Gallery by Heather Belcher
Charleston – When it’s all said and done, “close” may be the best word to describe the 2022-23 Bluefield Beavers boys basketball team.
That was the case Friday night.
The second-seeded Beavers rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half, tied the game four times and came within two points of No. 3 Chapmanville multiple times but never could quite get over the hump.
As a result they got close to the Class AA title game but ultimately fell to the Tigers 57-50 in the semifinals in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
Struggling all evening with a Chapmanville offense that proved efficient, shooting 50 percent from the field, the Beavers’ offense couldn’t offset those troubles in the opening half, converting on just 33 percent of their shots in the first 16 minutes of the game.
“We lost to a really good team and I’m sure they were gunning for us,” Bluefield coach Buster Large said. “Really proud of these kid. They found a way to get back in it. We clawed back within two with two-and-a-half, three minutes to go and then had several chances. Free throws killed us at the end but what got us the first half I think is we were like 6 of 22 inside the paint. You’ve got to make shots inside the paint. We blew so many layups and you can’t win basketball game against good teams when you blow layups.”
Brody Dalton, who missed the second half of Bluefield’s 74-63 win over the Tigers in the regular season, scored 14 points on 7 of 14 shooting while Sal Dean led all scorers with 19 points.
Both proved instrumental in Chapmanville’s winning effort, though at different points.
Bluefield took its only lead of the night on a Kam’Ron Gore tip in a minute into the game and a minute later Dalton erased the Beavers’ advantage with a layup.
Despite the inefficient half, the Beavers trailed just 24-22 at the intermission and tied the game out of the break. The Beavers stayed within striking distance, trailing 30-28 at the 4:34 mark of the third quarter but the Tigers made their first run.
Offensive execution in their halfcourt sets led to six straight points for the Tigers with Dalton collecting four of them. The spurt came despite Bluefield’s best efforts to confuse Chapmanville, throwing man variations and 1-3-1 looks in the mix.
“They kind of confused us a couple times early,” Chapmanville head coach Brad Napier said. “In the first quarter they kept switching defenses but when you’ve got older players – juniors and seniors – that have played in these games they can kind of recognize that and they kind of know what we need to be in when they change defenses. That’s why experience really, really counts in these situations and these guys, they did a really good job recognizing when Bluefield changed defenses on us and getting us into something we could get a good look on.”
The spurt eventually snowballed with the Tigers taking a 43-32 lead after a Dalton jumper but Caleb Fuller ignited a spark, nailing a 3 at the buzzer that brought the Beavers to within eight points after three. The spark lit a dynamite stick with R.J. Hairston, Will Looney and Gore adding eight straight points, tying the game at 43 with 5:18 to play.
“We had to do something,” Large said. “We went into a different kind of press and cut it back.”
The Beavers had the momentum until Sal Dean hit the scene.
Over the following three minutes Dean hit a pair of 3s that gave Chapmanville a five-point advantage on both occasions, keeping the Beavers down two possessions. They were never able to overcome that final run, as a 7-2 spurt sealed the deal.
“I just felt like coming into this game it was a big one,” Dean said. “For one it was the one to get to the state championship and for two we had lost to them early on in the season at West Virginia State and I’ve been wanting to get them ever since we lost to them.”
The Beavers led the game with more points in the paint (30-24), more points off turnovers (16-5) and shots taken (54-48) but never fully overcame their poor shooting percentages from the first half, converting at a 38.9 percent clip for the game.
“We played well inside the paint,” Large said. “Sometimes you’re off balance, sometimes you’re not using proper fundamentals, sometimes you don’t use the backboard. It just wasn’t good there in that half. We made adjustments and came back the second half but just fell a little short.”
The Beavers, who fell in the Class AA title game last year, finish the season 19-8 and will graduate two starters in wings Will Looney and Caleb Fuller.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
