By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
GARDNER — Ketchup is delicious on food. Catch-up on the basketball court is not so good.
Shady Spring jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead, and never allowed PikeView to narrow the margin to single digits in the second half, as the Tigers defeated the Panthers 64-46 in a catfight on Friday night at PikeView High School.
While PikeView was able to hold high-scoring Chase Conner to ‘just’ 16 points, the Tigers got 17 from Juwan Rowe, another 10 by Corey Snyder and nine from Jordan Meadows.
“Once again we put too much effort into stopping the other team’s best player,” PikeView head coach Lindsey Jones said. “We have done a pretty good job of that the last couple of games, but the problem is we have put too much focus on one and the rest of his teammates surely stepped up well for them tonight.”
PikeView (1-5), which did trim the 12-0 lead to 20-17 in the second quarter, was outscored 15-4 from that point to trail 35-21 at the break.
“That is what we have done all season long is trying to get hot coming out of the locker room to start the game,” said Jones, in his first season since leaving Montcalm for PikeView. “We are getting better.
“It was getting bigger and then it started getting smaller and we are starting to figure things out so it is getting better.”
PikeView was paced by Jason Weitzel and Logan McKinney with 13 points apiece. Weitzel, whose brother, Jordan, led the Panthers to the state tournament a few years ago, also had three assists and two blocked shots.
“He does a good job, where we are struggling right now is understanding the new system we are incorporating and the fact that he is just a sophomore,” Jones said. “I think we might be a little bit ahead of the game.”
Shady Spring (3-4) wasted no time jumping on the Panthers, taking a 20-10 lead after the opening quarter, including that 12-0 lead. Snyder had two 3s and eight points in the first eight minutes, while Conner added five points and one of his three 3s in the game.
PikeView went on a 7-0 run, led by Seth Wood, who scored on an offensive putback and another close basket and Weitzel added a 3 to cut the margin to three with 6:44 left in the second quarter.
The Tigers answered, forcing turnovers to set up easy baskets, with Rowe scoring six points and Conner adding five.
PikeView has just two seniors on its roster, while Wood is one of eight sophomores on the team. Wood contributed nine points and 11 rebounds.
“We are young when it comes to varsity playing time, but every time we practice and every time we play a game we improve,” Jones said. “That is our goal right now is to keep improving and getting better.”
Jones was pleased with the fight shown by the Panthers, who narrowed a 20-point deficit margin to 52-42 with 2:30 to go, but the Tigers scored 12 of the final 16 points in the game.
“We are really excited about our kids and the fact that they don’t quit, no matter what the scoreboard says, they have nothing, but fight in them,” Jones said. “We are really excited about that we can always depend on that.”
PikeView, which lost to Liberty in a tournament at Shady Spring on Thursday, will return to Shady Spring tonight to face Independence. Meanwhile, the Tigers will face Liberty in the championship game.
Jones, who replaced Jesse Lester as PikeView’s boys basketball coach prior to the season, is excited to be back home.
“I have enjoyed it greatly,” Jones said. “It is always nice to coach at your alma mater, and right now I have a great group of kids to be working with so that makes it real pleasant for me.
“But I would like to get a win.”
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

at PikeView High School
SHADY SPRING (3-4)
Chase Conner 6 1-2 16, Steven Chhabra 1 0-3 2, Tyler Bonds 2 2-2 6, Corey Snyder 3 2-2 10, Juwan Rowe 8 1-2 17, Jacob Buckland 2 0-0 4, Jordan Meadows 2 4-4 9. Totals 24 10-15 64.
PIKEVIEW (1-5)
Seth Wood 4 1-2 9, Jason Weitzel 5 3-5 13, Tanner Farley 0 0-0 0, Zach Meadows 2 0-2 5, Logan McKinney 6 1-6 13, Austin Cordell 2 1-2 6, Takota Bailey 0 0-0 0, Bradley Flinchum 0 0-0 0, Justin Dickenson 0 0-0 0, Jon Burrell 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-17 46.
Shady Spring.......................20 15 11 18 — 64
PikeView...............................10 11 7 18 — 46
3-point goals: SS 6 (Conner 3, C.Snyder 2, J.Meadows 1); PV 2 (Cordell 1, Z.Meadows 1). Total fouls: SS 16; PV 17. Fouled out: Cordell. Technicals: none. JV: Shady Spring 56 (Landon Perry 17, Nathan Williams 16); PikeView 35 (Justin Dickenson 12, Takota Bailey 10).