Ravenswood's Noah Dawson (right) is guarded by St. Mary's Ashton Boron during a game earlier this season. (file photo)
RAVENSWOOD — Ravenswood head coach Mick Price's program will be in the state basketball tournament for the 17th time in his career.
It'll be a bit of déjà vu when the 19-5 Red Devils take on the 18-6 Tigers, led by Chapmanville head coach Brad Napier, at 9:30 a.m. Thursday inside the Charleston Coliseum. right.
A year ago, en route to the Class AA state title, CHS defeated the Red Devils 49-43 in the early morning state tournament quarterfinals. Again, the Tigers are the No. 3 seed and the Red Devils are the No. 6 seed.
“Two years ago, we lost to Poca, but they won. Last year, we lost to Chapmanville, but they won.” Price said. The team has appeared in the Big Dance seven times in the past 10 years.
“I'm starting to get paranoid thinking, crap, people probably want to match us. They think they can win a state championship.”
Chapmanville, which reached the final week of the season for the seventh time in the past nine seasons, is led by coach Zion Blevins.
“It's an honor and an honor to be in the state tournament. We're playing against really good programs.” The team is competing at state for the third year in a row, but Price admitted he had to reevaluate the situation this winter after the graduation of fourth-leading scorer Matthew Carte. “They've done a great job the last few years. He's been there 12 years and won three state championships. That in itself is pretty impressive. Brad does a good job. He does a really good job. His children play well. They are disciplined.
“They've got kids that can play. They've got some players. We've got a job to do, but when are we going to do it? I mean, the best eight teams in Class AA are in contention. So you can go from Bluefield to Williamstown to Charleston Catholic to Wheeling Central to Chapmanville, anywhere. It doesn't matter who you play. You're going to play good. You better be ready to play when you do, and if you want to play Friday in the semifinals, you better give it your all, because it's one of the best days in the whole basketball world.”
Blevins, who is 6-foot-7, isn't Price's only concern.
“He can play indoors and outdoors. He averages about 19 points per game, and then we got a guy in Cameron Blevins who came in this year.” Price said the team has been balanced throughout the year with Beau Bennett (13.5 points), Evan Swain (13.1 points), Logan Alfred (11.1 points), Noah Dawson (10.6 points) and Grayson Keene (9.4 points). He said he has been using a scoring attack that he was able to score. “You have (Joey) Golliff, a kid from Tug Valley. He can play, he can shoot at NBA range. I mean, he has NBA defensive range. Drew Berry At 6-3, 215, I think (Benji) Adkins' kid could be one of the keys to the team.
“He's a really good athlete and he knows how to play. I think in the last seven games he's drawn eight charges. He does all the hard things and he's good at it. He's good and They're tough opponents. We have six or seven kids (Swain and Keene) and they're not small. 6-7, 6-5, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3. They're not small by any means. They're going to be a formidable opponent, but I think the kids have worked hard and we want to give it our all.”
Swain and Keene each averaged 8.5 rebounds, Alfred (2.7) led the team in steals, Dawson (3.9) had assists and Bennett made 55 3s for Ravenswood, which led the Little Kanawha Conference. They lost to Dodorridge County in the repechage game.
“It wasn’t easy to create chemistry between what we were trying to do in the post and what we were trying to do as a team.” Coach Price agreed.
“We've been trying to find our way all year, but sometimes things just don't work out and we lost some games that we probably shouldn't have lost. This has something to do with the lack of compatibility between the two, but I think we are finally getting closer to a point where everyone understands their roles to some extent.
“Our team has five players who average double-digit points, and all of them have scored 20 points or more in at least one game throughout the season, so the role of the team itself is a little different. I think that helps when you match up with them, because they can't leave one guy alone. The players have proven they can score the ball, and they scored on Thursday morning. We're going to have to do a good job defensively, limit them to one shot, and on offense we've got to be able to execute and score the ball.”
Price said this season has been both fun and challenging.
As a difficult year comes to an end, the veteran coach is just happy to have the opportunity to move forward towards winning the title.
“For the past four years, we didn't have any kids older than 6-1, and now all of a sudden we have two kids who are 6-7.” Price said. “So Evan Swain has grown about four inches from last year to this year. He now has two kids that are 6-7 years old and is trying to work with his three kids who played in the state tournament.
“Dawson, Alfred, Bennett, those kids have experience and know what it takes to get back there. That was the leadership of our team in getting us there. ”
Price also said the Red Devils haven't changed anything about practice because they get tips early in the morning.
“I don't think it matters when we play.” Price, whose team has played for five state titles and won the crown in 2006 and 2009, admitted they need one more win to reach 20 wins for the 11th time in history. “Really not. I think it's more of a head case issue than anything else. When you play, you play, and lo and behold, you strap on.
“Whether we play on an outdoor court across the street from here on a Saturday at noon or we play in the OU combo, it makes no difference. It doesn't matter. If you're a competitor, when I don't care if I play. I just want to compete and play at the highest level I can. I don't understand everything about it. It's time to play, come on, strap in. Get that line. When you cross it, you better turn into a dog.”
Although the Red Devils will play the role of underdogs, Price noted that their practice has been solid.
“My kids were really observant.”added the coach. “They've done a pretty good job in preparing. Given six days to prepare the team, I'm sure Chapmanville knows everything we're doing and a lot of what they're doing.” I'm pretty good at that.
“That's just the problem with your Billys and Joes. They had to play. They had to make shots and you had to defend. You can tell everything about every guy. But we have to be able to play. We're looking forward to it.”
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com.
