By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — It certainly didn’t feel like a Summers night. The Bluefield Beavers made sure of it.
Bluefield began the climb back to a winning record, as the Beavers placed five players in double figures, and forced more than 20 turnovers to defeat Summers County 89-64 on a cold Monday night at the Brushfork Armory.
The use of an ineligible player last month forced the Beavers to forfeit three games, dropping Bluefield from what would have been a 7-5 mark to a 4-8 record, with a rematch on tap for Wednesday against the same Bobcats.
“We might not have a winning record right now, but I feel like in the next week and a half we are going to even it up and eventually get back on the winning side,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said.
Jeremy Thompson led Bluefield with 24 points, with 17 coming in the opening half, and the talented junior also had three of the Beavers’ seven 3s.
“He was a really, really good JV player for us last year,” said Large, who entered this season having lost four starters from the two-time Class AA state championship teams. “He dressed varsity, but a very talented young man, each game he is getting better.”
He’s not the only one.
Latrell “Mookie” Collier — the brother of former Beavers’ point guard Lykel Collier — finished with 13 points, while Jordan Ponder, who saw plenty of action the last two seasons for Bluefield, had 18 points.
“I really feel that Mookie Collier is getting much better every game, that is a big addition to our team,” Large said. “Jordan is doing a great job, he has had to adjust, he has got a lot of new people around him.”
Summers County (5-6) led 8-7 in the first quarter, but the Beavers outscored the Bobcats 16-1 over the final 4:16 of the period, and trailed 44-23 heading into the break.
Bluefield was 18 for 27 from the field in the first half, most of which were layups, and also forced 11 Summers County turnovers.
“Our emphasis before the game was not turn the ball over and hit the glass and try not to give them any cheap ones,” Summers County head coach Robert Browning said. “We weren’t too successful with that at times.
“I thought at other times we did a little bit better job, but they have got a bunch of them that can run.”
Slowing the Beavers down simply wasn’t happening on this night.
“Without a doubt,” said Browning, with a smile. “If I had about 20 timeouts, it would help sometimes.”
There is little doubt in the final outcome when the Beavers went on a 13-3 run to take a 31-point lead, 57-26, midway through the third quarter, as Bluefield improved to 4-1 since the calendar changed to 2015.
“I think that is the best that we have ran the floor all season,” said Large, who is being assisted this year by Tony Webster and Jim Pettus. “I have to give my assistants a lot of credit. We have worked really, really hard the last three weeks in getting better and working on skills and working on fundamentals and I like where we are heading right now.”
Summers County, which will host Bluefield on Wednesday, was led by Andrew Richmond, who finished with 23 points, while Matt Ryan had 14, Jacob Lively canned 11 and Ashten Garten tallied 10.
“I am playing some young guys, they are not used to seeing that kind of speed, I am hoping it will make us a little better down the road,” Browning said. “Richmond is going to be a good player, he still doesn’t know exactly what he is doing just yet, he has got some mobility and if I could just get him madder, he is just a little bit too nice.”
Bluefield learned late last week that it would have to forfeit its three wins in December — against Graham, Princeton and Parkersburg Catholic — meaning the Beavers went from 3-4 to 0-7 heading into January.
“It is going to be what it is, I think it was handled the best if could possibly be handled,” Large said. “I am very admirable how our administration handled it, there is no other way to handle it.
“It had to be dealt with, it was something that was overlooked. We had to do what we had to do, and the proper people were notified and you just have to move on.
“We have got too much going on here trying to get these kids ready for March and I think we are definitely heading in the right direction.”
Bluefield, which ran the floor in the tradition that led to the last two state titles, also received 12 points from Matthew Woodrum, and another 11 off the bench by Omar Logan.
“We are getting back to Beaver basketball, four of the last five games are wins,” Large said. “It has took a while to adjust, we have had some things we have had to overcome and I am real happy with the kids the way we are progressing.
“Each game we are getting more and more floor balance. When you get that you have got a greater chance to win because it is so much more of a team effort. I am very, very proud of these kids, the way they have performed, I just feel like we are starting to hit it at the right stride.”
Bluefield will definitely be challenged on its way to get back above .500, with a trip to Summers County on Wednesday followed by a visit on Friday to face Group 6A Patrick Henry-Roanoke, which is 11-3 on the season.
“That is just something you have got to deal with it, that is something that we are going to have to overcome,” Large said. “We moved on two weeks ago because we knew what was coming and the kids have handled it well, I am very proud of them.”

at Brushfork Armory
SUMMERS COUNTY (5-6)
Matt Ryan 4 4-5 14, Ashton Garten 3 1-3 10, Jacob Lively 3 3-4 11, Anthony Cales 0 4-6 4, Andrew Richmond 11 1-2 23, Travis McMillion 0 0-0 0, Dillon Smith 1 0-0 2, Braxton Adkins 0 0-1 0. Totals 22 13-21 64.
BLUEFIELD (4-8)
Jeremy Thompson 9 3-5 24, Latrell Collier 5 3-5 13, Jordan Ponder 7 2-2 18, Corey Coppola 1 0-0 2, Matthew Woodrum 5 2-2 12, Raheem Reed 0 0-0 0, Omar Logan 3 1-1 11, Elijah Greene 1 0-0 2, Dyon Wright 2 0-0 4, Donta Hopkins 1 0-2 3, Jeremy Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 11-17 89.
Summers County.......9 14 16 25 — 64
Bluefield...........23 21 21 24 — 89
3-point goals: SC 3 (Lively 2, Garten 1); BD 7 (Thompson 3, Ponder 2, Logan 1, Hopkins 1). Total fouls: SC 11; BF 19. Fouled out: Garten. JV—Bluefield 56 (Devon Goins 13); Summers County 35 (Keegan Hartwell 17).