AM
G-Men dominate Tazewell again
Graham (93) Vs. Tazewell (46)
By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, Va. — It’s safe to say that Tazewell has seen enough of the G-Men for a while.
In a span of 11 days, Graham has outscored Tazewell 107-17 ... in the first half alone.
Graham, which defeated Tazewell 90-36 just 11 days ago, defeated the Bulldogs 93-46 in a rematch on Friday night at Graham Middle School.
Five G-Men reached double figures, and none of them were by senior scorer Colby Hill, who was injured in the first quarter, and sat out the remainder of the game.
He wasn’t missed, with Graham already up 21-0 at that point with 4:29 left in the opening period. He had two points on a pair of free throws.
“He dislocated his ring finger, and it was put back in place,” said Graham head coach Glynn Carlock Jr., whose G-Men have four games on tap next week. “We held him out, we just have to evaluate him come Monday and see how things go.
“It is swelled up pretty bad right now, but we have a big important week next week...We will find out what we are made of really quick next week.”
Roman Workman led the G-Men with 18 points, while Thomas Clarke (17), freshman Garrett Dalton (15), Nick Morgan (13) and Tony Hood (12) all reached double figures for the G-Men, which rebounded from a 12-point loss to Bluefield on Tuesday.
Graham struggled to shoot the ball against the Beavers, but were able connect on 24 field goal in the opening half, including four 3s, against the Bulldogs.
“Early I felt like we were able to hit some outside shots, we were trying to force the issue and try to take people off the dribble to the basket tonight too, and we did a good job with it,” Carlock said. “We spent a lot of time the last two days in practice shooting the basketball.
“We had spent a lot of time shooting it prior too. We will take the win, but we have a lot more improving to do. We are going to find out what we are made of next week, that is going to be our biggest week early on in the season.”
Graham had no problems with Tazewell, making its first seven shots to take that 21-0 lead before Nick Elkins made a pair of free throws for the Bulldogs. The G-Men led 31-2 after one quarter, and led 59-9 at the break against the cold-shooting Bulldogs.
It was the same formula from the previous matchup when the G-Men shot layups, and Bulldogs missed shots. Tazewell was 1-for-26 in the first half, finally get a field goal by Elkins with 4:25 left before the break.
By that point, the Bulldogs had missed their first 16 shot attempts. The Bulldogs trailed 48-8 at halftime in the first meeting, and 59-9 in this one.
“We talked about getting back on defense and we didn’t do a good job of that,” Tazewell head coach J’me Harris said. “In the first half we were 1 for 26, it doesn’t get much worse than that.
“They are a great defensive team, saying we shot the ball bad is part of it, but what they do defensively and what Coach Carlock does over there, that is part of our problem. They are an exceptional defensive team so that contributed.”
Graham continued to press and force Tazewell turnovers in the third quarter, scoring 24 more points to take a 83-31 advantage into the final period.
“We played and ran the floor and hustled and defended real well in the first half,” Carlock said. “We tried to let a lot of guys get a lot of time in the second half. We saw some good things from some of them, and we were real pleased with some of them.
“This is the kind of game you want to improve on certain areas and we did in certain areas, but we still have a whole lot we have to work on.”
Tazewell made 17 second half field goals, and did manage to narrow the final margin to less than the 54 from two weeks ago. Juwan Jordan paced the Bulldogs with 16 points, while Elkins and T.J. Kitts were next with seven apiece.
“They are well-coached, a well-disciplined team and they made it rough on us in the first half,” Harris said. “In the second half we went back to the things we like to do. We picked up halfcourt and created some easier opportunities for us, we got more layups instead of settling for the 3.”
Tazewell has had little time to practice, with a rugged schedule that lists four games this week — including an Southwest District tournament contest today with Lebanon at Richlands — and will include four next week, starting with Grundy on Monday and three games in a tournament later in the week at Virginia High.
“Lebanon concludes our four games in five nights, we are playing like an NBA schedule,” said Harris, whose Bulldogs have had to play highly-regarded Fort Chiswell, Abingdon and Graham in four nights. “Right now unfortunately, we are trying to teach during games instead of being able to teach in practice.”
Graham will host Richlands on Tuesday, and will also participate at Virginia High, opening on Thursday against either Lebanon or Chilhowie, both of which are high-powered, high-octane offenses.
The trip to Bristol can wait. Carlock has been high on Richlands all preseason, and his opinion hasn’t changed.
“People don’t realize Richlands is going to be one of the top teams in Southwest Virginia before the year is over,” Carlock said. “They shoot the ball too well not to be. Coach (Jody) Fuller does a great job with them.
“Those kids play together, and they are gunners. They gun the 3, they are very, very smart players, they feed off of each other and they are very, very good. We will find out what is going on here Tuesday.
“Hopefully we will have a packed house and it will be a good environment.”
bwoodson@bdtonline.com
/ Twitter @bdtwoodson

at Graham Middle School
TAZEWELL (0-6)
Nick Elkins 2 3-4 7, Juwan Jordan 7 0-2 16, Dakota Girth 0 0-2 0, T.J. Kitts 2 3-3 7, Dakota Crouse 3 0-0 6, Gee Tucker 2 1-2 5, Josh Murray 2 2-3 5, Hunter Mullins 0 0-0 0, Ben Samaniego 0 0-0 0, Drew Mullins 0 0-0 0, Spencer Necessary 0 0-0 0, Craig Poskas 0 0-0 0, Clifford McPeak 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 9-16 46.
GRAHAM (2-1)
Tony Hood 5 1-2 12, Roman Workman 7 3-4 18, Thomas Clarke 8 1-1 17, Colby Hill 0 2-2 2, Tanner Miller 2 2-2 6, Nick Morgan 6 0-0 13, Chris Jones 1 0-1 2, Israel Harris 1 0-0 3, Jacob Simpson 1 1-1 3, Nick Shoemaker 1 0-0 2, Garrett Dalton 7 1-2 15. Totals 39 11-15 93.
Tazewell..............2 7 22 15 — 46
Graham.............31 28 24 10 — 93
3-point goals: TZ 3 (Jordan 2, Murray 1); GR 4(Hood 1, Morgan 1, Workman 1, Harris 1). Total fouls: TZ 14; GR 14. Fouled out: none. JV—Graham won.
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Graham 31 28 24 10 0 93
Tazewell 2 7 22 15 0 46
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