By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
ROCKY GAP, Va. — The long, long span since the end of the regular season allowed the Bland County Bears to prepare for a rematch with the Narrows Green Wave.
They showed on Tuesday night that they learned their lessons well, beating their rivals 78-57 on the Bears’ home court in a Western Gate Conference opening-round game.
Bland County senior Mason Christian, who had a dozen field goals to lead the Bears offense, said, “It just felt good, to win that last game on our home floor. It was awesome. We played great team ball.
“Coach, he coached us up good. We worked on this game for two weeks. He’s prepared us well.”
Narrows had won the last meeting between the schools, 65-55 on Groundhog Day. Bland County did not want to relive that.
The Green Wave had the height advantage despite the absence of 6-foot-5 big man Brandon Spangler, reportedly due to illness.
The Bears were determined not to let Narrows get the ball get into the paint. To a large degree, Bland County was successful, forcing 16 turnovers in the first half alone via a starting five that included four guards.
“We really wanted to establish a lot of pressure on the basketball out front,” said Bland County head coach Rich Hankins. “We knew we were at a height disadvantage ... but our guards did a really good job of getting after it defensively, and creating two or three early turnovers which led to some easy buckets in transition.”
“The last two times we played this bunch this year, they jumped out on us early in the first half of each game and established double-figure leads, so it was really important for us to get after it defensively, and hopefully give us a little momentum to start the game off with.”
Bland County hit six of its first eight field-goal attempts, with Christian racking up nine points in the run that led to a 14-7 lead about three minutes into the game. The Bears scored eight unanswered points in the middle of the first half to forge a 31-14 edge.
Narrows senior Kyle Hall had 10 points in the first quarter, en route to 17 for the night, to keep the Green Wave within striking distance, but the visitors never got closer to the lead than three points, and fell behind by as much as 29 in the second half.
Christian said, “When we went to their place, we started out real slow, and tonight, we just (wanted to) get after it, pressure the ball out front. We really didn’t think they could handle their pressure.
“They’re real big inside, but we figured if we could pressure the ball, and get easy turnovers, we’d be all right, and that’s what we did.”
Five of Bland County’s first-half field goals were worth three points each.
Hankins said, “We’ve got some pretty good shooters from the 3-point line. Once we hit the first two or three, that gave us a lot of confidence early, and kind of put Narrows on their heels a little bit.”
The Bears were 18 of 35 from the floor in the first half and concluded the game 26 of 61, making just one field goal in the fourth quarter — but going 9 for 14 at the free throw line in the final stanza.
The game came to a halt with 6:17 left when Bland County’s Austin Emerson was checked into the first row of bleachers by Hall.
A woman from the crowd, wearing a Bland County sweatshirt, walked onto the court to confront the officiating corps. She was ejected from the gym, and Narrows was awarded four technical foul shots — but they made just one of the four.
Both teams had missed eight days of school prior to the playoff game, but Narrows coach Chris Gautier didn’t use it as an excuse for the game’s result.
“I’d like to say the layoff had something to do with it, but I’m sure Bland County was in the same boat, and it didn’t look like it affected them too much,” Gautier said.
“We definitely looked rusty. Defensively, we were just a step or two behind, closing out, blocking out. We didn’t play aggressively on the defensive end.”
“I thought, offensively, there were some kinks that needed to be worked out, but it wasn’t horrible. We just weren’t able to execute our plan defensively against them tonight.”
“They came out ready to play. You’ve got to give them credit. They had the crowd behind them. They had a lot of momentum early, and they carried it through all the way to the finish.”
Christian felt rejuvenated by the time off from playing games.
“My legs, man, they felt so much better. I could jump so much better,” he said. “Everybody else, I think, the same thing.”
As the lead ballooned in the second half, he said, “It felt great. I was worried ’til the fourth quarter that they were going to make a run, because you’ve always got to expect that. You’ve got to play from start to finish.”
“We’ve worked so hard, had eight players most of the year. I’ve been through a lot with these guys, and to win our last home game, it really means a lot.”
Christian was the game’s high scorer with 28 points and four assists. He tied with teammate Jacob Cross with six rebounds each. Tyler Faulkner added 14 points for Bland County.
Kalub Lambert was credited with four steals and set a new school record for assists in a season (78).
Hall had six of Narrows’ 20 field goals and posted 17 points. Cole Blaker chipped in 10 points and eight boards. Chase Lawson had a game-high 13 rebounds.
The majority of the Narrows roster was comprised of seniors this year. Gautier said, “This has been one of the best group of guys that I’ve ever coached. These guys are fun to be around. They work hard and they do everything that I ask them to do.
“I will miss those seniors. Every one of those six guys there are great leaders on the floor. I think I speak for everyone, including our underclassmen, that those guys are going to be hard to replace.”
The Bears have a date tonight — weather permitting — with the Radford Bobcats at Eastern Montgomery High School in the conference semifinals. The Bobcats were state champions in 2013 and state runner-up last year.
The Bobcats beat Eastern Montgomery 96-49 on Tuesday night.
Hankins said, “We’ve got our work cut out for us, we really do. Radford is such a great team, and such a great program over the last 10 or 15 years in particular.
“But we’re going to go down there, and we’re going to fight tooth and nail. We’re going to fight for everything we can get, and see where we are at the end of the night.”
Christian said, “They’re tough. They’ve got a great reputation. That man-to-man, half-court defense is just tough to play (against). It’s going to be tough, but if we control the tempo, play our game and rebound the basketball — that’s the main key — we should be OK.”
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com;
Twitter @BDTBone

At Rocky Gap
NARROWS (10-12)
Aaron Collins 0 1-2 1, Cody Collins 2 0-0 6, Jackson Blankenship 4 0-2 8, Steven Dunford 0 0-2 0, Ethan Lowe 1 0-0 2, Landon Patteson 0 2-2 2, Kyle Hall 6 3-4 17, Cole Blaker 3 4-6 10, Chase Lawson 3 2-6 9, Jordan Sowers 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 12-22 57.
BLAND COUNTY (12-9)
Tyler Faulkner 3 7-8 14, Mason Christian 12 3-5 28, Dion Bush 0 2-4 2, Kalub Lambert 3 0-2 8, Jonah Miller 3 0-0 6, Zane Cunningham 1 2-2 4, Jacob Cross 1 4-4 6, Austin Emerson 1 2-2 4, Zach Gwyn 2 1-4 6, Lathan Delp 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 21-31 78.
Narrows....................14 14 12 17 — 57
Bland County...........27 19 21 11 — 78
3-point goals — NHS 8 (C. Collins 2, Blankenship 3, Hall 2, Lawson 1); BC 5 (Faulkner 1, Christian 1, Lambert 2, Gwyn 1). Fouled out — none.