Gallery by Heather Belcher
Charleston – Adversity is nothing new for Greater Beckley.
Tuesday afternoon, the Crusaders were again neck-deep in a tough situation in their quarterfinal clash at the state tournament inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
Facing a 12-point halftime deficit and serious foul trouble to boot, Greater Beckley executed a furious second-half comeback to stun defending Class A state champion Man, 63-57.
“My thoughts initially are how proud I am of this team. The guys sitting on the bench who knew they weren’t going to play, but man, were they active cheering for our team,” Greater Beckley head coach Justin Arvon said. “Man is an outstanding team. They are well coached and the defending state champs. We knew it was going to be a battle and it absolutely was. We could have laid down at halftime and these guys did not do that.”
Battling through the postseason with a limited roster after four players were ruled ineligible, the one thing that the Crusaders could ill-afford was foul trouble.
At halftime, starters Michael Judy and Sean-David Kadjo each had three fouls and Kaden Smallwood had two.
“We only have so many guys. We are used to playing with foul trouble and we trust our kids on the floor,” Arvon said. “That is why you saw them in there with three fouls at times in the first half.”
Playing under the dark cloud of foul trouble, the Crusaders applied lighting strike after lightning strike to the Hillbillies defensively to open the second half.
“We were able to refocus at halftime. We did some things things on the offensive end and started getting back to our initial offense, setting good screens, moving the ball around the perimeter and it opened some attack lanes for our guards,” Arvon said. “When these guys are able to get downhill and make plays, they are extremely tough to defend. That is exactly what they did in the second half.”
When Smallwood scored on a layup at the 3:26 mark of the third period, Greater Beckley had come all the way back for a 42-40 lead.
“I think you saw a huge difference in effort and intensity out of our group in the second half that wasn’t there in the first half. That was also addressed at halftime,” Arvon said.
The defending state champs regrouped however, and led 46-44 after three quarters. Then over the first four minutes of the final quarter, the Hillbillies appeared to regain control of the game after building a 55-48 lead.
“We played good all year in third quarters. We didn’t play good this game. We always say in the locker room, the first three minutes of the third quarter is going to dictate a lot of things,” Man head coach T.J. Blevins said. “We came out flat. Give credit to them, they came out stroking. They were hitting everything they threw up there at the beginning of the third quarter. They cooled off at the end and we got on top of the going into the fourth.
When Man’s inside threat Jeremiah Harless fouled out with 3:59 to play, the Hillbillies’ fate took a serious blow.
“It was huge for us. We had been able get them spread out on the defensive end and attack at Harless,” Arvon explained. “Once he got out of the game, our guards were able to get to the rim easier. When he is not in there, it is a huge factor and it really turned the tide there.”
With Smallwood and Kendrick Wilson relentlessly attacking the lane, Greater Beckley chipped away at the lead.
Wilson’s layup at the 1:46 mark gave the Crusaders a 58-57 lead and Man never scored again.
“When Jeremiah fouled out it changed things. It changed a lot of things,” Blevins said. “That is the nature of the beast. When you play hard, you tend to foul a little too much. We had no inside presence.”
After being forced to forfeit regular season games due to players been ruled ineligible, Greater Beckley entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed in Class A.
Blevins begged to differ.
“First off, congratulations to Greater Beckley. Second off, if you think that is a 7-seed, you need your head examined,” Blevins said. “That is no typical 7-seed that we came into tournament play with. We knew when we got the draw that it was going to be a tough one. Am I happy with the loss? No. Am I happy with the seed? No. That is a helluva 7-seed, I put it to you that way.”
Wilson led Greater Beckley with 20 points scoring several crucial buckets to keep the Crusaders in the game. Smallwood tallied 18 points, while handing out eight assists and grabbing seven rebounds.
“We held Smallwood to four points in the first half and he ended 18. It’s hard to guard guys like that who are so explosive,” Blevins said. “They can get where they want, finish, dump or kick it out to the wing. They are a very good duo.”
John Rose added 11 points and had five crucial steals to fuel the comeback.
“I knew he was rebounding the ball extremely well today. His shot wasn’t falling from the field, but he was impacting the game in other ways,” Arvon said about Rose. “That is what great players do. In the past, some of our kids, if they are not shooting the ball well, that is the end. John found other ways to make us win today. The guy he was guarding only had five total points and he is a sniper from the 3-point line.”
Judy added five points, but made some key defensive plays down the stretch, and Kadjo tossed in nine points to go along with seven rebounds.
Man has a chance down 3 then Michael Judy does this. Smallwood with a pair of FTs and it’s 62-57 Crusaders with 19.1 seconds left. #wvprepbb pic.twitter.com/I4Y5Ezkwhv
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) March 15, 2022
“This (stat sheet) says (Sean) had seven rebounds, but it felt like he had more than that,” Arvon said. One of keys for him was rebounding the ball with Harless today. He is one of the best rebounders in the state and Sean was right there with him.”
“Michael Judy, we coached him up there in the second half and he came out a different player all over and on the defensive end,” Arvon continued. “Some calls weren’t going his way, or our way in general, but the guys didn’t let that effect them, they buckled down.”
Greater Beckley now faces No. 3 seed Tucker County in the semifinal round. That game will be played Thursday at 11:15 a.m.
“It is going to be a battle. Blue-collar type kids that are big and they have good shooters,” Arvon said. “Their motion offense is tough to guard. They are constantly moving. If our kids don’t come ready to play, it could be a long night on the defensive end.”