Gallery by Greg Barnett
Princeton – Despite its struggles this season, Beckley came into Wednesday’s matchup against Princeton with a chance to secure the No. 1 seed in its section.
The Tigers put those hopes on life support.
Behind 26 combined points from guards Chase Hancock and Kris Joyce in the second half, the Tigers pulled away in the fourth quarter of a 58-38 win over the Flying Eagles in Princeton.
Missing starters Elijah Redfern and Mike Miller, the Flying Eagles turned to the trio of freshmen Brayden Hawthorne, Jaylon Walton and M.J. Staples to help supplement seniors Maddex McMillen and Landyn Wolfe.
It took a half for the hosts to attack that youth but when they did Beckley’s prospects took a downturn.
Tied 31-31 in the third quarter, Hancock canned a 3-pointer and Joyce followed with one of his own after a lapse in transition. A bucket from Jon Wellman gave the hosts a 39-31 advantage heading into the fourth. Scores from Hancock and Wellman to open the final frame capped a 12-0 run that buried the visitors in a double-digit deficit they never recovered from.
Across the second half the Tigers scorched the nets, converting on 13 of their 23 shot attempts after the break. It was welcome change after a first half where they shot just 29 percent from the field.
“We turned up the defense,” Princeton coach Robb Williams said. “I decided to press in the second half and we hit the boards. We were not rebounding like we typically do. They were pushing us off the ball and they were being much more physical in the first half and we kind of manned up and played a little tougher in the second, especially Kris Joyce. He was getting a lot of big boards for us and scoring for us in the second half so I was real proud of that.
“Another thing is we were penetrating their zone and getting in there but the guards were trying to dump it to a big instead of kicking it out. We had 12 turnovers in the first half and 11 boards and I told them we’re not going to beat anybody like that so we did a little better job in the second half of handling the ball and rebounding and playing defense.”
The Flying Eagles’ prospects looked good early with a pair of Hawthorne 3s sandwiching a McMillen jumper but six straight from the hosts tied the game.
The rest of the half was nip and tuck with Princeton threatening to break out of its early funk on the strength of a 3 from Wellman and layup from Grant Cochran that made it a 17-12 game. A 6-2 burst from the Flying Eagles quelled the uprising, making it a one-point game heading into the break.
Unfortunately for the Flying Eagles, who shot 26 percent from the field on 23 attempts, they didn’t find the magic formula to generate offense. They shot 25 percent from the field in the second half, making just five field goals across the final 16 minutes of the game.
“We have a hard time creating our own shot,” Beckley coach Ron Kidd said. “That shows. That’s why our shooting percentage is so bad. When they’re open we want our guys to shoot.”
Compounding Beckley’s shooting woes was its inability to break Princeton’s pressure defense or react quickly to its traps. The approach led to seven steals for the Tigers in the second half.
“I’m a little small at the guard so I’ve been more judicious with my presses because I love to press,” Williams said. “We’ve got five different presses we run and and tonight at halftime I decided to start running them and was a lot more aggressive. I did a little bit in the second quarter and I saw it really did bother them and they started turning the ball over.
“At halftime I said ‘We’re going to press’ and we did throughout. That was the difference in the game. I was very pleased with the way they trapped. They didn’t seem to have an answer for it tonight. Without Redfern – he’s a good ball player – and they had Maddex’s who’s a really good, strong kid but we were able to trap them and it was good for us.”
Joyce and Hancock led the way for the Tigers with the former scoring 17 and the latter pitching in 14. Wellman added 12 points. McMillen was the only Flying Eagle in double figures with 10 points.
Beckley drops to 3-9 and will host Greenbrier Eats on Saturday. Princeton will travel to Independence on Saturday.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
B: 10 8 13 7 – 38
P: 11 8 20 19 – 58
Beckley
MJ Staples 9, Maddex McMillen 10, Landyn Wolfe 5, Brayden Hawthorne 8, Jaylon Walton 4, Kellan Hofferman 2
Princeton
Aiden Ash 5, Chase Hancock 14, Kham Hurte 3, Grant Cochran 3, Kris Joyce 17, EJ Washington 4, Jon Wellman 12
3-point goals – B: 3 (Staples 1, Hawthorne 2)