By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON — Sectionals turned into Hunter season for James Monroe.
Clay Hunter came off the bench to score seven points, including five in the fourth quarter, and James Monroe advanced to the Region III, Section 2 semifinals with a hard-fought 54-50 win over Mount View on Saturday evening at Princeton Senior High School’s Ralph Ball Court.
James Monroe (14-9), which won four games combined in the previous two seasons, will play PikeView on Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. The winner will play Bluefield or Greenbrier West in the championship game on Friday, and also earn a berth in the regionals the following week.
PikeView rallied from an early fourth quarter deficit to beat winless River View 65-54 in the final game of the day.
A close game from the start, the clubs played to a 22-22 tie at the break and it was still tied 38-38 going into the final period. The Mavericks got a lift from Hunter, a sophomore, who not only made a layup and scored on a nifty drive to the hoop in the final period, but also contributed two assists, two steals and key rebounds down the stretch.
“He really took advantage of his minutes, and when a player comes in and gives you a really good spark it is hard to take him off the floor,” James Monroe head coach Jonathan McPherson said. “He just played a quarter and a half and scored seven points so it was pretty impressive and I am pleased with his performance tonight.”
The Mavericks took the lead for good early in the final quarter on baskets by E.T. Weiss off assists from Hunter. Mount View cut the lead to 44-42 on a shot by Donnell Bonds, but the Golden Knights simply couldn’t get the ball in the basket.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well, we probably shot in the 20s as far as percentage,” Mount View head coach Gary Brown said. “We just missed too many easy opportunities and I thought that was the difference in the game.
“We got the ball inside and we just couldn’t get a lot out of it in the fourth quarter. If we capitalize on those things I think it could have been a different ball game.”
James Monroe drove the ball inside on the bigger Knights, and were able to push the lead out to five, forcing foul-plagued Mount View to foul. The Mavericks were 18-of-32 from the charity stripe in the game, but just 8-20 in the final period.
“We were having quick possessions with just one pass and shot and I don’t think we hit a 3 all night,” I am glad we adjusted and started taking it to the rim and got to the free throw line.
“I wish we could have made more free throws, especially in the fourth quarter. I don’t like that, but that is one thing we are going to work on before Tuesday’s game.”
Zach Hatfield led James Monroe with 16 points, including 6-12 from the free throw line, while Mark Dixon scored 15, making 8-14 from the charity stripe.
“We talked about before we came in that they were going to try and drive the ball to the basket and that is what they did,” said Brown, whose Knights had three players foul out in the final quarter. “They spent a lot of time on the free throw line because of it and that made a big difference.”
Mount View (8-14) was determined to take the ball inside to Maurice Brown, who led all scorers with 20 points, and Bonds, who had 11. Antoine Calloway also scored 11 points for the Knights. The Knights had close shots, but most missed their mark.
“I thought Donnell stepped up or us, I thought he played a heck of a game” Brown said. “We had open looks, we just couldn’t knock shots down and they played zone because of it.
“If you not shooting well that zone is going to be really effective…It was difficult for us to get it inside there as much as we wanted. I thought we got it in there enough, but we just didn’t capitalize on it.”
Brown had eight points in the first quarter, as the Golden Knights led by as much as seven, at 10-3 and 20-13, before the Mavericks went on a 9-2 run to tie the score at 22 at the break.
James Monroe made it tougher on the Knights to get the ball inside in the second half. Mount View had the only two 3s in the game.
“We tried to mix up defenses where we had a lot of help down low on him because I think the (Teddy) Hazzard kid can shoot and he shot it pretty well, but I am not sure they had any other kids out there that really tried to shoot,” McPherson said. “I could tell their game plan was to push it in to (Brown) and he had a pretty strong performance and I thought we made good adjustments on him in the second half.”
Inside baskets by Bonds and Calloway put the Knights back up 26-22 to open the second half, and that was followed by five ties and three lead changes, with the score still tied at 38.
Two baskets by Weiss put James Monroe up to stay, as the Knights struggled with turnovers and couldn’t take advantage of the Mavs’ troubles at the charity stripe.
“That is one thing I stress to them is pressuring the basketball because when you pressure the opponent a lot of times they will get rushed and make bad decisions and that is what we wanted,” McPherson said.
Mount View finished the season with an 8-14 record, but Brown likes what the future looks like in Welch.
“We didn’t take advantage of the missed opportunities that we had,” Brown said. “We had a layup that we missed, but they are just kids. We will learn from it and get better for next year, we have everybody back but one guy and we will grow from it.
“If we get all them back and we get a couple of eighth graders I think we can be pretty decent next year. I am hoping so and we have just got to keep working hard, that is what we have got to do.”
— Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

At Princeton Senior High School
MOUNT VIEW (8-14)
Teddy Hazzard 2 1-2 6, Tashaan Vineyard 1 0-0 2, Antoine Calloway 5 0-0 11, Donnell Bonds 5 1-3 11, Maurice Brown 9 2-3 20, Deshawn Headen 0 0-2 0, Jerry Saunders 0 0-0 0, Rashawn Brooks 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 4-10 50.
JAMES MONROE (14-9)
Zach Hatfield 5 6-12 16, Mark Dixon 3 8-14 14, Brad Jackson 1 1-2 3, Micah Deskins 1 0-0 2, Wes Jones 1 2-2 4, E.T. Weiss 2 0-0 4, Clay Hunter 3 1-2 7, Ryan Bishop 0 0-0 0, Chastin Wickline 1 0-0 2, Garrett Mann 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 18-32 54
Mount View…………….....…14 8 16 12 — 50
James Monroe………......…..11 11 16 16 — 54
3-point goals: MV 2 (Hazzard , Calloway 1); JM 0. Total fouls: MV 28; JN 16. Fouled out: Vineyard, Calloway, Headen. Technicals: none.