By JONATHAN GREENE
for the Daily Telegraph
GARDNER — The PikeView boys and girls basketball teams were looking to make Senior Night a memorable experience for their lone seniors.
It wasn’t easy, but the Panthers were able to pull off the doubleheader sweep of James Monroe Thursday night at PikeView High School.
“It feels great,” PikeView senior Jonathan Burrell said. “I’m glad we could come out here and defeat James Monroe on our home court. It was a good win for us. We needed it bad.”
The PikeView Panthers withstood a late rally from the Mavericks for a 68-55 win in the boys’ game while the Lady Panthers used a big second quarter to take down James Monroe 64-46 in the girls’ game.
“It feels good to get one,” PikeView boys head coach Lindsey Jones said. “We knew it was going to be a good game. They do a good job of coaching their kids.
“We knew they were going to come in with some fire and intensity. They did exactly that. It’s no surprise it was such a close game.”
James Monroe opened up an early 10-5 lead in the game behind two three’s by Jacob McKinney. Seth Wood answered with a three and Bradley Flichum added a putback to tie the game. Jason Weitzel followed with two free throws and PikeView never trailed again.
The Panthers (6-13) led 17-13 after one and 36-27 at the break. The Mavericks (5-12) were whistled for 15 fouls in the first and sent PikeView to the line 22 times where they converted 17 attempts.
“I’m really proud of our effort throughout the whole game,” James Monroe head coach Johnathan McPherson said. “I thought the fouls were definitely one sided. We didn’t shoot a free throw until the third quarter and PikeView had 22 at halftime.
“Free throws definitely hurt us, because that’s where PikeView got most of their points. I thought if the game was called more consistent, we’d of had a lot better shot. Keeping within 10, 13 points in the end under the circumstances, I’m proud of the effort.”
The game was still close midway through the second until the Panthers closed the quarter on a 11-4 run.
Zach Meadows started it with a putback then Wood found Tanner Farley before Farley could return the favor on the next possession.
Following a lay-in by Micah Deskins, Weitzel hit two free throws and Tyler Robinson converted one of two.
McKinney hit a runner just before the clock expired, but left enough time for Justin Dickinson to hit a floater at the end of the half.
The Panthers built their lead to 17 points, 53-36, after three quarters as their defense limited James Monroe to just nine points.
“We went to a zone coming out of the break, because we knew there was such a discrepancy on fouls,” Jones said. “We wanted to try to take it easy and let them run down. We switched back to our man and that’s where we started to get into a rhythm on both ends.”
The Mavericks kept battling all the way until the end as they cut the margin to six points before having to foul in the foul few minutes.
Weitzel led all scores with 24 points. Meadows added 15 points despite not playing thee final half of the fourth quarter. Wood had 12 points and Burrell chipped in with 10. James Monroe was led by McKinney’s 24 points. Garrett Mann had 14 points.
The Mavericks were called for 32 fouls in the game compared to 17 for PikeView. The Panthers went 35- of-46 from the line. James Monroe went 7- of11.
“I feel like we have a pretty good bench and we have players who can come off and contribute,” McPherson said of the foul trouble.
“It does hurt not having Josh Gunoe where he’s 6-foot-8 and provides a presence in the point. Again, I’m still impressed with our effort. We want to be playing this hard come tournament time”
James Monroe visits Bluefield tonight while PikeView hosts Webster County on Monday which starts a three-game stretch in as many nights.
“We need to come in our own gyms and get wins against teams that have already beaten us,” Burrell said. “We need to play good ball like we did tonight. If we can do that, we should be good.”

at PikeView High School
JAMES MONROE (5-12)
Deskins 7, Settle 2, C.Wickline 4, R.Wickline 5, Jacob McKinney 21, Garrett Mann 14, Ganoe 2. Totals 20 7-11 55.
PIKEVIEW (6-13)
Seth Wood 12, Flinchum 2, Dickerson 2, Jonathan Burrell 10, Jason Weitzel 24, Robinson 1, Farley 2, Zach Meadows 15. Totals 15 35-46 68.
James Monroe.....13 14 9 19 _ 55
PikeView..........17 19 17 15 _ 68
3-point goals: JM 8 (McKinney 5, Mann 2, R.Wickline 1); PV 3 (Burrell 2, Wood 1). Fouled out: Weiss, Carr, Burrell. Technical: Wood.