By GEORGE THWAITES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
LINDSIDE — James Monroe coach Johnathan McPherson thought he might have set the stage for a good, old knock-down-drag-out with basketball rival PikeView on Thursday night.
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, the Panthers showed up with a Boyd in the had.
Tyler Boyd hit four 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 22 points and Pike View held off Monroe 73-61.
It wasn’t as if the Mavericks (6-3) just stood around and watched Boyd shoot. He came up with a lot of looks off the dribble.
“We knew he can score. He was hitting shots when we had guys in his face ... fadeaway, turnround, you name it, it went in for him tonight,” said McPherson. “He had a good night individually. When they’re hitting shots like that, they’re a tough team to beat.
The Panthers (6-3) were also successful getting themselves to the free throw line and made good on those opportunities, shooting 25-of-28 from the stripe as a team.
Mighty post Wayne Brookman scored 12 points for PikeView and grabbed seven rebounds. He only managed three from the field, thanks in part to the intervention Dakota Copenhaver.
The lighter-framed Copenhaver didn’t defy the laws of physics and even paid the price inside a time or two. But he had four blocks on the day and did a fair job keeping the bigger man from getting the ball too deep.
He also helped deny penetration to the rim from the Panthers’ Seth Meadows. Unlike Boyd outside, the talented PikeView guard’s shots in the paint took some unfriendly rolls. The flip side, however, was that Meadows found ample opportunities to contribute elsewhere.
Meadows finished with 14 points, drawing enough fouls to go 10-for-10 from the line. He contributed to the Panthers’ 10-for-10 free throw showing that kept the surging Mavs at bay over the final 1:18 of the game. He flirted with a triple-double, pulling down 10 rebounds while kicking and dishing for nine assists.
“They guys stepped up and played good. We found the open man most of the time and we knocked them down, which helped lead to the win,” said Meadows, who had three steals and probably twice as many possession-ending deflections and distractions. “There was a lot of help defense with the man, so we were trying to go in and out and get the better look.”
Hunter Hill was another perimeter offsetter for PikeView, hitting three 3s on his way to 12 points.
“In the first half we did a little better job of offensive and defensive rebounding. We got a little gassed at the end of the third and the late fourth where we didn’t rebound as well. But I think as a team we rebounded well,” said Panthers coach Colton Thompson, whose team gave up 10 offensive boards to James Monroe in the fourth quarter.”
Caleb Spencer scored 20 points to lead James Monroe, which trailed Pike View 30-18 at intermission but outscored PikeView 30-26 in the fourth quarter.
“That’s the type of team we are ... the way we played in the fourth quarter,” McPherson said. “I think we had lapses in the second and third that wasn’t us. That fourth quarter team — that’s the kind of team we can be.”

At James Monroe High School
PIKEVIEW (6-3)
Todd Vest 3 0-0 7, Tyler Boyd 8 2-2 22, Seth Meadows 2 10-10 14, Hunter Hill 3 3-4 12, Sebastian Mann 0 0-0 0, Tyler Cecil 1 4-4 6, Wayne Brookman 3 6-8 12. Totals 20 25-28 73.
JAMES MONROE (6-3)
Caleb Spencer 8 0-0 20, Lance Wilson 3 0-0 8, Dakota Copenhaver 3 2-4 8, Jaylon Lewis 1 2-2 4, Landon Shires 4 0-4 9, Dominic Lewis 3 1-5 8, Clay Havens 2 0-1 4. Totals 24 5-16 61.
PikeView................15 15 17 26 — 73
James Monroe......10 8 13 30 — 61
3-point goals: PikeView 8 (Vest, Boyd 4, Hill 3), James Monroe 8 (Spencer 4, Wilson 2, D. Lewis)