Peebles hosts SHAC Boys Preview

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

It was a “debut” kind of night at the Southern Hills Athletic Conference Boys Basketball Preview at Peebles High School last Friday night. Though the preview contest consist of just two quarters, there were five new head coaches battling opening night jitters as well as their respective squads. There were likely some anxious fans in the full bleachers, wondering what their favorite squads will bring to the table in the 2024-25 season.

The opening match up of the evening featured two of those new head coaches, West Union’s Adam Barr and Ripley’s Jeremy Bennington, who was coaching against his alma mater. Both coaches have bulletin board material as the coaches in the SHAC chose both to place at the bottom of the big and small school divisions.

Perhaps that meant two evenly-matched teams, but these two quarters had quite a bizarre ending. After 16 minutes of close action, the Blue Jays held a 20-18 lead with time running o.7 left on the clock. On a drive top the basket seeking the tying score, West Union’s Billy Flaugher was fouled hard with 0.7 seconds left and went to the free throw line looking to end the half in a tie.

Flaugher missed the first shot and the second hit the back of the rim and the Jays didn’t box out and the ball landed in the hands of the Dragons’s Gavin Jarvis who, all in one motion, put the rebound back up and through the net to tie the score at 20 as the two quarters ended.

Junior point guard Tegan Knox led the Dragons in scoring with 8 points, including a pair of first quarter three-point goals. Jarvis and Flaugher each tallied 4 points. Ripley was led by 7 points from Blake Fyffe and 5 from Nathan Lacy.

“We didn’t show a whole lot tonight and there’s still some things we need to clear up,” said Coach Barr in his C103 radio spot. “Getting the boys to buy in and do things the right way is our biggest challenge and I believe we are headed in the right direction. These kids work hard and want to turn this thing around as bad as anyone.”

“We’ve had a few scrimmages that didn’t go our way but tonight was a better statement,” Coach Bennington told C103. “We’re going to come out and compete every day. We have a lot of good guards and some size so we can play a lot of different styles. Our kids are just going to work their tails off every night and we just need to build our confidence and get that first win.”

After Lynchburg rolled past Whiteoak 36-17 in the night’s second game, outing number three featured a pair of Adams County squads as the Manchester Greyhounds faced off with the host Peebles Indians. Both teams were chosen to finish third in their divisions and they produced a pair of exciting quarters for their followers.

The lead switched hands a few times with the Indians making a late push that fell just short as the Hounds held on to win 26-23.

Manchester was paced by 9 points from senior Braylan Roberts, with junior Parker Hayslip adding 7 and junior Elijah Crabtree scoring 6. Both Roberts and Hayslip hit three-point buckets.

Peebles was led in scoring sophomore Josh McClary, who scored 7 with junior Paxton Ryan pitching in 5. The Tribe got three-point baskets from McClary, Ryan, freshman Bo Johnson and sophomore Connor Gross.

“It’s a lot of work to host a preview,” said Peebles Head Coach Josh Arey in his postgame interview. “Previews are important for the league but as a coach we’re just being very vanilla and playing all our kids, but we still want our kids to play hard. We’re going to go pretty deep so we will be up and down the court and pressing a lot. I think we will be exciting to watch this season. We still have a couple of weeks to get everything in place, especially with our younger kids. It’s basketball and people love it!”

“I thought we played hard tonight,” Manchester coach Austin Kingsolver told C103. “We rotated a few kids in and out and hopefully got rid of the early jitters. We’re a little more experienced this season which should be a big thing for us. We have a good group of kids and I just want us to be the hardest working team out there each night. In this league, any team can beat anyone so you better come ready to play.”

Next up was the final county team to hit the hardwood, last year’s big school and gold ball champion, the North Adams Green Devils. The Devils also have a first-year head coach in Austin McCormick, and they were picked by the coaches to place second in this upcoming campaign. The Devils faced a rival on Friday night in the Fairfield Lions and the two squads produced easily the most exciting two quarters of the preview, with the Devils coming out on top 40-34, a precursor to what should be a thrilling regular season contest on January 24 in Seaman.

On Friday night, the Devils got a big half from senior Carson Osborne, who led the team with 14 points. Running mate Breestin Schweickart added 7 with senior Connor Young getting 6 on a pair of three-pointers. Osborne also drained a pair of shots from beyond the arc.

Fairfield was topped by 14 points from junior Logan McIntosh, with sophomore Caleb Barrera also hitting double figures with 10.

“It’s definitely been a little bit of a transition for me and these kids, but they are a great group of kids to be around.” Coach McCormick told C103 Radio in the postgame. “I’ve watched this group of seniors grow up, not just as basketball players but as young men. The pieces are there for us as well as the work ethic is there and I’m thankful for the opportunity to coach this team. We’re going to be under-sized and we hope to combat that with quickness and just playing hard. Boxing out on the defensive end will be very important for us. On offense, if we move the ball we can be hard to defend.”

The final match up of the night saw the two teams chosen by the coaches to win the two SHAC divisions, the Eastern Warriors and the Fayetteville Rockets. The Warriors are led by the longest-tenured coach in the conference, Rob Beucler, while the Rockets a coach with a wealth of experience but making his first appearance in the SHAC in Joe B. Stewart.

From the tip, the action was controlled by the Warriors, especially their always solid defense, as they raced to a 9-0 lead and never looked back in winning the half 22-10.

For the Adams County squads, the first to open will be Coach Barr’s West Union Dragons who will board the bus on Wednesday, November 27 for a Thanksgiving Eve contest at Chillicothe Southeastern. With just one day to rest, the Dragons will be on the road again on Friday night, facing North Adams in the season opener for the Devils.

Manchester will open their 2024-25 season on Saturday, November 30, the nightcap of a girls-boys doubleheader at Portsmouth Clay. As they normally do, the last boys team to see action will be the Peebles Indians, who will be at West Union on Friday, December 6.