Gallery by Greg Barnett
Bluefield – Eli Allen did some great things for James Monroe in the Class A Region 3, Section 1 battle with Greater Beckley Christian.
His biggest achievement however came from what he didn’t do Thursday night.
Saddled with three fouls inside the first seven minutes of the contest, Allen played the final 24 minutes without committing another.
The all-stater’s ability to stay on the floor was the difference in a 78-71 win for the Mavericks over the Crusaders at Bluefield State.
“This especially feels good for the boys. There has been times of adversity this year and the boys have fought through all of it,” James Monroe head coach Matt Sauvage said. “To me, this was just a great game. Greater Beckley is a good team and I told the boys coming in this was going to be heck of a game. It didn’t disappoint.”
With Greater Beckley missing four players due to an eligibility issue, many thought James Monroe would walk away with an easy win.
That was not the case inside the Mavericks locker room.
“We came in with a good mentality all week at practice,” Allen said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight the whole game tonight. We didn’t under estimate them at all.”
With the stands at Bluefield State College packed and raucous, both teams played a fast paced first quarter that ended with the Mavs up 25-23.
The first eight minutes featured eight lead changes, but the biggest concern for James Monroe fans was Allen’s foul issue.
The concern turned to full blown anxiety when Allen came back out on the floor to start the second period.
“I was thinking do not foul,” Allen said emphatically. “That was the only thing going through my mind. I still wanted to play as much good defense as I could, but I could not foul.”
A couple of big buckets from Allen, including one where he side-stepped a defender trying to draw a charge, keyed a Mavericks run to take a 38-29 lead.
As you can tell, Eli is a dynamic player. We just made the decision. We switched him off (Kaden) Smallwood and (Kendrick) Wilson and that helped some too,” Sauvage said. “We had to have him in there. He is too dynamic a player to take him out.”
However, Greater Beckley answered the spurt by the Mavs with a 12-2 run over the final four minutes of the first half to take 41-40 lead into halftime.
The lead for the Crusaders went to four points when Michael Judy opened the second half with a 3-pointer.
“We switched a few things on defense, but nothing major. We just had to execute better on the offensive end and the defensive end,” Sauvage said about the halftime discussions. “The beginning of the third quarter wasn’t good and I was hoping the energy picked up. I saw a couple of them talking to each other and that is all it took. They were ready to go.”
Two driving scores from Allen and a pair of free throws from Cameron Thomas righted the ship and James Monroe never trailed again.
“We went up 44-40, then we took two bad shots in a row, just settling, instead of attacking like we were,” Greater Beckley Christian head coach Justin Arvon said. “If we would have executed, maybe we could have extended that lead out. Who knows with momentum at that point.
A score from Kendrick Wilson evened the game for the final time with 4:40 to play in the quarter.
Shad Sauvage, who scored 23 points on the night, gave the Mavs the lead for the final time with one of his five 3-pointers on the night.
A defensive stop by Thomas led to a breakout score by Josh Burks. Allen followed with another stop and converted the layup on the other end.
“When I came out in the third quarter, I knew if I picked up another foul, I could still play,” Allen said. “It was getting late in the game, so I knew I could use that foul if I needed too.”
A stickback from Thomas and two more scores from Allen were all part of a 16-2 run to end the quarter.
Allen finished with 27 points and went over 1,000 points for his career on the night. He narrowly missed another triple-double with 10 rebounds and nine assists also.
“Eli is a great player and he killed us. Shad hit big shots all night. Josh, on the defensive end, was just lock down especially,” Arvon said. “Cam was really big tonight on the offensive glass. I am not sure what it is going to take for us to rebound with these teams, but we are getting out-rebounded and that has to change.”
After suffering an injury in a game back in December against Greater Beckley, Thomas was too much for Greater Beckley inside. To go along with his 18 points, Thomas pulled down 17 rebounds and had three blocks.
“Cam was absolutely huge tonight. Stats will show a little in points and rebounds, but if you watch the game and you know basketball, Cam was huge tonight,” Sauvage said. “It is no secret we are not the biggest team, but I felt like he controlled the paint.”
The Crusaders never folded and battled to the end, but could not get closer than the final margin over the final eight minutes.
“It was a gutty effort tonight, but James Monroe was able to make more plays than us. They had one more run than we did,” Arvon said. “It’s upsetting, but the good thing is we get to go to Webster (County). It will be another great atmosphere playing against an entire county.”
Both teams advance to the Region 3 co-final games which will be played Wednesday at 7 p.m.
James Monroe will host Greenbrier West in one co-final clash, while Greater Beckley will be on the road at Webster County.
GBC: 23 18 7 23 – 71
JM: 25 15 22 16 – 78
Greater Beckley Christian
Kaden Smallwood 18, John Rose 11, Kendrick Wilson 25, Sean-David Kadjo 5, Michael Judy 12. Totals: 23 20-26 71.
James Monroe
Josh Burks 4, Shad Sauvage 23, Eli Allen 24, Collin Fox 6, Cameron Thomas 18. Totals: 29 14-20 78.
3-pointers – GBC: 5 (Judy 4, Kadjo); JM: 6 (Sauvage 5, Allen).
