BECKLEY — Saturday morning the temperatures in southern West Virginia were frigid. That was not the case, however, inside the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
Sectional rivals Princeton and Shady Spring battled in great game true to the name of the tournament they played, the Big Atlantic Classic.
In a game that went to double overtime and was tied nine times, Princeton pulled out a 69-61 win after trailing in the game until midway through the fourth quarter.
Shady Spring held the lead most of the game behind stellar play from Tyler Bonds, who battled toe-to-toe with Princeton big man Aaron Ferguson, scoring 22 points and collecting 10 rebounds, but the game changed early in the fourth quarter.
The change came ironically, when Ferguson went to the bench in foul trouble. Princeton then stepped up the half-court pressure and Ashton O'Dell, who scored 22 in the game, hit two huge 3-pointers down the stretch to tie the game twice and keep Princeton going with Ferguson out.
“(O'Dell) really stepped up there and made some deep 3s for us,” said assistant coach Randy Wilson, filling in on the bench for head coach Ernie Gilliard, who was out of town.
Ferguson returned late in the fourth quarter and made his presence well known the rest of the way, controlling the glass in the back-and-forth battle. Ferguson scored 17 points over the final three minutes of the fourth quarter and both overtime periods to lift his team to victory, finishing with eye-popping numbers, 25 points and 21 boards.
Wilson was impressed with his team's play while Ferguson was sitting.
“They played really well and that is what we want going into sectionals, if (Aaron) gets in foul trouble is for our guys to step up and play well,” explained Wilson.
The game clearly turned in the second overtime period when Bonds was hit with his fifth foul on a questionable charge call working toward the basket. Ferguson was able to stay in the game until the end.
“We had some things go against us there down the stretch,” explained a frustrated Shady Spring head coach Steve Clark. “It hurt without Tyler down the stretch, we were working the post on (Ferguson) down the stretch. It was very physical and we couldn't get the call."
Although the loss was a tough one to take, Clark was impressed with his players' effort.
“Tyler played well, he was really after it," Clark said. "Josh Snyder had an outstanding game, Nate Williams played good, all my kids played well.”
Snyder scored 15 points and Williams had 13.
“We told our kids we could play at the AAA level,” Clark said. “We just need to learn how to finish out games now.”
Shady Spring (7-7) hosts Liberty Tuesday and Princeton (6-8) has a showdown Tuesday at Class AAA No. 7 Greenbrier East.

SHADY SPRING (7-7)
Keith Sexton 0-5 0-0 0, Steven Chhabra 1-14 5-8 7, Joshua Snyder 5-14 2-2 15, Tyler Bonds 9-16 4-8 22, Nathan Williams 6-10 1-2 13, Jonathan Sawyers 1-3 2-2 4, Joseph Keller 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Holt 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-62 14-22 61.
PRINCETON (6-8)
Colton Fix 4-10 2-4 10, Jacob Whittington 0-5 2-2 2, Ashton O'Dell 7-13 4-5 22, Logan McKinney 3-11 4-5 10, Aaron Ferguson 9-14 7-9 25, Tyler Boyd 0-2 0-0 0, Cole Cochran 0-1 0-1 0, Aaron McCabe 0-0 0-0 0, Garrison Hartwell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-56 19-25 69.
Shady Spring..........15 10 15 15 6 0 — 61
Princeton................11 10 16 18 6 8 — 69
3-point goals: SS 3 (Snyder 3): Players; P: 4 (O'Dell 4). Fouled out: SS (Bonds).