TAZEWELL — Christmas came early for the Pioneers. With the move back to the Southwest District, the Lebanon boys and girls notched significant wins at Tazewell on Wednesday.
Sophomore Mike Reece posted a double-double as the boys rolled to a 77-41 victory over the Bulldogs. Reece filled the stat sheet with 23 points, 11 boards, six steals, and four blocks.
“We were coming off a loss to Honaker that hurt, but we regrouped yesterday and had a really good practice,” Reece said. “It feels good to get our first district win against a well-coached Tazewell team.”
Caden Boyd, Andy Lambert, and Chance Parker started Lebanon with 3s for their first nine points. The Pioneers were up by ten at the end of the first quarter. Tazewell had a surge at the start of the second quarter. When Carter Creasy had an old-fashioned 3-point play, the Bulldogs were only down 24-20 with 4:40 to play in the first half.
“It’s only the fifth game of the year, but we’ve been in some tough spots,” commented Reece. “We’ve been through a lot, we were calm the entire game.”
When the Bulldogs narrowed the gap, Lebanon went inside to Reece. He had four buckets as the Pioneers closed the half on a 15-1 run for an insurmountable 39-21 advantage at intermission.
“I called a timeout, and my exact words were, we’re in one of those funks again,” said Lebanon coach Boyd. “Where we go about five minutes and play bad. We missed a layup, had a couple of bad passes, and then they’re scoring on the other end. It was a repeat of bad play that has hurt us all season. I just told them we’re not doing this tonight. Let’s snap out of it and get back to playing, we made a run and put the game away.”
The second half belonged to Lebanon. In the Bulldogs’ first possession in the third quarter, Chase Brown hit a trey from the right wing. They wouldn’t score again in the quarter, trailing 61-23 going to the fourth.
“We stayed disciplined to the offensive and defensive scheme we had put in place to get ready for Lebanon,” first-year Tazewell coach Steve O’Neal said. “Hat’s off to Lebanon, they have some great shooters from the outside. It seemed like they never missed, and most of the 50-50 balls went their way instead of ours. We have some things to work on to prepare for them the next time around and hopefully be able to compete at a higher level when we see them again.”
Matt Clifton had 10 points to lead Tazewell, and Brown added nine points on three 3s.
“Any time you are getting a program started, it’s a slow step-by-step process,” stated O’Neal. “The good thing is I have a great support staff and a good coaching staff. The young men on my team have bought into a different philosophy; we’re trying to get better and play the game a little differently than the run-and-gun style they’ve been used to. We’re trying to incorporate some fundamentals not only for this year but for our program in years to come.”
Lebanon was 19-of-32 on two-point attempts, making 59 percent, and a solid 11-of-30 from behind the arc, making 37 percent of their 3s.
“Coming off the loss to Honaker on Friday, we didn’t feel we played very well,” Boyd said. “We worked hard in practice to get ready for this and get rid of that bad taste in our mouth. We came out tonight and played at the pace we want to play at.”
Lambert had a huge game for the Pioneers, leading all scorers with 24 points. Caden Boyd (13 points, six steals) and Parker (10 points, three steals) were also in double figures.
“We have to get healthy,” Boyd said. “We’ve had some bad luck to start the year: Lambert out with a sprained ankle, we lost Parker a couple of weeks with an injury, Hunter (Musick) has been out three weeks, and Toby Baker got hurt at practice yesterday. We’ve had some injuries to deal with, but I feel good and think we’ve turned the corner.”
GIRLS
The Lady Pioneers ended a four-game skid with their biggest offensive output of the season in a 56-43 triumph over Tazewell. It was a back-and-forth affair with six lead changes in the first half. The Bulldogs held a 21-19 lead at the break.
After scoring only 19 in the first half, Lebanon exploded for 24 points in the third quarter to take over. They were up by ten going to the fourth and continued to extend the lead.
“I said a few words at the half, and I let [assistant coach Kristy] Beck say a lot more,” Lebanon coach Rex Parker said. “Whatever she said worked.”
The Pioneers outscored Tazewell 40-20 in the second half.
“We played better,” stated Parker. “Our press was better, and we got a few easy ones. Every time we tried to pull away, they would hit a 3. It was a lot better in the second half.
“We’ve got to know when you go to someone’s house and play, they’re going to play hard. We didn’t match Tazewell’s intensity in the first half; we were lucky we were only down two. We turned it up a notch in the second half, and it made a big difference. It was a good win for us.”
Brooke Nunley (15 points) and Ashton Rowe (11) were the scoring leaders for the Bulldogs.
Lia Beck (13 points), Kaitlyn Morrison (11), and Chloe Couch (10) were in double-digits for the winners.