Gallery by Greg BarnettĀ
Bluefield – There’s an expression amongst area coaches that once you walk into the Brushfork Armory for a game against Bluefield, you’re already down 10 points.
That expression didn’t hold entirely true Wednesday as the Beavers’ game against Wyoming East was moved to Bluefield High School due to heating problems at the armory.
Instead the Warriors were down nine.
Bluefield opened the game on a 9-0 run, holding off a late East rally to pull out a 52-39 win over the Warriors.
Facing the Beavers’ signature pressure, the Warriors, who have struggled with pressure defenses throughout the season, turned the ball over just five times. Unfortunately for the visitors they struggled to pry the lid off the basket once they broke the press, shooting just 33 percent form the field.
“It’s just a lack of intensity,” East coach Derek Brooks said. “When we come out we’re kind of laid back. You see it change in the second half but I told them over and over and I told them before the game ‘We’ve got to come out like that in the beginning. We’ve got to start like that, not when we get down.’ We want to go get the lead and make them fight back. I was kind of disappointed in the first half.”
The visitors rebounded towards the end of the first quarter, trailing 12-5 but still struggled to find their stroke. They shot just 17 percent from the field on 12 attempts, staring down a 12-point deficit at the intermission.
Adding to East’s struggles was the inability to get all-stater Tanner Whitten going. The senior forward was held scoreless in the opening quarter – the fourth consecutive contest in which he scored two points or less in the opening frame.
“We called his number in the first half, we just couldn’t get him down on the block,” Brooks said. “He had (Caleb) Fuller on him and nothing against Fuller, but he can’t guard Tanner. He’s too small and not strong enough and you saw that in the second half.”
The senior finished the half with just five points and nearly missed the opportunity to impact the game.
Bluefield opened the second half with a floater from Chance Johnson, taking their biggest lead of the night at 14 points but a quick 3 courtesy of East’s Tucker Cook proved the visitors still had a pulse. They scored 11 points in the frame to double their point total but still trailed by 11 heading into the final frame.
A bucket from Bluefield’s Will Looney to open the fourth quarter threatened to open the floodgates but another East 3, this one from Chandler Johnson, kept the hope alive. The two teams traded buckets on their next possessions with Bluefield’s R.J. Hairston later pushing the lead back to 10 with a fake and a layup but a Garrett Mitchell free throw followed by a 3-pointer from the aforementioned junior cut the deficit to six, the smallest it had been since the first quarter.
Whitten added to the drama, converting on a layup and splitting a pair of free throws to extend the East run to Ā 7-0 and cut the deficit to three points.
An offensive foul called against Bluefield set East up with a chance to tie with just under two minutes left but Bluefield’s pressure paid off when it mattered. The first pass after the inbound was stolen by Chance Johnson and dished to Fuller in the corner who drove the lane and finished through contact for a three-point play.
East draws a charge them Bluefieldās press does this. 42-36 Beavers with a little over a minute left.#wvprepbb pic.twitter.com/9oOnMxpOXQ
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) January 27, 2022
Fuller was true on the free throw attempt and Will Looney followed suit on the following possession, capping his own three-point play on a stick back to seal the deal.
“We knew they were going to make a run and they did,” Bluefield coach Buster Large said. “We were able to get a couple of baskets and get back to where we had a little bit of breathing room. You can’t turn the ball over and we did a couple of times in the fourth quarter. I’m really glad and proud of how we hung on. It’s a great victory to keep our streak going tonight.”
Hairston paced the Beavers with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Caleb Fuller added 12 points. Whitten led East with 16 points and eight rebounds while Chandler Johnson added 13 and eight rebounds in the loss. As a team the Warriors were 12-of-36 from the field, shooting 3-of-18 from behind the arc. Bluefield finished 19-of-45 from the field, converting on one of its three 3-point attempts.
Bluefield improves to 10-2, riding a seven-game winning streak, and will play again on Feb. 4 when it travels to The Greenbrier to play East again. East drops to 5-4 and will travel to Chapmanville on Friday.
Email: Tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
WE: 5 6 11 17 – 39
B: 12 11 10 19 – 52
Wyoming East
Tanner Whitten 16, Garrett Mitchell 5, Tucker Cook 3, Chandler Johnson 13, Cole Lambert 2
Bluefield
Chance Johnson 8, Caleb Fuller 12, Will Looney 8, Sencere Fields 2, R. J. Hairston 19, Jamel Floyd 3
3-point goals – WE: 3 (Mitchell 1, Cook 1, Johnson 1) ; B: 1 (Looney 1).