By GARY DOVE
for the Daily Telegraph
BRADSHAW — James Monroe used a box-and-one defense Saturday evening to thwart River View’s potent offensive attack on the way to a 48-39 Class AA Region III Section 2 victory over the host Raiders.
Junior Tyler Moore played the man-to-man defense on Raider junior scoring machine Tyree Baker, who eclipsed the 1,000 point career mark on February 14, the last time the View played a game because of the snow and bad weather over the past two weeks.
Assessed Maverick head coach Johnathan McPherson, “Tyler Moore played terrific defense. (Caleb) Spencer was our leading scorer. He usually is, but Tyler Moore played excellent defense on Baker. He held him to nine points. He definitely was the difference-maker…He (Moore) only scored four points, but his defense was the difference.”
McPherson continued, “That was our game plan coming in, to limit his (Baker’s) shots. He was getting some shots, but they weren’t really good shots.”
James Monroe was able to play two games earlier this week and that probably had something to do with the final outcome as well.
The Mavs led 8-7 after the opening chapter that gave testament to the rustiness of both teams, as missed shots and turnovers both ways marred offensive attempts and gave witness to the lack of games or practices by either club.
River View junior Todd Coeburn bombed a trey to open the second, giving the hosts their only advantage of the contest, at 10-8, before Spencer, who took game scoring honors with 15 points, started a nine point Mav scoring string over just 1:03 of the second frame.
Spencer connected on a trifecta, followed by two Dakota Copenhaver charity tosses and one by Landon Shires, who followed Spencer with a dozen points, including 10 of those in that second period.
Shires capped the run with his first of three treys in the second to boost the Mavs to a 17-10 lead with 4:22 showing before the break.
Shires’ third three-ball of the half came at the buzzer to boost JM to a 25-16 advantage.
The third was another single digit scoring affair by each team, with the visitors holding a 34-23 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Sophomore Cody Howie opened the fourth with a deuce from a Brian Mitchell assist that was countered by a Caleb Hatfield goal for James Monroe.
The Raiders reeled off 10 unanswered points to close to 36-35 with 3:36 remaining.
Senior Jordan Wilson sank one-of-two freebies, followed by a Coeburn two from an Austin Keen assist and another Coeburn goal three seconds later following a steal.
Wilson converted a drive-and-scoop layup before Baker banked in a trifecta to cut the deficit to one.
From that point the Mavericks outgunned River View 12-4 the remainder of the way to pick up the sectional victory.
Related McPherson of that final run, “I think we played a little bit smarter…We got down the floor and got some easy buckets in transition…It wasn’t the prettiest win, by far, but we just got down and dirty and played good defense.”
Spencer scored six in that run, including a goal to start the spurt, plus a pair of technical foul shots at the 2:11 mark to extend the advantage to 44-37.
Assessed second year River View head coach Roger Hale, “They (Mavericks) played a good defense and we just could not knock down shots. We just could not make a shot. We kind of forgot some fundamentals too on rebounding. We didn’t box out good. They killed us on the boards.”
Hale alluded to the James Monroe defense, “They (Mavs) made some adjustments since the last few times we’ve played them. That box-and-one they ran was the big difference.”
Coach Hale concluded, “Most times (games), I feel like we’re the quicker team. Today, we weren’t the quicker team.”
Coeburn fired in 14 points to lead the View, while Wilson finished his career with 10.
The Raiders conclude the campaign 12-8.
James Monroe, now 6-14, will face Bluefield, Tuesday evening at 6:00 at Princeton High School in one semi-final sectional game, while PikeView and Mount View will play the second game of a doubleheader that evening.

At Bradshaw
JAMES MONROE
Caleb Spencer 4 6-6 15, Dakota Copenhaver 1 5-6 7, Conner Boothe 3 0-2 6, Landon Shires 4 1-2 12, Tyler Moore 2 0-0 4, Caleb Hatfield 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 12-16 48.
RIVER VIEW
Tyree Baker 2 3-4 9, Todd Coeburn 5 1-2 14, Jordan Wilson 3 4-6 10, Cody Howie 1 2-8 4, Austin Keen 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 10-20 39.
James Monroe................8 17 9 14 — 48
River View........................7 9 7 19 — 39
Three Point Goals: JM 4 (Shires 3, Spencer 1), RV 5 (Coeburn 3, Baker 2).
Fouled Out: JM Copenhaver, RV None.
Technical Fouls: JM Moore, RV Howie.