CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Anthony Eades exploded for 14 points during a third-quarter run as No. 3-seeded Bluefield charged back to beat No. 2 Poca 70-54 and reach its third straight Class AA state title game.
Eades finished with a game-high 34 points for Bluefield (24-2), the defending champs. Poca (25-2) saw its 23-game win streak snapped.
“We knew the first three minutes (of the second half) were critical,” Bluefield coach Buster Large said. “We made some adjustments at halftime on our defense that really paid off and we got back to playing Beaver basketball.”
It wasn’t easy for Bluefield, which trailed 30-24 after Poca freshman Luke Frampton converted a four point-play on the first possession of the second half. But Frampton picked up his fourth foul moments later, a turning point that ignited Eades and the Beavers on a 24-4 run.
“I knew I had a mismatch and I could take my man off the dribble,” Eades said. “It was big getting (Frampton) in foul trouble, because it meat he wasn’t he going to get real aggressive with me.”
Beavers point guard Lykel Collier finished with 14 points and dished out a game-high eight assists.
“Coming in we felt like we were the underdogs. Not a lot of people were giving us a chance,” Collier said. “I knew in the second half I had to attack and that would open up our shooters.”
Poca was led by Noah Frampton’s 14 points—including four 3-pointers—while Luke Frampton finished with just four points in 15 minutes.
“I thought a big key was Luke getting in foul trouble,” Poca coach Allen Osborne said. “I thought we had pretty good matchups, but it hurt us in ballhandling and of course defensively.”
Elijah Cuffee finished 11 points, while Matt Chandler chipped in 10 points and grabbed nine boards.
Bluefield’s pressure defense forced the Dots into 22 turnovers.
“They got 31 points off of turnovers. We wanted to make their press our friend, but instead it was our foe,” Osborne said.
The Beavers will await the winner of the RCB-Westside semifinal in the Class AA championship game on Saturday at noon.