PREP BASKETBALL: Guarding the LPD

BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

APPALACHIA, Va. – A typical Lonesome Pine District hit-and-run: The Powell Valley defender, one of the league’s premier, held perfect position – knees crouched, butt out, arms flared to his sides. His eyes moved left to right, like a spectator at Wimbeldon, following the arc of the basketball bouncing inches from his face.

In front of him stood Appalachia’s Forest Stuart. Just below the top of the key, the sophomore guard shifted the ball from hand to hand in lazy crossover dribbles.

Suddenly, as the ball once again returned to his right hand, Stuart sprang to his left. The quick change in direction kept the defender tangled on his own left side, and when Stuart unexpectedly accelerated, the defender’s legs gave out.

Lying on his haunches, the defender watched helplessly as Stuart flared to the left elbow and drained a jump shot, his right wrist flicking toward the ground as the ball tore through twine.

In a flash, the damage was done – the crime committed, the perpetrator fleeing with the 2-point booty, the victim nothing but a pile of powder-blue mesh sprawled along the hardwood.

This is not an isolated offense. Lethal guards throughout Southwest Virginia have descended upon the LPD this season – some familiar, many not – wreaking havoc on defenders.

“I think the district’s up this year as much as it’s been since I’ve been at [J.J. Kelly],” Indians’ coach T.J. McAmis said. “And, yeah, guard play is definitely the strength of the LPD.”

There is Stuart, last year’s tournament most-valuable player as a freshman and this year’s top district scorer, leading the Bulldogs to a near-perfect record on the strength of his 17.7-point average.

Powell Valley has its own pair of cutthroats: The wizened senior, Jordan Martin, whose crafty sweeps to the lane have him averaging 17.3 points; and the young rapscallion, Tyler “Stick” Garrison, a sophomore with more range than the Verizon network.

With this deadly duo at the helm, the Vikings have pillaged their way to a 7-3 conference record and a share of second place in the LPD.

Safety officials might overlook John I. Burton and their 5-5 LPD record. But the Raiders have a fitting nickname, indeed, for an offense built around four guards and breakneck speed.

For LPD defenders’ future safety, here is a quick roundup of their usual suspects: Devin Talley, sophomore, 11.5 points; Timmy Goins, a George Wythe transfer, 11.5 points; Daniel Deaton, sophomore, 11.2 points. And Jaycob Coleman, senior.

Coleman represents this sudden influx of frightening backcourt play more than any other aggressor.

It’s true that Coleman is a senior, but Burton’s game at Gate City on Jan. 2 was the first time the two-sport star had lined up for competitive play since 2007.

Coleman missed last year after undergoing elbow surgery for an injury he sustained as Burton’s top tailback. That joint fully healed, Coleman hurt his knee during the 2008 football campaign. Of course, that didn’t stop him from rushing for more than 2,000 yards and signing to play for Carson-Newman next year.

The bad news, at least for Burton coach Stan Wilson, was that the knee injury and subsequent surgery kept the senior out of the Raiders’ first four games.

Wilson was forced to run his gang without Coleman’s weapons for 28 games. And they are devastating weapons – a threatening drive that looks a lot like a tailback dive and the ability to jack up his hanging 15-foot jumper from almost any position – that Coleman developed on Norton’s south side courts, running-and-gunning with a pack of relations.

“They were real competitive,” Coleman said. “All of us hate to lose, so at times it got real tough when it came down to it.”

The good news for Wilson is that at least Coleman is playing this season – and playing well, averaging 15.7 points.

However, all is not lost. On the eve of the district tournament and with the league’s top four teams brandishing strong backcourts, the LPD could have its Eliot Ness in Kelly’s McAmis.

With a backcourt built for defense, his Indians held Appalachia’s Stuart to a mere four points in the teams’ Feb. 10 match up – a win that knocked the Bulldogs out of sole possession of first place.

His plan? Constant surveillance.

“With Forest, we went with a little taller guy and we just shadowed him,” McAmis said. “As soon as we shot, somebody went and shadowed him and tried to keep him from catching it.”

As far as McAmis’ No. 1 suspect, well, he’s not ready to release that information to the public just yet.

“I respect that question, but I’m not going to answer it,” McAmis said. “We may have to play another guard.”

scampbell@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2543