Gallery by Tina Laney
The sport of basketball was nowhere to be found when philosopher Herbert Spencer coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.”
However, at this point in the high school basketball season, many teams can easily relate to the historic phrase.
The Greater Beckley Christian and Liberty boys basketball teams can be counted amongst that group.
Battling through illness and foul trouble on both sides, the Crusaders survived a spirited effort from the Raiders to take home a 72-54 win in Glen Daniel.
While the final score appeared to show an easy road win for Greater Beckley, arriving at that final result was not an easy task Monday night.
“We will look back and see we had way too many turnovers and a lot of wasted possessions on the offensive end. Then we were not guarding anyone on the defensive end. I know the scoreboard said 54 at the end (for Liberty), but in reality, they could have had 70 points. They missed a few easy ones,” Greater Beckley head coach Justin Arvon said. “We were able to make enough hustle plays to end up getting out front and making runs when we needed to. Liberty is a tough team. (Liberty head coach) Chad (Williams) has a good bunch and they work really hard. I don’t expect anything less anytime that we play them. I am glad to walk away with a win tonight, that is for sure.”
Both teams entered the contest with a shortened roster due to illness.
Already short on varsity experience, Liberty was missing a key starter in Jadon Acord before losing Riley Marty with 6:25 to play in the first half with three fouls.
Forced to go with a smaller and even more inexperienced lineup, the Raiders struggled down the stretch watching a six-point deficit turn into a 39-24 game at halftime.
The Crusaders then appeared to be on the verge of blowing the game open when they pushed the lead to 20 points with just five minutes left in the third quarter.
Even worse for Liberty was the fact that Marty had been hit with his fourth foul during that stretch.
Williams rolled the dice and stuck with his athletic big man to try and stem the tide.
“You know if you take him out, you are probably going to lose the rebounding battles and you will be left with some people that are undersized guarding people that are bigger,” Williams explained. “You know he is going to foul out eventually. You just know your kids and their style. It was now or later and I chose now.”
Over the next two minutes, Liberty responded with an 8-0 spurt including two buckets from Marty in the sequence.
“This is the first year that I have had to scrap an offense early in the season and go with something else. With youth, you have to keep them moving or they become stagnate,” Williams said. “We put an offense in where there should be constant movement, cutting and rotations. It has been a timing issues so far, but we did a better job of that tonight.”
During that key span, Greater Beckley big man Aaron Hall was not in the game after picking up his fourth foul earlier in the quarter.
After Marty fouled out late in third quarter and Neal returned in the fourth period, the game moved in favor of the Crusaders.
“He probably could have lasted longer, but that comes with learning. We had such a good group last year that I didn’t play him as much as a sophomore as I probably should have. That is on me and I have to live with that decision. He is still learning to stay out of foul trouble,” Williams said about Marty. “He is an aggressive kid. He is long and lanky and aggressive. His athleticism is what he brings to the team. You really miss that. We lean on Jadon when Riley is in foul trouble, but Jadon was is sick and not here tonight. Then we have two guys that are athletic and not playing.”
With his team leading by 12 points heading to the final quarter, Hall poured in 11 of his 15 points down the stretch to seal the win for Greater Beckley.
“I challenged them to win the rebounding battle and for two-and-a-half quarters, I thought we did that,” Williams said. “I thought we held (Hall) in check until the fourth quarter and that was off rebounds where we didn’t have a body on him. Granted, if we stay out of foul trouble, keep our starters on the floor and Jadon Acord is here, it is a better ball game. Right now we are trying to find positives to get us through until we improve. It is not going to be an overnight improvement.”
Even though his team played with a limited roster, Arvon still saw some issues that left him concerned after the win.
“We were down two tonight due to illness and one of our guards is out there playing with a sprained wrist, but that is basketball,” Arvon said. “When we had to get stops, to what we felt would win the game and put it away, we just weren’t getting them. We are not doing the little things right now. Whether that is keeping the ball in front of us or getting two hands on the rebound or being where we need to be in help. Things like that put games away and we just didn’t do that.”
Keegan Davidson led Greater Beckley with 19 points, while Averyk Woodson had 14 and Kellen Heffernan scored 12.
Kris Bowman led all scorers fort Liberty netting 20 points and Talan McGraw scored 11.
The Class A No. 8 ranked Crusaders will have another tough battle on their hands when they welcome two-time defending Class A state champion, and No. 2 ranked, James Monroe to town Tuesday night.
GBC: 16 23 14 19 – 72
L: 14 10 17 13 – 54
Greater Beckley Christian
Keegan Davidson 19, Aaron Hall 15, Kellen Heffernan 12, Averyk Woodson 14, Kash Hendrix 4, Isaiah Kincaid 4, Landon Rose 2, Eli Gunter 2.
Liberty
Kris Bowman 20, Riley Marty 8, Talan McGraw 11, Colten Acord 2, Kevin Smith 2, Landon Lusk 4, Teagan Houck 2, Brayden Hatfield 4.
