By GARY DOVE
for the Daily Telegraph
BRADSHAW — In an interview when he was named Pocahontas Coal Player of the Week by this newspaper earlier in the season, River View junior Tyree Baker spoke of his desire to have the burden on himself when the game is tight, “I like having the stuff on my back.”
Just to prove his point from that interview, Baker was fouled while throwing up a desperation shot with the Raiders trailing by two and no time remaining in regulation Saturday against Van.
The “stuff” was squarely on Baker’s back as he went to the charity stripe to shoot three shots.
He calmly made the first to close to within one, the second to tie the score at 50 and the final attempt to record a 51-50 victory over the visiting Bulldogs, much to the delight of the River View faithful.
Baker’s theatrics came after Van had controlled the game for the entire first half and most of the third chapter.
Junior Logan Crouse started the scoring with a pair of free throws, followed by a Greg Lail deuce to stake the 2-9 Bullodgs to an early 4-0 advantage.
While Van scored with its man-to-man offense working against the Raiders, River View missed its initial seven field goal tries and didn’t score a fielder until junior Todd Coeburn buried a trey from the front with 2:58 left in the inaugural frame. In fact, that bucket was the only score from the field for the View, as Van took a 13-5 lead after one quarter.
The second provided more of the same, as the Bulldogs led by as many as seven and as few as three throughout the second eight minute period.
Sophomore Cole Price, who led the Boone Countians with 16 points in the game, scored six in the second, as the visitors led 25-22 at intermission.
Baker’s eight and Coeburn’s five paced the View in the second, as the Raiders whittled that eight point deficit at the end of the first period down to three.
Senior Jordan Wilson scored on a driving layup and followed half a minute later with one foul shot 1:23 into the second half, and Baker’s trifecta 38 seconds later gave the Raiders their first lead of the evening at 28-26 in the third.
Four ties followed, with the final one being at 36 at the period’s close and came on a Wilson goal on a Baker assist.
The final eight minutes were a basketball fan’s dream, with nine lead changes and a pair of ties.
Van shot the eyes out of the goal in that final quarter, connecting on 7-of-8 attempts from the floor.
Baker and Wilson had five apiece as the final stanza rolled toward completion.
Wilson’s final point came with 11.3 seconds left, as he nailed one-of-two foul shots to tie the score at 48.
Van’s Crouse drove to the goal and laid the ball in with 4.3 seconds showing for a 50-48 lead.
The Raiders got a timeout called with 3.2 seconds showing.
On the inbounds play, Baker drove from in front of his team’s bench to the midcourt jump circle and launched a desperation three point heave that badly missed its mark---but a whistle sounded almost simultaneously with the game-ending buzzer.
Baker, who sank a three point shot with his team trailing by three with five seconds to go at Van to send the contest into overtime, calmly sank all three yesterday afternoon for the win.
Oh, and by the way, the Raiders won that game at Van in OT after Baker’s tying goal there.
“My boys, I’m proud of them. It was an ugly win, but it was still a win,” summarized Raider second year head coach Roger Hale.
He continued, “That was a good game. They (Bulldogs) played good defense. We missed some shots, but I think that was more due to their (Bulldogs) defense. They play a good stifling defense…That’s a good young team.

At Bradshaw
VAN
Alex Gibson 1 0-0 2, Logan Crouse 3 4-5 10, Tyler Honeycutt 1 0-2 2, Taylor Jarrell 4 0-0 9, Cole Price 8 0-1 16, Greg Lail 4 3-4 11. Totals 21 7-12 50.
RIVER VIEW
Tyree Baker 8 5-8 23, Jordan Wilson 4 2-5 10, Cody Howie 1 0-0 2, Cameron Roberts 1 0-0 2, Todd Coeburn 5 0-0 12, Dylan Swarbrick 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 7-13 51.
Van..........................13 12 11 14 — 50
River View..................5 17 14 15 — 51
Three-point goals: V 1 (Jarrell), RV 4 (Baker 2, Coeburn 2).