The most important lesson in sports is never under estimate your opponent.
A victory Wednesday evening for defending Class A state champion James Monroe in the Little General Battle for the Armory will set up an enticing showdown with either Beckley or Oak Hill in Thursday’s championship game.
Standing in the Mavericks way Wednesday will be Calvary Baptist Academy (6-2) who is far from a pushover.
“Calvary Baptist has been really good,” first year head coach Mason Ballard said. “They have won the last three West Virginia Christian Athletic Tournament championships. We lost a lot off of last year’s team, but we do return two starters back that are really good players.”
Ballard is in the midst of his first-ever high school head coaching stint, but he clearly has plenty of knowledge to get the job done.
“I was an assistant at Poca with Allen Osborne for the last four years. Being with that guy is like getting a masters degree in basketball,” Ballard said. “I find myself all the time wondering what coach would do, but I intuitively seem to know what he would do about 90 percent of the time.”
The six wins so far this season have come against WVCAT schools that includes impressive wins over West Logan Christian, Mercer Christian and Teays Valley Christian.
The two losses for the Patriots were to Capital and Charleston Catholic.
“I am calling this the non-conference portion of our schedule,” Ballard said laughing. “I want my guys to play in games like this. James Monroe is the cream of single-A and if we were in the WVSSAC that is who we would have to go up against.”
“(Our players) are not used to losing, but we have nothing to lose in these games,” Ballard continued. “We played Capital close for a half. We had a tough third quarter against Catholic, but cut it back to six or seven with a few minutes to play. We have a good group.”
Steven Hicks leads Calvary Baptist scoring 23 points per contest, while averaging six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
“Stevie is a very versatile player, kind of a combo-guard,” Ballard said. “He is a great defender and a good ball-handler. He can get to the rim and is tough to guard.”
Standing 6-foot-3, Ballard sees a lot of similarities in his standout guard and James Monroe all-stater Eli Allen.
“We think they are similar players, so it will be really neat to see them play against each other,” Ballard said. “Stevie is a solid all-around player that can definitely play at the next level.”
Hicks is flanked by another big-scoring guard in fellow-senior Isaiah Bosley who stands 6-foot-5.
“Isaiah is a great shooter. He is a two-guard with some size that has offers from Waynesburg (University) and W.Va. Wesleyan,” Ballard said. “They are both just really good players that know how to score.”
The blue-collar kid for the Patriots is senior Jo Swain who averages seven points and seven rebounds per game.
“Swain in a lot ways is the grit and heart of our team. He is a tough kid that has a great attitude and does all of the dirty work,” Ballard said. “He hits the floor for loose balls and is a key cog in our machine for sure.”
After going undefeated and winning the Class A title last year, James Monroe has won all six of its contests to start the 2022-23 season.
“They are really talented and very well coached,” Ballard said about James Monroe. “They have a great system that is firing on all cylinders and we are excited for the opportunity to get to play them and see where we are at.”
Allen leads the Mavericks averaging 21 points, while grabbing nearly nine rebounds per game, while fellow-senior Josh Burks is the defensive specialist for the Mavericks.Burks is also scoring 14 points per game.
Collin Fox is the third member of the dynamic scoring trio for James Monroe. Coming off of an impressive performance at the state tournament last year, Fox has opened the season averaging 17 points per game to go a long with seven rebounds, five assists and nearly four steals.
Juan Hopkins, Owen Jackson and Cooper Ridgeway have also been solid contributors scoring right at seven points per game.
The nightcap in the Burger King Division will feature a clash between longtime rivals Woodrow Wilson and Oak Hill. The winners will meet in the championship game Thursday at 8 p.m., while the consolation game is set for 6 p.m.
