By LARRY HYPES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

TAZEWELL, Va. — There was an early Lock-down at the Dog House.

Oak Hill Academy, with Ray Lock pouring in 21 first half points, jumped in front early and coasted to a 90-53 win over Tazewell Saturday.

The talent-rich Warriors used their exceptional athletic ability to overmatch the public school Bulldogs in a dazzling display of relentless defense and superb offensive variety.

The Bulldogs (1-2), as cold as the icy winter weather, went basket-less in the opening stanza, with only Colin Hancock’s two foul shots at the 2:10 mark lighting the home scoreboard.

Tazewell warmed up quickly at the stripe, nailing 20 of 28 free throws including a 6-of-8 effort by Tanner Catron. Oak Hill, however, displaying no apparent weakness, poured in 15 of 17 at the line.

Tanner Catron and Jesse Mountain ignited a THS second-stanza surge as the Dogs rebounded to put up 20 points. Mountain notched the first Bulldog bucket with 4:15 remaining in the half and had seven in the second period while Catron drilled six free throws in the period.

Ben Samaniego got the first back-to-back scores for Tazewell, coming in the third period and THS’ Drew Mullins put seven fourth quarter points as coach William Lester worked on various lineups.

“We didn’t have a real answer for Lock tonight,” noted Lester. “Our boys played hard but Oak Hill has great players from all over the United States and that is a tough task for any local high school to compete with. We’ll go on from here and get ready to win next week.”

Lock, who had a great inside game including a pair of dunks on successive series in the second quarter, finished with 33 points. He was the only player on either team to score in double figures.

“I was a little stronger inside, I think, than the players guarding me,” noted the 6-4 senior Lock. “My shots started falling early in the game, I got in a little bit of a ‘zone’ and my teammates made some great low post passes.”

Saminego, with a steady offensive effort, said, “We all have to focus on our defense and work on executing our plays. We know that.”

Tazewell had 31 second-half points and played hard all game long against the taller all-star Warrior lineup.

“We need to pick up our defense,” noted Mullins. “These top-talent teams like to run the ball and we have to slow down the pace of the game.”

Malik Davis, who played strong in the paint, and Mountain, each had 9 points to pace the Bulldogs.

Tazewell travels to Bland on Wednesday and will play at Graham on Friday.



At Tazewell Middle School

OAK HILL (5-1)

Will Hall 2, Andres Rodriguez 6, David Masindi 7, Ben Kpedah 4, Alex Zorn 6, Ray Lock 33, Maman Burchai 9, Xavier Saith 7, Cade Grambeck 3, Nour Forog 4, Kimy Kaghra 9. Totals 30 15-17 90.

TAZEWELL (1-2)

Juwan Jordan 6, Malik Davis 9, Tanner Catron 8, Isyah Hagy 2, Colin Hancock 4, Nick Elkins 2, Jesse Mountain 9, Drew Mullins 7, Ben Samaniego 6. Totals 15 20-28 53.

Oak Hill.....................................15 27 24 24 — 90

Tazewell......................................2 20 14 17 — 53

Three point goals — OH 5 (Zorn 2, Masindi 1, Lock 1, Grambeck 1). Taz 1 (Mullins).