Gallery by Karen Akers
The last three seasons in Class A boys basketball, regional clashes between Greater Beckley Christian and Webster County determined who advanced to the state tournament.
Whether the two teams will meet again this year in the postseason will be determined in early March.
Saturday night fans got an early season preview of that possible matchup inside the Greater Beckley gym.
When the final horn sounded one fact was clear, no matter who they play, both teams will have much to say about who goes to Charleston in three months.
Led by three players in double figures, Greater Beckley offset a career best 42-point performance from Webster all-stater Rye Gadd to come away with a hard-fought, 87-69 win.
The triumph was the second top-5 win this week for the Crusaders who knocked off top-ranked James Monroe Tuesday.
“I am happy with our wins, of course, but we have a lot to work on,” Greater Beckley head coach Justin Arvon said. “I was happy with the way we came out and executed and pressured the ball with a lot of energy. That kind of fell off there at halftime. We have to be able to keep our intensity up.”
Fielding a young team around Gadd, Highlanders head coach Mike Gray was concerned the early part of the game might be tough for his team.
That was exactly how the first three minutes played out.
An offensive rebound and stick-back from Sherlock Padmore and a triple from John Rose ignited the Crusaders. After Rose and Kendrick Wilson converted steals into baskets, Webster was down 10-0 and Gray wanted a timeout to settle his team down.
“I thought we didn’t really show up in the first half. I have been here (at Greater Beckley) before early in the season and I have some young guys playing this year,” Gray said. “I kinda knew it would be tough for them to step up. They did as the game moved along and got into the rhythm of the game. They did better, but we have to take care of the ball better and we have to rebound better.”
A pair of long balls from Gadd cut into the lead, but when the first quarter horn sounded, Greater Beckley led 17-6.
The first quarter margin would nag at the Highlanders the rest of the night.
“This is just the second game of the season and we come and play Greater Beckley. It’s not easy whether you are a senior or a sophomore,” Gadd said. “The (younger players) were a little nervous, but I think in the second half they got the nerves out and they were ready to play.”
Eight points from Rose, who led Greater Beckley with 23 in the game, helped the home team build a 19-point lead that would be 17 at the halftime break.
While Greater Beckley played well in the first half, Webster was also its own worst enemy. Missed foul shots and failure to convert easy looks from passes generated by Gadd’s penetration were key to the halftime deficit.
“We talked about that. In these big games, we have to make baskets like that,” Gray said. “Rye is going to get double-teamed a lot. As the season goes on, we have to make those baskets if we want to compete.”
Wilson’s basket at the 6:17 mark of the third period made it a 44-24 game before the Highlanders came storming back.
Two 3-pointers from Rayden Triplett and four points from Gadd sparked a 10-0 run, but as would be the case the rest of the way, Webster could not get past that early 10-point run to start the game.
To its credit, no matter how far Webster would get down, it would fight its way back time and time again.
“We just couldn’t get over that little bit of a hump. Athleticism-wise they are a little better than us and it forced us to play a little more zone than I want to,” Gray said. “I am hard-nosed and they know that. My practices are that way too. We get up and down and we play rough. You have to play a whole game and we didn’t put a whole game together.”
Michael Judy stemmed the tide for Greater Beckley with a 3 before Wilson nailed a pull-up jumper. After Kaden Smallwood hit two free-throws, Gadd drilled back-to-back baskets which was followed by a hoop from Andrew Hardway.
However, five points from Smallwood and a basket from Padmore made it 62-47 after three quarters. Webster would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Wilson ended the night with 21 points, while Smallwood added 19 and Padmore scored eight. Triplett added 13 for the Highlanders.
Although his team lost, Gadd was the star of the night keeping his team in the game against everything that the Crusaders threw at him defensively. His performance also pushed him over 1,000 points for his career.
“We were trying to hedge every screen hard and then at the end we were supposed to be trapping every ball-screen. Rye is just such a great player and he is really polished,” Arvon said.
Both teams are back in action Tuesday. Webster (1-1) hosts Clay County, while Greater Beckley (3-0) has another tough challenge when it hosts Class AAAA Greenbrier East.
WC: 6 17 24 22 – 69
GBC: 17 23 28 25 – 87
Webster County 69
Riley Clevenger 5, Rye Gadd 42, Rayden Triplett 13, Andrew Hardway 4, Dakota Blankenship 1, Isaac Cutlip 2, Kyle McMillion 2. Totals: 27 8-19 69.
Greater Beckley 87
Kendrick Wilson 21, Mike Robinson 2, Kaden Smallwood 19, Sherlock Padmore 8, Sean-David Kadjo 4, Azel Carmichael 4, John Rose 23, Michael Judy 6. Totals: 33 15-23 87.
3-pointers – WC: 7 (Clevenger, Gadd 3, Triplett 3; GBC: 6 (Wilson, Smallwood 2, Rose, Judy 2).
