Charleston – Bluefield head coach Tony Webster has spent most of the season seeking answers to two questions – how could the Beavers improve their rebounding struggles and who would step up to supplement the scoring of star Jase Smith.
Ricky Dunford provided answers to both questions.
The sharpshooting senior scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as No. 3 Bluefield pulled away from No. 6 Petersburg in the fourth quarter for an 82-56 win in their Class AA quarterfinal matchup Wednesday afternoon in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The win sends the Beavers to the state semis where they’ll face Wyoming East on Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Dunford’s performance proved pivotal for the Beavers who led by just seven points heading into the final quarter. His 3-pointer to open the frame kicked off what became a 19-2 cascade that sealed the deal.
“Coach Web just preached to us to crash the board,” Dunford said. “We crashed the offensive boards. For the (23) I just shot the ball whenever I was open and luckily it went in.”
Defense helped key the decisive fourth quarter for the Beavers with one switch making the difference.
“We changed our press,” Webster said. “That’s what we’re going to do at Bluefield. I’m a defensive coach and we went to another pressure and got some deflections, got some layups, got some easier shots tot go and some of our kids – I thought Ricky shot the ball really well, we know what we’re going to get from Jase.
“(Davion) Hickman got after it on defense and caused some deflections. It’s just what it was but I was so glad our kids in that third quarter – we could’ve got down but we settled down and played Beaver basketball which is turn people over, get up and down the floor, make easy shots and go from there.”
The Beavers fell behind early at 9-5 but responded with an 15-2 run to close the quarter, getting a steady dose of buckets from Grayson Parris, Smith and Davion Hickman.
Petersburg battled throughout the second quarter, trimming the deficit to as few as five points but Dunford netted a 3 in the final minute to extend the advantage back to nine at halftime. His performance was welcome and one Webster had been searching for most of the season.
“I’ve been telling Ricky all year long and Ricky puts the time in,” Webster said. “He shoots the ball really well and it’s one of the better shooting nights I’ve seen him have. He shot the ball real well in the regional game. His game has come along, Hick came along really well and I was really – (Eli) Riffe came off the bench and he gave us (a lot).
“He got off the bench, he rebound the ball better but like I’ve been saying all year long, we can’t expect Jase to score 30 and us win all the time. We want everybody else to get involved and some other kids stepped it up and that was the difference in the game.”
The Beavers expanded their lead twice to as many as 12 points three times on the third quarter but struggled to completely fend off the Vikings who closed the gap to seven on buckets by Pete Reel and Payton Metheney to close the frame.
Then came avalanche.
Three-pointer from Dunford and Hickman kicked off the third with a layup from Dunford pushing the lead to 15. A Smith jumper extended the advantage to 17 before Pete Riggleman broke stopped the slide. It was brief, though.
Dunford continued his charge, accounting for 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, with a layup and a 3 that pushed the advantage over 20.
“Through three quarters I thought we handled (their press),” Petersburg head coach Stacey Berg said. “But overall I thought we handled it well until we got late in the game and turned it over and started doing some uncharacteristic things that unfortunately it started separating and they one on their run and we started running out of gas.”
In addition to the welcome contributions from Hickman and Dunford, the Beavers won the rebounding battle 57-39, overcoming what had been a disadvantage for them throughout the year.
“Rebounding, it’s gotten better,” Webster said. “There’s some things I’ve been teaching them and telling them about. We’re doing really well, we put in more drills to try to make them understand that’s something we gave t do well. Our rebounding has gotten better, still not where it needs to be. Still so proud of how hard our kids played. They played hard and our mental toughness was good.”
Smith led all scorers with 24 points on 11-of-23 shooting while Dunford shot 9-for-16 to score his 23.
Caden Ours led the Vikings with 15 points in the loss.
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