By BOB REDD
for the Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — The Battle of the Bluefields came indoors at Ned Shott Gymnasium Monday night and the No. 1 Bluefield Beavers remained perfect on the season with a 78-45 win over the Graham G-Men.
Graham scored the first points of the game only to see the Beavers utilize a pressing defense and transition offense to score 11 unanswered points when the G-Men called time with 5:10 to play in the opening quarter.
“They got out to a nice little lead on us and I called time-out, tried to settle us down,” said G-Men head coach Glynn Carlock, Jr. “We tried to be physical with them and tried to work on our half court, man-to-man (defense).
“I thought we did a decent job of trying to frustrate them at times, but they (Beavers) are too much.”
The Beavers led 21-10 after the first eight minutes.
“Our press is some of our offense because our defense turns into offense,” said Beavers head coach Buster Large. “We’ve got to keep working on it and we’ve got to continue getting better as the season goes along.”
Bluefield’s offense caught fire in the second quarter from long distance as Anthony Eades drained two treys, Michael Yost added another, and Lykel Collier connected from long distance at the buzzer to give the Beavers a 43-21 halftime advantage.
Graham’s offense struggled from the perimeter and the G-Men did not get a basket in the game outside the paint until Colby Hill sank a three with 5:43 left on the third quarter clock.
Bluefield sealed the game midway through the third on a chain of events that included a slam dunk by Yost, a Collier free throw and a K.J. Manns steal and dunk. Bluefield led 68-31 going into the final eight minutes of play and reserves completed the game for both teams.
Four Beavers scored in double figures, led Eades with 19. Yost added 18, Collier 17, and Manns 10. D.J. Edwards came off the bench to score nine.
“I thought D.J. Edwards really gave us a lift off the bench,” Large said. “But let’s give those boys from Graham some credit. They’ve gotten better and they will continue to get better. It’s nice to win, but we have to turn right around and go back into the frying pan down at River View.
Bluefield improved to 12-0 on the season with the win and play tonight at River View.
Graham was paced by Hill who came off the bench to score 13, all in the second half.
“I think our guys came to the table and played a little better than the last time,” Carlock said. “I was proud of our kids’ effort.”
Graham, now 7-9, takes on Group A No. 2 Galax on Friday.

at Ned Shott Gymnasium
GRAHAM (7-9)
Hood 0 5-6 5, Sheets 0 0-0 0, Baker 1 0-0 2, Hurt 3 2-2 9, Yost 0 0-2 0, Hill 4 4-6 13, Edwards 0 2-2 2, White 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Day 0 0-0 0, Proffitt 3 0-0 6, Coppola 4 0-1 8, Totals 15 13-19 45.
BLUEFIELD (12-0)
Ponder 0 0-0 0, Amaker 1 1-2 3, Manns 4 2-2 10, Eades 8 0-0 19, Collier 5 5-8 17, Trimble 0 0-0 0, Yost 7 0-0 18, Woodrum 1 0-0 2, Edwards 4 1-3 9, Shorter 0 0-2 0, Totals 30 7-17 78
Graham..................….10 11 10 14 — 45
Bluefield..................….21 22 25 10 — 78
3-point baskets: Graham - Hurt, Hill. Bluefield – Eades 3, Collier 2, Yost 4