By BOB REDD
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, Va. — The skies outside Graham Middle School were clear Wednesday night, but inside the gymnasium it was raining.
Threes.
The Graham G-Men made 9- of-18 shots from behind the arc and ran to a 69-38 nondistrict win over the Giles Spartans.
“I thought we did a nice job shooting the basketball,” said Graham head coach Glynn Carlock, Jr. “It (shooting) is going to be a strong point of our team, but at the same token, we talked about having to be able to create something off the dribble as well
We can’t just rely on the outside shot night-in and night- out, but it’s nice to have a group that can shoot the ball pretty well.”
Giles’ Trenton Ray nailed the game’s first long shot to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead. It would be the only time during the evening the visitors would be in the lead.
The G-Men went on a 6-0 run before Giles fought back. A three by the Spartans’ Kyle Chafin brought Giles to within one at 12-13 with just under two minutes remaining in the first quarter. Two G-Men threes, by Tony Hood and Colby Hill in the closing moments of the quarter put Graham on top 18-14 after one period of play.
The G-Men took control in the second quarter, forcing turnovers and converting threes by Hood. Hood drained four long baskets in the second stanza and his NBA-range trey at the second quarter buzzer gave the home team a 38-20 halftime lead.
“Once I made my first one, they just kept getting me the ball,” Hood said. “Once I got the ball I just shot, I couldn’t back down.”
Graham was sluggish on both ends of the court in the third stanza and Giles, getting two threes and a bucket from John Shelor outscored the G-Men 1410 in the period and trailed by 14 points going into the game’s final eight minutes.
The ball would not drop for Giles in the fourth quarter. Chad Randel shot the Spartans shot their first and only free throws of the game with 4:09 remaining and their only basket was by Drew Skewes with under a minute to go.
Graham finished the game with younger players and got their second consecutive win and improved to 2-1 on the season.
Hood led all scorers with 19 points, including five threes. Hill fired in 16 with two treys, Spencer Sheets added 13 with one three and Zach Proffitt checked in with 12 points. Roman Workman came off the bench in the final period and sank a three.
Shelor was Giles’ only player to score in double digits with 14. He made two three point baskets as the Spartans fell to 1-1 on the young season.
Giles coach Seth Davis said, “Hood went off on us in the second quarter. They got up 18 and that’s a hard deficit to get back from.
“I’m disappointed. I came up here expecting a lot more, and didn’t get it tonight. Our kids didn’t play as hard as they practiced.”
The G-Men host Richlands, Friday, while Giles entertains Narrows.

At Graham Middle School
GILES (38) Luke Palmer 0 0-0 0, George Buchanan 1 0-0 2, Joseph Lucas 0 0-0 0, Walker Woodbury 0 0-0 0, Jack Meredith 0 0-0 0, Drew Skewes 1 0-0 2, John Shelor 6 0-0 14, Chad Randel 1 2-2 4, Trenton Ray 1 0-0 3, Charlie Stephens 4 0-0 8, Kyle Chafin 2 0-0 5, Totals 16 2-2 38.
GRAHAM (69) Tony Hood 7 0-0 19, Spencer Sheets 6 0-0 13, Roman Workman 1 0-0 3, Sam Stowers 0 0-0 0, Marshall Hawley 0 0-0 0, Colby Hill 7 0-0 16, Zach Proffitt 5 2-4 12, Jacob Simpson 0 0-0 0, Tim Clarke 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Figueroa 1 0-0 2, Josh Altizer 2 0-0 4, Totals 29 2-4 69. Giles..................................14 6 14 4 — 38 Graham..............................18 20 10 21 — 69
Three point baskets: Giles - Shelor 2, Ray, Chafin; Graham - Hood 5, Sheets, Workman, Hill 2.