By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON — Jordan Ponder owned the Land Beyond the Arc on Saturday.
The Bluefield High School senior nailed seven 3-pointers, several of them crucial to his team’s momentum, and the Beavers again defeated the PikeView Panthers to hoist the Class AA, Region 3, Section 2 championship trophy.
The Beavers’ 67-65 victory was not easy in a rough-and-tumble battle on the Ralph Ball Court at Princeton Senior High School. Neither team led by more than seven points in a battle that generated 34 fouls by the two teams.
Guard Latrell “Mookie” Collier termed it “a huge game” for the new-look Beavers. “It is truly an honor to be part of this thing, to be a part of this team, this sectional championship. It’s truly a blessing from the Lord.”
PikeView (14-9) senior Jordan Weitzel said, “It’s always a rivalry game. Both teams want to win it so bad.”
“We saved the best for last,” said Bluefield (12-8) head coach Buster Large. “We’ve gotten better each week. I am so proud of how we have overcome adversity.”
In the game’s first 80 seconds, three Beavers scored for a 6-0 lead. The Panthers got on the board with a 3-pointer by Austin Hazelwood, then used a powerful inside game to outscore Bluefield 14-3.
PikeView big man Tyler Ruble scored three straight buckets and Seth Wood netted a pair from the paint as the Panthers took a 14-9 advantage.
Weitzel opened the second stanza by snatching a defensive rebound and racing coast to coast for a layup that knotted the score at 20-20, the first of three ties in the period.
But Bluefield’s pressure and defensive rebounds began to take their toll on the Panthers’ offensive efficiency. Takota Bailey’s bucket from the baseline gave PikeView its last lead of the game, 32-31, with 1:35 left in the first half.
The remaining points of the half came from two treys by Ponder, raising the Beavers’ lead to 37-32. Jeremy Thompson tried a shot at the buzzer from two-thirds of the court away, and the ball hit the rim support on the backboard without going through.
In the middle of the third quarter, Collier scored a pair of layups sandwiched around another Ponder triple in a 7-3 run that gave the Beavers a 46-39 advantage.
Less than a minute later, tempers boiled over and a double technical foul was assessed on Bluefield’s Raheem Reed and PikeView’s Wood.
Near the end of the quarter, a hook shot by Bluefield senior Corey Coppola restored a seven-point edge for the Beavers, but Weitzel scored in transition to end the period with Bluefield ahead 52-47.
Ruble turned it on in the final eight minutes, disrupting Bluefield’s attack from a high post and scoring 12 points for the Panthers — including three straight baskets, the last of which tied the game one final time, 58-58 with 3:02 remaining.
Ponder responded with two more 3-point goals in the next two minutes of play, but PikeView would not fold.
With 10.1 seconds left, Coppola missed on a one-and-one free throw opportunity and Ruble grabbed the rebound and took it to the other end of the floor, where he fed the ball to Weitzel.
Weitzel laid the ball in and was fouled with 3.2 seconds on the clock. His free throw try glanced off the rim — and Coppola was there to snare the ball and preserve the two-point victory.
PikeView first-year head coach Colton Thompson said, “We could have rolled over and quit, but we kept fighting back.”
“I’m proud of the guys,” he said. “I couldn’t ask them to play any harder. Especially our five seniors ... and our young guys have stepped up and grown.”
Large said, “We hung through a tough time there at the end. It was a total team effort. I personally want to thank all the fans who came out and supported us.”
He said about PikeView, “They had a great game plan. These are two of the best teams, as far as I’m concerned, in the state. They played a tremendous game.”
Weitzel said, “We came in looking to attack, any chance we got. If we could attack the basket aggressively, my teammates would be open and it would be easier to make passes to them.”
Ruble said, “It was a good, hard-fought game.” At the end, he said, “We were down and we couldn’t get anything to fall. All in all, I’m proud of the team and the coaches.”
Ponder said that when Bluefield was behind, there was no concern among the Beavers.
“(We said) the same thing we always say, keep fighting. Even if you’re down, keep fighting.”
Ponder and Ruble tied for scoring honors with 25 points each. Ruble had 10 rebounds, a steal and an assist. Ponder also had an assist and a steal. Coppola had nine points and 11 rebounds. Collier scored 16 points.
Weitzel and Seth Meadows each recorded 14 points for the Panthers.
“I had a good feel for the ball,” Ponder said. “When I got going, my teammates fed me the fall.”
The Beavers had six steals and nine 3-pointers, and shot 26 for 53 from the field. The Panthers also made 26 field goals, on 57 attempts, but had three fewer treys.
Collier said, “The big thing is to contain Ruble, and to go after the hustle points, the rebounds, the putbacks, and to chase them off the 3-point line ... .”
Just like the last two years, both teams advance to the regional round next week and will face the same scenario — Bluefield hosting Wyoming East, and PikeView traveling to Westside. The winners go the state tournament.
“The new format they’ve had for the last several years makes the situation a lot better even if you’re in a tough sectional,” Weitzel said. “It’s awesome that we get to go on, to fight for a win.”
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com;
Twitter @BDTBone

At Princeton Senior High School
PIKEVIEW
Austin Hazelwood 2 0-0 6, Takota Bailey 1 0-0 2, Seth Wood 2 0-0 4, Seth Meadows 5 1-3 14, Tyler Ruble 11 2-6 25, Jason Weitzel 5 4-6 14, Wayne Brookman 0 0-2 0. Totals 26 7-17 65.
BLUEFIELD
Lytrell Collier 7 2-3 16, Raheem Reed 1 0-0 2, Jordan Ponder 8 2-4 25, Corey Coppola 4 1-3 9, Matthew Woodrum 1 0-1 2, Donta Hopkins 4 0-2 10, Jeremy Thompson 1 1-2 3. Totals 26 6-15 67.
PikeView................18 14 15 18 — 65
Bluefield................20 17 15 15 — 67
3-point goals — PV 6 (Hazelwood 2, Meadows 3, Ruble 1); B 9 (Ponder 7, Hopkins 2). Total fouls — PV 12, B 22. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — PV Ruble, Wood; B Reed.