By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — They’re sophomores in class only. On the court, they’re a veteran collection of Beavers.
Sophomores Anthony Eades, Lykel Collier and Michael Yost combined for 47 points and Bluefield advanced to the Class AA state tournament for the first time since 2008 with a 61-42 Region III co-final victory over Oak Hill on Thursday night at a packed and toasty Ned Shott Gymnasium at Bluefield State College.
“We played as freshman last year so basically we feel like we are seniors now,” Collier said. “It feels good knowing we have three sophomores coming back next year, but right now we are just living in the moment.”
Next year can wait. Bluefield (24-1), which has been top-ranked Class AA team most of the season, is expected to be the top seed when the state tourney brackets are released later today.
“We will find out tomorrow who we will be playing,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said. “It really doesn’t matter, we are just tickled to death to get back to the state tournament and now it is a new agenda.
“A lot of things can happen now. I hope we are not going up there for one day.”
While Bluefield moves on, Oak Hill (15-9) saw its two-year reign as state champions come to an end. It also ended the coaching career of Fred Ferri, who is retiring after 30 seasons with the Red Devils, including the last 11 as head coach.
“I am a little disappointed because even though they are better than us I don’t think we played very well and it could have been a much closer game,” said Ferri, whose Red Devils started three sophomores and a freshman after losing eight seniors after last season. “I am happy, nobody thought we could do anything, we thought we might win eight or nine games and we won 15.
“I am proud of them. It is disappointing, you will miss it, but I am ready to move on and the kids will be fine. They will work at it and I appreciate them, I really do.”
Bluefield used aggressive defense and made a high percentage of shots to pull away for a 21-7 lead at the 4:25 mark of the second quarter. Oak Hill, which led once at 2-0, trimmed the margin to seven on consecutive 3s by Joey Re and Rondale Watson, but a field goal apiece from Yost, Collier and Eades helped the Beavers to a 27-14 halftime advantage.
“We get in these little runs and that helped us to maintain a lead,” said Collier, who led an 10-1 early in the second period. “When we got on that little run in the second quarter, we just maintained that double-digit lead and that was the breaking point of this game.”
Collier and Eades each scored 16 points, while Yost added 15, including all three of the Beavers’ 3-point shots.
“My dad, my family and my coaches are always telling me to step up,” Yost said, “and I stepped up in this game.”
While Bluefield made 13-of-24 shot attempts in the first half, including 21 by the sophomores, the Red Devils were 5-18, led by Re, a freshman who led Oak Hill with 15 points, while Watson, a sophomore, added 13.
“I thought Yost stepped up big for them tonight, the other thing is we just didn’t make any shots. We had shots, we just didn’t make them and that is the way it is goes,” Ferri said. “I am proud of the effort, they are better than us, I wish them luck, they hurt us.
“We made a little run, we were down 20 and got it back to 12, but just didn’t have enough.”
Oak Hill was able to get as close as 11 to start the third quarter, but Yost canned another 3 and the Beavers went on a 15-5 spurt to build the lead to 44-23 with 1:36 on the clock. They were still up 46-30 going into the final period.
“We knew coming in we had to play very, very well and they had to be a little off for us to win and it wasn’t so,” Ferri said.
Bluefield’s relentless pressure and trapping defense caused problems for the Red Devils, which had 16 turnovers to just seven for the Beavers. Collier had four steals in the win, while Yost added three.
“They’re good, you don’t win 23 games in our section without being good,” Ferri said. “They are better than us and everyone knew that. I thought we let the pressure dictate things a little bit and we just didn’t handle it very well.
“I congratulate them, they are a good team. They are class people, they are good kids and good coaches and they have got a chance. I wish them well.”
Oak Hill was finally able to make a fourth quarter run, with free throws by lone senior Le’Von Elam cutting the margin to 48-36 with 6:16 to play, but that would as close as they would get.
“At that point in the fourth quarter you can’t just sit back and wait so we had to do a little bit of pressing and trapping and they handled it well,” Ferri said. “When you press and trap and double-team people, someone else is open and what you are hoping is that open guy misses a couple of shots, but they didn’t.”
Eades wound up being that player, and he didn’t miss on three straight trips down the floor, connecting for six points in a row to spark a 13-2 run that also included another 3 by Yost and four points from Collier.
“I had to get it going sometime,” Eades said. “I was off in the first half and my teammates did a good job of getting me the ball and I finally got it going.”
Bluefield’s two senior starters also played well, with Harley Trimble contributing six points and five rebounds, while K.J. Manns — who put the Beavers up to stay with a pair of early drives to the hoop — had four points and three boards. D.J. Edwards contributed three assists off the bench.
Collier had 16 points, four steals, four rebounds and dished out nine assists for the Beavers, playing his usual heady game with the ball in his hands.
“When we step up, we all go. I thought we did real good tonight,” Trimble said. “We let Lykel handle the ball and he is dangerous so sometimes we put the game in his hands and he keeps us in control and that’s how we kept the lead.
“He is a good player. He is a good leader for us, when he goes we go.”
One of the goals heading into the season was home court advantage in regional play, and it certainly paid off for the Beavers. Fans were waiting in line 1 1/2 hours before the doors opened at 6.
“We are so proud of these young men,” Large said. “I have just got to thank all these people that came out to support us tonight, Beaver fans.
“These kids played their heart out, they were prepared and I have to give my coaching staff a tremendous amount of credit. We worked two hours an a half each day the last three days making sure we were prepared and it paid off.
“Now we have got to take it up the turnpike.”
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

at Ned Shott Gymnasium
OAK HILL (15-9)
Le’Von Elam 1 3-7 5, Jalen Jones 1 0-0 2, Rondale Watson 3 5-7 13, Joey Re 5 4-7 15, Kadrin Goodman 3 0-0 6, Ervin Fruit 0 0-0 0, Kyalo Bradford 0 1-2 1, Marc Logan 0 0-0 0, Deon Marion 0 0-0 0, Michael Nibert 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 13-23 42.
BLUEFIELD (24-1)
K.J. Manns 2 0-1 4, Anthony Eade 8 0-0 16, Lykel Collier 5 6-9 16, Harley Trimble 3 0-0 6, Michael Yost 6 0-0 15, D.J. Edwards 1 0-0 2, Jordan Ponder 0 0-0 0, Que Amaker 1 0-0 2, David Woodrum 0 0-0 0, Dakota Smalls 0 0-0 0, Trevor Mullins 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 6-10 61.
Oak Hill..........6 8 16 12 — 42
Bluefield..........13 14 19 15 — 61
3-point goals: OK 3 (Watson 2, Re 1); BF 3 (Yost 3). Total fouls: OH 9; BF 17. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.