[caption id="attachment_24908" align="alignnone" width="2447"]<a href="https://mountainmedianews.com/?attachment_id=24908" rel="attachment wp-att-24908"><img class="wp-image-24908 size-full" src="https://mountainmedianews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/02/Nethaniel-Patton-East-v-Bluefield.jpg" width="2447" height="1621" /></a> (Photo by Mark Robinson) Nethaniel Patton gets away with a loose ball during East’s game against Bluefield Thursday evening, Feb. 16. Bluefield, ranked number one in the state, won the game, 56-46.[/caption] <h1> On Friday evening, Feb. 17, the top high school team in the state came to Fairlea to play the Greenbrier East Spartans. Bluefield, 16-3 coming in, went home with a 56-46 victory, the result of a frantic, relentless pace of play that resulted in defensive steals, and offensive pressure.</h1> They were led by Mookie Collier, who scored 23 points and provided dynamic floor leadership. His quickness, speed, and ball-handling ability were phenomenal. For East, Seth Brown was high scorer with 14. East shot only 7 of 27 from three-point range, with no one hitting more than one except Corey Beswick, who shot 4 of 8, including a stretch in the first half when he hit three shots in quick succession. It was East’s shooting in the first half that provided them a lead, but that cooled off in the second half, and Bluefield climbed ahead. Bluefield had 18 steals in the game; East had only 4. That was the difference. As coach Jim Justice said afterward, “The difference in the game was their defensive quickness. That was it.”
