By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
ROCKY GAP, Va. — Without their injured center and without their starting point guard for long stretches, the Bears still had plenty of bite on Friday in their 85-70 victory over Rural Retreat.
Asher Dillow, the Pocahontas Coal Association-Bluefield Daily Telegraph player of the week, was on the bench with foul trouble for parts of the game, but made things happen when he was on the court, with seven field goals and an 8-for-11 night at the foul line.
Darryl Clark had five straight points for BC in the fourth quarter on his way to 26 to lead all scorers. John Robert Miller, the Bears’ 6-foot-2 center, did not get into the game because of a hurt ankle.
The Bears (7-3), who led 46-34 at halftime, made nine three-pointers in the game while Rural Retreat sank five.
Bland County coach Rich Hankins said, “We shot the three-ball pretty well for the first 10 games. Hopefully, we’ll look to attack the basket a little more in the rest of the season.”
He said the win to close out 2011 was a welcome confidence-builder “especially after a heartbreaking loss to Floyd County, where we got beat by two.”
Travis Foster and Sam Hadaway combined for 47 of Rural Retreat’s 70 points.
The Bears will get back into action while the New Year is still new, playing at Montcalm on Monday.

At Rocky Gap High School
RURAL RETREAT (1-6)
Lukas Langston 1 1-3 4, Sam Hadaway 9 3-5 23, Tyler Holliday 3 0-3 7, Travis Foster 11 1-4 24, Zayne Williams 0 1-2 1, Dillon Cregger 0 1-2 1, Shane Smith 1 0-0 2, Jay Linkous 3 2-3 8. Totals 31 9-19 70.
BLAND COUNTY (7-3)
Asher Dillow 7 8-11 24, Raymond Greene 3 0-0 6, Jonah Miller 1 0-0 2, Tyler White 2 2-2 7, Dylan Walker 2 0-0 4, Darryl Clark 10 2-2 26, Chase Hankins 3 8-10 16. Totals 28 20-25 85.
Rural Retreat..............17 17 20 16 — 70
Bland County..............31 15 21 18 — 85
Three-point goals: RR 5 (Hadaway 2, Langston 1, Holliday 1, Foster 1); BC 9 (Dillow 2, White 1, Clark 4, Hankins 2).