By BOB REDD
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BRUSHFORK — Less than 24 hours after their previous games, the Bluefield Beavers and PikeView Panthers took to the Brushfork Armory court for a Saturday matinee. The contest saw the Beavers lose a double-digit lead to their sectional and Mercer County rivals, only to storm back in the final minutes of play for a 69-57 win.

Beavers head coach Buster Large said, “Give PikeView all the credit in the world. They came over here and played They’re getting better, as a lot of teams are. We were very sluggish the first half but found a way in the second half to do some things, especially the fourth quarter.”

PikeView took the early lead behind the inside play of Zach Meadows, going ahead 6-3. Bluefield took its first lead when Azir Price hit a trey with 1:30 to play opening frame and the Beavers led 10-7 after the first eight minutes.

Bluefield proceeded to go on a tear as they scored the first five points of the second quarter to pull ahead 15-7. The lead increased to double digits when Jordan Ponder stole the ball and converted the lay up to make it 19-9. D.J. Edwards’ 3-point play with just under two minutes to go in the half pushed the Beavers’ lead to 11 at 24-13. A three by Jason Weitzel just before the halftime buzzer pulled the Panthers to within seven and it was 29-22, Bluefield, at the break.

Weitzel, who had a hot hand in the second quarter, hit three treys in the third. His long ball with 40 seconds left in the quarter made it a two-point game, 41-39 and that is where it stood as the teams regrouped for the final eight minutes.

Another Weitzel three to open the final quarter gave PikeView its first lead since the first quarter, 42-41 and for the next six minutes the lead would go back and forth between the two teams. Just as Weitzel was swishing threes for PikeView, Bluefield’s Eades had three long baskets in the fourth quarter to keep the Beavers in the game. With just over two minutes left a three-point play by Lykel Collier pushed the Bluefield lead to five and his jumper with 1:20 left gave the Beavers a seven point advantage.

Forced to foul, Bluefield converted at the foul line, gaining its largest advantage of the game in the last few seconds and claiming the win.

Eades led Bluefield with 21 points. Edwards added 12 with five rebounds, Collier tallied 10 and Corey Coppola had a team-high seven rounds to go with his eight points.

“We were shooting less than 30 percent the first half. We just didn’t shoot well,” Large said. “Sometimes you’ve got to find other ways (to score) on the offensive end. Those big plays inside by D.J. and Corey helped.”

Weitzel had a game-high 25 and Meadows 23 for the Panthers.

“We’ve been playing really well the last week,” said PikeView head coach Lindsey Jones. “Jason has been knocking down some shots and Zach doing the same thing and getting rebounds and being a force in the paint.”

The win was Bluefield’s 10th in a row and the Beavers visit Wyoming East on Tuesday. PikeView hosts Shady Spring on Monday.



At Brushfork Armory

PIKEVIEW (11-8)

Nathan Taylor 0 0-2 0, Austin Hazelwood 0 0-0 0, Seth Wood 0 0-0 0, Seth Meadows 0 3-5 3, Bradley Flinchum 1 2-4 4, Tanner Farley 1 0-0 2, Jason Weitzel 9 0-1 25, Zach Meadows 6 10-13, 23, Wayne Brookman 0 0-0 0, Totals 17 15-25 57.

BLUEFIELD (17-2)

Dakoda Smalls 1 0-0 2, D.J. Edwards 5 2-2 12, Anthony Eades 6 5-6 21, Lykel Collier 4 2-3 10, Jordan Ponder 3 0-0 6, Corey Coppola 4 0-0 8, Matthew Woodrum 2 0-2 4, Azir Price 2 1-2 6, Jordan Huckleberry 0 0-0 0, Totals 26 10-15 69.

PikeView..........................7 15 17 18 — 57

Bluefield.....................10 19 12 28 — 69

3-point goals: PV - 8 (Weitzel 7, Z. Meadows); B - 5 (Price 1, Eades 4).

Fouled out: B - Coppola. Technical fouls: None.