By BOB REDD
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
CHARLESTON — Class AA will have a new champion this year.
Bluefield High School’s two-year reign as the king of basketball came to an end Thursday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center as the Bridgeport Indians claimed a 70-56 win and advanced to Friday’s semifinal against the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears.
At the onset it looked as if it would be a Beaver day. Bridgeport scored first only to see Bluefield reel off 12 unanswered, including a pair of treys from Jordan Ponder and a bucket by Mookie Collier. The Indians called time down 10 and only two-and-a-half minutes gone in the contest.
That timeout changed the course of the game.
“We didn’t want to sit back in a straight zone,” Bridgeport head coach Mike Robey said. “We trapped out of it and extended up, tried to make them play faster than they really wanted to play.
“I was a little bit leery because I was afraid we’d lose Ponder the way he was shooting the ball early, but we were trying to extend it out and get them to play at a quicker pace. So it worked well.”
Bridgeport stormed back and closed to within a point at the end of one, 16-15. Seconds into the second quarter Logan Smith’s three put the Indians ahead for the first time and what proved to be for good.
Bridgeport embarked on a 19-7 run, aided by Bluefield turnovers that the Indians (23-2) converted for points on three consecutive possessions.
“Once we jumped out to that lead I think we may have relaxed a bit,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said. “But give them (Bridgeport) credit. They found a way to get back into it quick.
“I think we got a little bit out of control on our offense, three critical turnovers that led to them coming back and scoring, but I think the critical thing that got us down were the two threes.”
The Beavers fought and the lead went between six and three points for the remainder of the half. Bluefield pulled to within three with just over a minute before halftime on a free throw by Matt Woodrum, only to see John Wilfong pop a three to put Bridgeport back ahead by six.
Jeremy Thompson’s two free throws with 21.6 ticks left on the first half clock enabled Bluefield to go into the locker room down by four, 31-27.
Following a start which saw Bluefield hold a 12-2 lead, the Beavers were out-scored 29-17 the remainder of the half. Bluefield shot 38 percent, Bridgeport 40 percent There was one tie and two lead changes in the first 16 minutes. In terms of turnovers it was fairy even as Bluefield gave the ball away six times, Bridgeport five.
The Indians came out firing and took control of the game early in the third quarter. A pair of baskets by Wilfong pushed the lead to 10 and the Beavers could not get any closer. Outscored 16-8 in the third, Bridgeport led 47-35 as the fourth stanza began.
Bridgeport’s lead grew as high as 21 points before Bluefield made a charge to close within 12 in the game’s final minutes.
Greely led all scorers with 24 points. Chase Robey added 13 and Hunter Haddix came off the bench to score 12. Nick Greely, the 6-foot-6 post man, pulled down 11 rebounds and scored nine points.
Ponder led Bluefield with 15 points in his final game. Corey Coppola, also in his final contest, scored 10 and had a team-high eight rebounds. Ponder had seven boards. Senior Matt Woodrum had nine points with six rebounds and senior Raheem Reed had five points and four boards, including his first three-point bucket as a Beaver.
Bluefield wrapped up its season with a 13-9 record and saw its 12-game win streak snapped in the state capital.
“I’m very proud of what they did,” Large said. “I think no one expected us to be here this year and it comes from these seniors’ leadership. It’s disappointing to lose. We’ve been through some tremendous times here and have a lot of great memories. We’re going to walk out of here very, very proud of what we did this year.”
Bluefield won the rebounding contest against the bigger Indians by a 43-34 count. But it was turnovers that spelled doom for the Beavers. Bluefield gave the ball away 13 times, compared to only seven for Bridgeport.
“I can’t say enough about our guards,” Robey said. “We had seven turnovers all day against good pressure. Our guards were amazing at how they handled the pressure.”

At Charleston Civic Center
BLUEFIELD (13-9)
Donta Hopkins 2 0-0 4, Latrell Collier 1 0-0 2, Jordan Ponder 5 1-2 15, Corey Coppola 5 0-1 10, Matt Woodrum 4 1-2 9, Jeremy Thompson 2 4-4 8, Raheem Reed 2 0-2 5, Omar Logan 1 0-0 2, Totals 22 6-11 56.
BRIDGEPORT (23-2)
Donald Kummer 1 0-0 2, Dante Bonamico 1 0-0 2, Chase Robey 4 4-5 13, John Wilfong 4 1-4 9, Nick Greely 8 8-9 24, Zack Spurlock 0 0-0 0, Logan Smith 3 0-0 9, Luke Southern 0 0-0 0, Michael Lindsey 0 0-0 0, J.T. Harris 0 0-0 0, Hunter Haddix 4 3-3 11, Totals 25 16-21 70.
Bluefield………...........…16 11 8 21 — 56
Bridgeport………...........15 16 16 23 — 70
3-point goals: BLU 6 (Ponder 4, Reed, Logan); BRI 4 (Robey, Smith 3).