Gallery by Tina Laney
New Richmond – When the halftime horn sounded, No. 7 Wyoming East had top-ranked Bluefield right where it wanted them in the clash of Class AA titans.
That was before the second half pressure by the Beavers dammed up the Warriors, bringing their upset bid to standstill Tuesday night.
Trailing 23-22 at the break, Bluefield turned defense into offense and outscored Wyoming East 16-6 in the decisive third period to head home with a 55-40 win.
“The turnovers in the third quarter changed the game,” Wyoming East head coach Derek Brooks said. “We played good defensively the first half and took care of the ball. They switched up the pressure a little bit and we didn’t adjust. In the timeout we told them where we wanted them to go, but then they would go to the wrong spots.”
Along with igniting the pressure cooker in the second half, the Beavers went to their big man inside, R.J. Hairston, who scored six points in the third period.
“We told them going in that we had to be physical with him. We have to make him work for everything. He is a strong kid and he finishes strong,” Brooks said. “He will power you in the rim and score. He did a good job of that and we weren’t in help-side good enough. We turned and watched tonight and he scored it every time he got it down there.”
A bucket by Hairston opened the second half and was quickly followed by a turnover that led to a layup for Sencere Fields.
Garrett Mitchell answered for Wyoming East, but another turnover by Warriors produced an easy layup for Will Looney.
“We got to where we were trying to dribble to beat pressure and you can’t beat pressure that way,” Brooks said. “When we would over dribble they would come from behind, trap us and get steals. They play their press very well, but we have to get rid of the ball faster and attack.”
A pull-up jumper from Cole Lambert, who scored 16 points on the night, pulled East within one point, but that was as close as the home team could get the rest of the night.
Another strong move from Hairston started a 10-0 run and put the Beavers firmly in control.
A pair of back-to-back steals led to two made free-throws from Looney and a layup from Caleb Fuller. The third turnover in the sequence put the ball back in Looney’s hands who slammed it home for a 36-27 lead.
“We turned it over like six straight times and they got four or five layups out of it,” Brooks said. “That will swing a game against Bluefield because they very rarely give up a 10-point lead.”
Looney led the Beavers with 16 points on the night and has developed into a consistent scoring threat for Bluefield this season.
“Just confidence. It is a confidence thing,” Looney said when asked about his play this season. “Last year was the first year getting actual varsity minutes. I was a little shaky at times, but I worked over the summer to get more confidence. Once you gain confidence you are a whole different player.”
Hairston capped the third quarter scoring before Lambert scored for East to end the quarter and then again to start the fourth period.
Hopes for an East comeback were dashed by a bucket from Hairston and a nice step-through layup by Fields which pushed the lead back to double digits midway through the final quarter.
Hairston finished with 14 points, while Fuller scored 12 and Fields added nine.
“We lost two games in a row last week and we haven’t done that in a long time. We had to get back on the winning streak, so we worked really hard in practice,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said. “We worked on our pressure all week long. We didn’t do a good job of shooting, rebounding and playing good defense last week. We went back to the basics and it paid off.”
The win gives Bluefield a leg up for home court advantage when the postseason rolls around in March.
“They are a good sectional opponent and we lost to them last year at the (Brushfork) Armory in the sectional championship,” Looney recalled. “We still kind of had that chip on our shoulders and we wanted to come in here and get a win.”
Bluefield (6-2) will host Class A No. 1 James Monroe Friday night, while Wyoming East (9-3) travels to Greenbrier West Tuesday.
B: 15 7 16 17 – 55
WE: 15 8 6 11 – 40
Bluefield
Kam’Ron Gore 4, Sencere Fields 9, Will Looney 16, Caleb Fuller 12, R.J. Hairston 14. Totals: 23 6-7 55.
Wyoming East
Cole Lambert 16, Garrett Mitchell 14, Bryson Huff 6, Jacob Howard 4. Totals: 17 2-2 40.
3-pointers – B: 3 (Fields, Fuller 2); WE: 4 (Huff 2, Mitchell 2).