Gallery by Greg Barnett
Gardner – PikeView was able to hold Bluefield all-staters R.J. Hairston and Kam’Ron Gore in check for the first 14 minutes of Tuesday’s matchup.
But when Hairston broke loose he smashed the floodgates and eventually brought Gore with him.
Hairston score 23 of his game-high 28 points in the middle two quarters, helping the Beavers roll late in an 88-51 victory over the Panthers in Gardner.
Hairston was efficient and mostly unstoppable in his showing, connecting of 13 of 16 shots in the win to give Bluefield the boost it needed before the halftime break.
Gore, saddled with three fouls in the first half, sat out most of the first 16 minutes and the Panthers took advantage of his absence, rallying from a 12-0 deficit to draw within four points at 23-19 early in the second quarter. From there Hairston erupted, scoring 13 of the next 19 points to help the visitors to a 42-29 advantage at the intermission.
“I just know my team needed me and they started hitting me and I started looking for the shots,” Hairston said. “I look for everybody too so, it just came to me.”
Despite a tenacious Beaver defense that forced 12 first-half turnovers the host Panthers held strong, capitalizing at the line. They hit just 33 percent of their 21 field goal attempts in the first 16 minutes but converted on 12 of 19 free throws including 6 of 9 in the opening quarter to stay afloat.
But the turnovers eventually caught up to them with eight balls getting away in the second quarter where the Beavers made their run.
“I thought the first and second quarters we played well after we spotted them 10 points,” PikeView head coach “Les Farmer said. “I think we were only down five at the end of the first quarter but we were executing and we were making them play in the half court and that’s how you’re going to be successful against Bluefield. We were breaking the press and we were slowing them up on offense. We were making them play in the half court. And then we quit running offense. I mean, we would have one pass and then somebody was shooting the shot. We have people that weren’t cutting and people not wanting the ball, not coming to the ball and that’s what killed us. That’s what really what buried us.”
PikeView struck first in the second half with a David Thomas layup but a rested Gore made up for lost time.
He immediately answered with the first of back-to back 3s, sparking a quarter in which he scored 15 points on 5 of 6 shooting. Hairston picked up where he left off as well, adding 10 more points with the highlight of the frame coming when Gore connected with him on a successful alley-oop attempt.
It was all a part of a 21-2 third-quarter run that took place after Thomas connected on that first shot out of the gate.
“Gore and RJ they’re all state players for a reason,” Farmer said. “I mean, they’re gonna be first-team all-state players again in double-A. We knew going in that RJ was their guy and Gore was their shooter and we challenged the guys to box out RJ and then we had a challenged them on the outside with Gore and he got loose. We scored the first bucket in the third quarter and then the next two buckets they hit were a transition 3 and we’re not even going out close out and that’s how he gets loose. I don’t know how it happens but it did.”
As a team Bluefield shot 52 percent from the field. Gore shot 69 percent (9 of 13), finishing with 23 points while Hairston’s 13 makes gave him an 81 percent clip on the night. Jase Smith and Sencere Fields scored in double figures as well for the Beavers with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Drew Damewood was the only Panther to break double figures with 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting.
“Anytime it’s the beginning of the year you’re a little nervous and you start slow,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said. “It’s a new group playing together and PikeView was playing with excitement. They got a new coach. But anytime you can get out of here with a win we’ll take it.”
B: 19 23 28 18 – 88
PV: 14 15 9 13 – 51
Bluefield
EJ Washington 5, Kam’Ron Gore 23, Sencere Fields 12, Glen Keene 5, Jase Smith 13, RJ Hairston 28, JAck Hurt 2
PikeView
David Thomas 7, Jared Vestal 6, Drew Damewood 13, Bryson Bailey 5, Elijah Hall 9, Austin Bennett 9, Zach Rose 2
