Ramey
PikeView vs. Bluefield
PikeView (47) Vs. Bluefield (64)
By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON — Being that this is a leap year, the Bluefield Beavers had to wait one extra day to earn a measure of vengeance after being eliminated in the opening round of the sectional tournament last season.
Lykel Collier was determined to put an end to that wait, as the Beavers won their first sectional title in four years with a 64-47 Region III, Section 2 victory over PikeView on Friday night at Princeton Senior High School.
“It felt pretty good to win the sectional, this is our first sectional (title) in (four) years so it feels great to win the sectional finally and reach one of our goals this year,” Collier said. “That is not like Bluefield, there were a couple of upsets in the last couple of years and now it feels good to win the section.”
Collier and Anthony Eades scored 19 points apiece and Harley Trimble added 13, as the Beavers had second period runs of 10-3 and 10-0 to build a double-digit lead they would never lose.
“This was our number one goal for the last 12 months, we had to get back to Beaver basketball and winning this sectional tournament,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said. “I am really proud of our young men, I think we really played hard and we knew it was going to be a tough game.
“They came out and played with heart and we knew it was going to be a battle and fortunately we were able to come out on the winning side.”
PikeView, which lost by 42 points in their last of three previous meetings with the Beavers, never trailed by more than 18, but the two-time defending sectional champions struggled to knock down shots.
“Our shots just weren’t falling, normally we make those shots, but tonight was pretty tough,” PikeView head coach William Anderson said. “They ran one set tonight successfully, we pretty much contained them, they got a lot of putbacks.”
PikeView was paced by Cory Peyton with 11 points and nine from David Keen, but Anderson said that if those shot attempts had been falling that “it would have been different game.”
“It is hard to beat a team four times in a year, but they are a great team,” Collier said. “They came out pumped and tried to beat us, but we were able to get a good comfortable lead and kept it like that throughout the whole game.”
Bluefield (23-1), whose only loss was by two points at Princeton, will host Oak Hill on Thursday at Bluefield State with a berth in the Class AA state tournament at stake. The Beavers last reached that point in 2008.
“We get to host, we are going to have to play,” Large said. “We are going to have to be on top of our game, we will probably have to play the best game we have played all year.
“We are going to enjoy this one, but I know (Oak Hill) coach (Fred) Ferri is retiring and I think those players are trying to get him back to Charleston. We are going to have to be ready.”
PikeView (13-11) will also return to action on Thursday at Wyoming East. The Panthers reached the state tournament for the first time in school history last season.
“They are a physical team, they are outside shooters and that is something we will prepare for,” Anderson said. “We are going to take the weekend off and start Monday and get ready for them.”
Both teams came out fast, with the lead see-sawing back and forth six times in the opening four minutes before Collier — who had seven first quarter points — continued to press the issue, as the Beavers took a 13-7 lead and were up 17-14 going into the second quarter.
“That is what we want to do, we want teams to play our game,” Collier said. “We don’t want to play a slow-paced game, we want teams to play up-tempo with us.
“We don’t like playing slow, we like to push, push, push and get easy baskets in transition.”
It was Eades who pushed the Beavers further ahead, scoring 11 points, including a pair of 3s over the next eight minutes. PikeView didn’t get its first field goal of the quarter until freshman Tyler Ruble made a basket with 56 seconds on the clock.
“Tyler played very well,” Anderson said. “We tried to run schemes to him in different areas and he played that very well tonight.”
Ruble scored the Panthers’ only points of the period prior to then on six free throws.
“I thought the difference in the game was our defense, we swarmed all night,” Large said. “We’ve got some experience and when you have that experience, experience pays off.”
Bluefield kept pushing the ball, with a dunk by K.J. Manns pulling the Beavers up 37-20 before settling for a 39-26 halftime lead.
“Anybody that has seen us play knows that for four quarters we are about the whole floor, whether it be running, playing defense, pressing, trapping and that is our game,” Large said. “I just thought everybody contributed and it was a great team effort.”
Peyton was able to narrow the margin to 11 early in the third period, but Trimble drove to the basket and also had an offensive putback, and Collier and Eades had four points each to give the Beavers an 18-point lead before Jason Weitzel’s 3 cut the gap to 52-37 going into the final quarter.
“Everybody was doing different things throughout the game,” Large said. “They made a little run, we had to counter and I knew that they were going to make a run and we are very fortunate to be able to win this and we are looking forward to moving on.”
PikeView got within 13 on a basket by Keen with 3:26 to play, but seconds later, Will Webster, who was held to eight points, was called for his fourth foul, and quickly picked up a fifth when given a technical.
There were four technicals in the game, three on the Panthers.
“It was their players and our players,” Anderson said, “and neither one is going to back down.”
Bluefield received eight rebounds from Trimble and six boards and four blocked shots by Manns. Ruble scored eight points for PikeView, while Weitzel added seven.
The Beavers were 14-of-17 from the free throw line, while the Panthers were 15-23.
PikeView’s two-year sectional reign came to an end, but it’s hard to argue with the improvement shown by the Panthers in recent seasons.
“It has been pretty exceptional for us,” Anderson said. “The last several years this has been our goal. Of course tonight we didn’t reach our goal, but we have another shot.”
When asked if the Panthers would like to see the Beavers again, he smiled and said, “We would like to.”
Collier, who also had seven assists and five steals, was named the most valuable player of the sectionals.
“He is a great little basketball player and he has got some good supporting cast around him,” Large said. “This is just a very good bunch to be around and a good bunch that has worked hard and is very deserving of this.”
“It is the team, I couldn’t do it without them,” added Collier. “I get them the ball and get myself involved. I just try to get everybody else involved, I don’t really care about points.”
What is does care about is winning.
“It would feel good if we can get that win next Thursday at Bluefield State,” Collier said. “That is all we want to worry about right now is get that regional win and we’ll worry about Charleston later.”
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com
at Princeton Senior High School
PIKEVIEW (13-11)
Will Webster 2 4-8 8, Zach VanBlaricom 1 2-2 4, Jason Weitzel 2 2-2 7, Cory Peyton 5 0-0 11, David Keen 4 1-3 9, Tanner Farley 0 0-0 0, Tyler Ruble 1 6-8 8. Totals 15 15-23 47.
BLUEFIELD (23-1)
K.J. Manns 2 0-0 4, Anthony Eades 6 5-6 19, Lykel Collier 7 5-5 19, Harley Trimble 5 3-5 13, Michael Yost 2 0-0 4, Que Amaker 0 0-0 0, D.J. Edwards 1 1-1 3, Jordan Ponder 1 0-0 2, David Woodrum 0 0-0 0, Dakota Smalls 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 14-17 64.
PikeView............................................14 12 11 10 — 47
Bluefield............................................17 22 13 12 — 64
3-point goals: PV 2 (Weitzel 1, Peyton 1); BF 2 (Eade 2). Total fouls: PV 15; BF 19. Fouled out: Webster. Technicals: PikeView bench, Keen, Collier, Webster.
All-Tournament Team: MVP: Lykell Collier, Bluefield:
Bluefield: Anthony Eades, Harley Trimble, K.J. Manns; PikeView: Will Webster, David Keen, Cory Peyton; James Monroe: Zach Hatfield, Mark Dixon; Greenbrier West: Josh Callison, Chase Bryant; River View: Byron Church; Mount View: Donnell Bonds; Summers County: T.J. Smith.
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
PikeView 14 12 11 10 0 47
Bluefield 17 22 13 12 0 64
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