By Greg Carey
WV MetroNews
Photos by Heather Belcher, WVSSAC
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — East Hardy wanted nothing more than to advance past the semifinal round of the Class A state tournament after being upended on that stage each of the last two seasons.
The No. 4 Cougars looked to be on their way to doing exactly that when they led by six with inside 5 minutes remaining, but the Crusaders played well beyond their years down the stretch and scored 17 points over the final 4:31 to pull out a 55-54 victory.
“We’re too good of shooters for the ball not to go in eventually,” Crusaders’ coach Justin Arvon said. “We were not upset with the shots. It was a relief really when they started to fall, because it was like how long is it going to take for them to start dropping? We got down 42-36 and I think the sentiment in the arena was Greater Beckley is going down, and the only people who didn’t believe it were our guys.”
The result sends No. 1 GBC (22-2) to the Class A title game Saturday against No. 2 and two-time defending state champion Tug Valley. The Crusaders will be in pursuit of their first state championship in what will be their second showing in a final.
“Greater Beckley showed why they’re the No. 1 seed. They’re a very balanced team,” East Hardy coach Chris Hahn said. “It wasn’t just one guy. You can’t guard them all.”
Thursday’s matchup went to the fourth quarter tied at 34, but not long after, the Cougars ran off six unanswered points with one field goal from 6-foot-8 Gideon Good and the other two in consecutive fashion from Trevor Roff, the latter of which gave EHHS a 42-36 lead with 5:27 remaining.
Greater Beckley’s deficit was four with inside 3 minutes left when freshman Isiah Gordon canned a three-pointer to make it a one-point margin. Following a defensive stop, the Crusaders gained the lead when Eli Gunter got a triple to fall, with his opportunity coming courtesy of Keelan Remi’s offensive rebound.
“What a big rebound that was,” Arvon said. “It might’ve been one of the bigger plays in the game. Those are the plays he makes all game long and guarding the big kid, battling his tail end off. you can’t ask for more. He’s effort and intensity and we want him on the floor and have to him on the floor.”
Gordon doubled the lead to 48-44 by making two free throws with 1:06 remaining, and the Crusaders needed every bit of their strong effort from the charity stripe as the Cougars kept battling back. Good scores with 58 seconds left to make it a two-point game, and after Gordon again went 2 for 2 with 39 seconds to play, Evan Hamilton made the Cougars’ first and only triple to bring them to cut the East Hardy deficit to 51-50.
“They hit a couple threes at the end that were just daggers. We responded to that, too,” Hahn said. “When it looked like it was over, we kept it going. That’s what we do. That shows the heart of our guys. Just needed one more play to get to the championship.”
Spencer calmly sank two free throws, though Roof followed suit to keep it a one-point game. Gordon went 2 for 2 yet again with 11 seconds to up his team’s lead to three, before Hamilton misfired on two triples in an effort to tie. Good’s layup off the second miss as time expired set the final score.
“We’re a fourth-quarter team. We take pride in that and we’re well-conditioned to play late,” Arvon said.
GBC led 16-10 after one quarter and 23-21 at halftime despite Good leading all players with nine points at the break.
Roof then became more assertive in the third quarter, scoring nine points over that 8-minute stretch to help his team draw even at 34 ahead of the fourth.
The Crusaders made 15 of 18 free throws, including 9 of 11 in the fourth quarter. Gordon, who scored a team-high 18 points, led the charge by making all seven attempts.
“I’m just thinking how bad the team needs it,” Gordon said. “Those are big shots and I need to hit them so we can win.”
“You can’t ask for much better than that. We got the right guys to the free-throw line,” Arvon said. “They’re big-time players. These guys hitting the free throws are freshmen and sophomores and it shows a lot about their willingness to play in big environments.”
Spencer scored 11, Gunter added 10 and Javonte Spencer led GBC in rebounds with 14.
The Cougars were 1 for 12 from long range, a statistic undoubtedly affected by a knee injury to Mason Hamilton, who was hurt in the quarterfinal round after having patellar tendon surgery in August of 2025. Hamilton missed the start of the season and was limited to 8-plus minutes Thursday.
“Mason was hurt. He’s our guy from deep,” Hahn said. “They put their best player on Evan and that kind of neutralizes his ability to score. When Mason can’t go, that changes our outside ability. It’s a much easier game when the ball go in, but Mason couldn’t fight through it. He tried really hard to get back. It took the heart out of us.”
