Gallery by Heather Belcher
The story for Greater Beckley Christian boys basketball this season has been on repeat this year. Slow starts, followed by a strong effort in the second half.
Saturday afternoon it was the same story for the Crusaders when they battled Westside in the New River CTC Invitational.
After trailing at halftime by two, Greater Beckley outscored the Renegades 27-16 in the final eight minutes to secure a 72-61 win.
“It seems to be the story when we play here. We don’t come out ready to roll, then in the fourth quarter, here we go,” Greater Beckley head coach Justin Arvon said. “At the end of the day, we have a bunch of resilient guys who win when it matters and I am proud of the outcome tonight.”
Greater Beckley entered the game as the top ranked team in Class A while Westside had had some struggles early in the season.
While some may have seen the game as a possible one-sided affair, they underestimated the boys from Clear Fork who came out firing.
Three long balls from senior Evan Colucci in the first eight minutes helped the Renegades build an 18-14 lead.
While the early lead was in part due to solid shooting, Westside also came out with a defensive wrinkle that befuddled Greater Beckley.
“We played box-and-1 on them against (Kaden) Smallwood, hoping it would throw them off balance and I believe it did,” Westside head coach Shawn Jenkins said. “Then we were able to get rolling offensively at the beginning of the game. We got a little stagnate in the third quarter. If we could have shot it as good then as we did in the first half, we would have been right there with a chance to win.”
Leading by two points at halftime, the Renegades increased the lead to five on an old school three-point play by Ryan Anderson at the 5:02 mark.
“That is basketball at this level. If you aren’t scoring the basketball, it is hard to pick up your energy on the other end,” Arvon said. “Scoring increases your emotion and willingness to do the little things to get the game at your speed. If some of the early shots fall, it is likely a different outcome.”
The game changed over the final five minutes when Greater Beckley got a spark from Kendrick Wilson who scored seven straight points.
Combined with the defensive effort from the Crusaders, who held Westside scoreless, Greater Beckley regained the lead at 45-43.
“Our kids were really, really challenged at that point,” Arvon said with a smile. “They are kids and they should play their hardest and most intense all the time, but that is just not how it works out all the time. They responded well to adversity though.”
The game was tied entering the fourth quarter on a bucket from Anderson with 24 seconds left in the period.
Trailing 48-47, Greater Beckley took the lead for good on a bucket from Sherlock Padmore and a three-point play from Smallwood.
The Crusaders moved the lead to six points on easy scores from Wilson and Smallwood, but Westside answered with two free-throws from Shandall Adkins and a triple from Austin Cline.
The final push was short lived, however when a deep 3 from Michael Judy and five straight from Padmore gave the Crusaders an eight-point lead.
“They came out in more of a box-and-1 against us and we haven’t gone against that yet. Then we missed our first seven 3’s and end up only hitting three total,” Arvon said. “When they are junk defensing you like that, you have to execute and we just weren’t knocking down shots. What we needed to do was like in the fourth quarter where we got up and down the floor. We finally did that and got some pitch out for layups.”
Smallwood led the Crusaders with 19 points, while Wilson scored 16. Padmore added 13 and Sean-David Kadjo finished with 10.
Colucci led the Renegades with 23, Hunter Lester scored 13 and Adkins added 11. Cline had nine for Westside.
“We weren’t allowed to practice the last two days, so we haven’t been in the gym. For them to come up here, play as hard as they did and as well as they did, I was really proud of them,” Jenkins said. “If there is such a thing as a moral victory, I am chalking today up to one. I really thought we played hard and hard enough to win today.”
W: 18 17 10 16 – 61
GBC: 14 19 12 27 – 72
Westside 61
Evan Colucci 23, Ryan Anderson 5, Hunter Lester 13, Shandell Adkins 11, Austin Cline 9. Totals: 22 9-15 61
Greater Beckley Christian 72
Kaden Smallwood 19, Sherlock Padmore 13, Kendrick Wilson 16, Sean-David Kadjo 10, Michael Judy 8, Miko Robinson 2, Azel Carmichael 4. Totals: 24 21-30 72.
3-pointers – W: 8 (Colucci 6, Lester, Cline); GBC 3 (Judy 2, Kadjo).
