Beckley – Greater Beckley came into Tuesday’s Little General Battle for the Armory with an impressive resume, boasting wins over James Monroe, Webster County and Greenbrier East.
The Crusaders now have another notch in their belt.
Greater Beckley erupted for 29 points in the third quarter, topping Class AAA Elkins 81-68 Tuesday afternoon at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
A flurry of points out of the break made the difference but a turning point came before the intermission.
Following a 16-16 tie after the first quarter, Elkins reeled off eight straight points, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Tanner Miller
Trailing 24-16, Greater Beckley coach Justin Arvon took a minute to regroup his team and it worked. They closed the frame on a 12-3 run to take a 28-27 advantage into the half.
“We lost focus and they went on an 8-0 or 7-0 run right there,” Arvon said. “We’ve talked this past week over Christmas break about bouncing back from adversity and that was our opportunity and they took that opportunity and ran with it. We finally started getting up and down the floor a little bit. Our energy picked up a little bit. We made a few substitutions and some energy guys got in there and picked it up for us.”
The collective effort of Azel Carmichael, Kendrick Wilson, John Rose and Kaden Smallwood ignited a 10-0 run that put the Crusaders ahead 26-24.
“We were having trouble containing the basketball,” Elkins coach Amrit Rayfield said. “Especially with (Kendrick) Wilson getting to where he wanted to go. He made a lot of plays and we didn’t do a very good job with him on that. They made that run and made some shots and got open there. That was the big run for them and gave them the confidence coming into the half.”
The Tigers looked rejuvenated coming out ion the break, canning three 3-pointers and leading 38-35 but the Crusaders responded with a counterpunch. Smallwood connected on all three of his 3-pointer in the frame. His third one broke a 42-42 tie and another from John Rose made it a 48-42 game.
Greater Beckley never trailed again.
“We talk about the first three minutes of the third quarter being the most important run of the game,” Arvon said. “That’s typically where you win or lose. We came out and won those three minutes and the reason why is because we were taking different shots. In the first quarter we were taking contested tough looks and weren’t moving the ball around. We weren’t getting up and down floor either. I think the kids can see once you get up and down the floor and the ball starts moving you can get much better look and your shooting percentage starts to rise. In the second half we started being unselfish and moved the ball around.”
The smallest the deficit got the rest of the way was five points as the Crusaders routinely nursed a double-digit lead throughout the final frame.
For the game Smallwood led all scorers with 23 points, joined by Rose and Wilson who each had 20. All three guards were efficient from the field with Wilson’s 50 percent shooting percentage the lowest of the bunch.
“They’re taking spot up jumpers on kick outs and ball reversals,” Arvon said. “They’re all good players and good shooters and that’s the type of scoring output they can have. Typically we might be able to even throw a Sherlock (Padmore) in there and Sean (Kadjo)Â might end up scoring 10 or so a couple times too. We have games where we have a couple guys in double figures, but this is the unselfishness we have to play with to be successful.”
Padmore led Greater Beckley with 10 rebounds. Cory Harper led Elkins with 22 points and four blocks.
The Crusaders move to 5-0 and will play Princeton in the Pepsi Championship on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Elkins will play Wyoming East in the consolation game at 2 p.m.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
E: 16 11 22 19 – 68
GBC: 16 12 29 24 – 81
Elkins 68
Max Jackson 8, Cory Harper 22, Tanner Miller 13, Jaydon Shreve 10, Malachi Watson 9, Andy Shifflett 3, Addison McCauley 3
Greater Beckley 81
Kendrick Wilson 20, Kaden Smallwood 23, Sherlock Padmore 8, John Rose 20, Mike Robinson 2, Azel Charmichael 6, Michael Judy 2
3-point goals – E: 7 (Harper 1, Miller 3, Shreve 2, Watson 1); GBC: 4 (Smallwood 3, Rose). Fouled Out – None
