” Boothe said. “We will get better. Carpenter is new to the game and he is getting better each game. As he understands the speed of the game, he is going to be a really good player. Both teams played hard. Hats off to them.”
Lawson was impressed by the ability of his team to weather the craziness at the end and still come away with the win.
“They didn’t come apart and they weren’t mad at coach because of what he did. The one thing about it, even though he is a freshman, Davidson has probably played over 1,000 basketball games. He has seen so many different scenarios and doesn’t lose his mind on the floor,” Lawson said. “Kellen doesn’t lose his mind on the floor. There have been times in the past, even with teams that have had juniors and seniors where we would have would given that game away. They did a good job of finishing.”
Hall led Greater Beckley with 13 points, while Heffernan had 10 and Woodson scored nine.
M.J. Patton led all scorers with 17 points. Sharp scored 10 and Watkins had nine.
MCA: 16 8 19 9 – 52
GBC: 13 17 14 12 – 56
Mercer Christian
Isaac Sharp 6, M.J. Patton 17, Chance Watkins 9, Gage Thompson 4, Eli Patton 5, Kyler Carpenter 7. Totals: 18 11-12 52.
Greater Beckley Christian
Averyk Woodson 9, Keegan Davidson 6, Kash Hendrix 3, Eli Gunter 6, Hunter Laxton 7, Kellen Heffernan 10, Isaiah Kincaid 2, Aaron Hall 13. Totals: 21 6-11 56.
3-pointers – MCA 5 (M.J. Patton, Watkins 2, Eli Patton, Carpenter); GBC 8 (Woodson, Davidson, Hendrix, Gunter 2, Laxton, Heffernan 2).
