Standouts, surprises and statements at preseason shootout

<div class="I_52qC D_FY W_6D6F" data-test-id="message-view-body"> <div class="msg-body P_wpofO mq_AS" data-test-id="message-view-body-content"> <div class="jb_0 X_6MGW N_6Fd5"> <div> <div id="yiv4701882473"> <div> By Dave Morrison The inaugural Little General Preseason Shootout at Greater Beckley Christian School in Beckley featured some of the top teams in the state. And it also had some of the area’s top talent. Several of the areas best players were on display in their first, and for some last, tune-up before the regular season finally gets underway around the state Friday. It’s been nearly a year long wait since the last game for most of the players and there was a rust early. Many kicked it off as the day progressed. The tournament was the brainchild of former Mountain State University coach Bob Bolen and featured end-game situational drills after each scrimmage. Here is a look at the results and some of the events top performers and some surprises. Game 1: Class AAA No. 3 Shady Spring 59, Class AA No. 2 Bluefield 44 Game 2: Class AAAA No. 3 George Washington 49, Parkersburg South 46 Game 3: Class AA No. 2 Bluefield 71, Class A No. 1 Greater Beckley 66 Game 4: Greenbrier East 73, Capital 33 [player_tooltip player_id="977630" first="Braden" last="Chapman"], 6-0, SG, Shady Spring <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/B-CHAP-400.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1142117 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/B-CHAP-400-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a> The Tigers sophomore picked up where he left off last year in Shady Spring’s victory against Bluefield. Chapman, a slick guard, had 22 points and showed his scoring versatility by hitting 3s (3-4) and an array of shots inside the arc. He was 9 of 13 shooting overall. He also got to the rim against a scrappy Bluefield team, showing he is ready to take over the spot as the Tigers go-to guy this season. Chapman also made his case as a quality defender, harassing Bluefield players with five steals and he also added five rebounds. Chapman and his twin brother Cole, cut from the same basketball cloth, have been on the radar as up and comers and it looks like they are ready to assume a role as top 2023s in the state. “I think Braden hears everybody saying that bunch of people that made it easy on him,” coach Ronnie Olson said, meaning most notably first-team all-staters Tommy Williams and Luke LeRose, both now at Glenville State. “If you watched two or three quarters of him today you saw how easy it was for Braden to score. He defended well. He rebounded well. He can go downhill on people. He showed he belongs. He wasn’t just a situational player last year.” [player_tooltip player_id="977546" first="William" last="Gabbert"], 6-3, W, Greenbrier East <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/GABBERT-400.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1142124 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/GABBERT-400-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a>A transfer from George Washington, Gabbert was making his debut with the Spartans and it was a memorable showing. In fact, on a team that features one of the state’s top players in [player_tooltip player_id="1051403" first="Bailee" last="Coles"], Gabbert was at times the best player on the court in the Spartans blow out of Capital. He was a force in all aspects of the game, tying Coles with a game-high 21 points, and leading the Spartans with eight rebounds and also finishing with four steals. Gabbert averaged eight points last year for George Washington, so the scoring is a welcome sight for Greenbrier East, looking for another scorer to go with Coles. After shooting 9 of 16 from the floor, and 3 of 6 from 3, Gabbert is exactly that. The combo gives the Spartans a tough one-two punch and the final (the duo outscored Capital 42-33) fired a shot that they are willing to take a step forward in a region that had been owned by his former team at George Washington. There is little Gabbert didn’t do including things not shown on the stat sheet like seeing the floor and being in the right place at the right time. With similar success in the regular season he will definitely be fast-tracking up the “must-see” players. [player_tooltip player_id="977590" first="Kaden" last="Smallwood"], 5-11, PG, Greater Beckley Christian <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/SMALLWOOD-400.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1142125" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/SMALLWOOD-400-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a> Smallwood is the lone returning starter from a Greater Beckley team that qualified for the state tournament last season. He is now the leader of a young team that enters the season ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP poll. Although just a junior, Smallwood stepped to the forefront early and showed his versatile skills on the court, with 22 points, four rebounds, six assists and four steals. He continually got his teammates in high percentage situations, helped force 22 Bluefield turnovers and more importantly showed he can takeover the veteran leadership role missing with the graduation of four starters. The junior is beginning to receive some interest from Division 2 level teams. “Kaden comes with mass expectations from me,” first-year GBC head coach Justin Arvon said. “Ive coached him for a while. He plays hard, he is skilled and he’s really grown into a leadership role. He had 22 points today but he filled up the stat sheet in other ways. He had four steals, showed intensity on defense and he showed leadership in the huddle and in the locker room.” Some surprises in the shootout: Adam Seams, 6-0, G, Greenbrier East Seams basically made himself a general nuisance to Capital guards all afternoon. He was credited with six steals in 20 minutes but he caused about five more with his helter skelter defense, attacking guards with ferocity, including one memorable one-minute span in the third quarter when he had two straight steals and caused another. His defensive play helped mark his offensive numbers. He had 12 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the field and he finished marking up the stat sheet with four rebounds and four assists. The sophomore will certainly open eyes with similar performances as the regular season begins Friday. [player_tooltip player_id="1051595" first="John" last="Rose"], 5-10, PG, SG, Greater Beckley Christian Rose is an up-and-comer in the Crusader program and showed he can fill up a stat sheet in quick order with 14 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Teammates [player_tooltip player_id="977590" first="Kaden" last="Smallwood"] and [player_tooltip player_id="977579" first="Jordan" last="McInnis"] both said Rose is a player who will surprise fans this season. “He is a young kid but he’s put in a lot of work over the summer,” Smallwood said. “Definitely [player_tooltip player_id="1051595" first="John" last="Rose"],” Mcinnis said. “He is young but he is really good.” He was not afraid to take the the ball to the basket and ended up taking 13 shots, second ,most on the team. His dad [player_tooltip player_id="1051595" first="John" last="Rose"] was a prolific scorer at Shady Spring. Todd Duncan, 6-0, G, Shady Spring Teams who saw Duncan play on the junior varsity level know about Duncan, who simply was caught in the numbers game at Shady last winter. The two-time state championship golfer is breaking through this season and showed that in the shootout. Duncan finished with 12 points but that wasn’t the surprising aspect. He showed drastic improvement, perhaps brought on by opportunity, in his overall game with six steals and six assists along with four rebounds. “Everybody who has played us in the last two years has known Todd as a prolific scorer,” Olson said. “I tell him every day, ‘if they don’t know you, they are going to know you soon.’ Teams are going to see that we are not two-dimensional (Braden and [player_tooltip player_id="977639" first="Cole" last="Chapman"]). We have guys who can shoot, dribble and pass and it’s hard to defend when you have three guys who can do that.” Making a statement: [player_tooltip player_id="977579" first="Jordan" last="McInnis"], 6-9, C, Greater Beckley <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/MCINNIS-400.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1142130 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/MCINNIS-400-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a> The rust fell away quickly for Mcinnis who sat out last season after transferring from Woodrow Wilson. He acknowledged that it felt good to score the game’s first basket and grab the games first rebound. What figures to be a harbinger of things to come, Mcinnis had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He also had four blocks. More impressive was his passing ability, above average. He had two assists, one part of an impressive possession. After altering a shot on the defensive end, he found himself in the paint, well defended. He spun around, while shielding the defender, tossed it off to a teammate for an easy layup. [player_tooltip player_id="977530" first="Alex" last="Yoakum"], 6-2 G, George Washington George Washington is part of a one-two Patriot punch with [player_tooltip player_id="977508" first="Mason" last="Pinkett"], the reigning c0-Kanawha Valley player of the year. It was a slow day the office for Pinkett, who finished with 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting. But Yoakum picked him up with 19 points, six rebounds and four steals in the Patriots win over Parkersburg South. The 2021 Yoakum will end up being a steal for a D2 program. Chance Johnson, 6-3, F, Bluefield Bluefield is looking for a few good men after losing 10 seniors from one of the state’s top Class AA teams of a year ago. There is a chance that Johnson can be on one of those, and he showed the ability to be a scorer with 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting in the win against GBC. He added four rebounds in that game. Jaylan Green, 6-0. G, Bluefield Green is another who had a good scrimmage for the Beavers, with 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting in the loss to Shady Spring. He had one highlight move in the game, when he took the inbounds pass and lifted the ball one-handed over the head of a Tigers defender who was still looking for the ball as Green raced down the floor. Two dribbles later he finished with a perfect Euro step for the basket. The son of Ted Green, who won a state championship at Woodrow Wilson, Green is a senior. </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="jb_0 X_6MGW N_6Fd5"> </div> </div> <div class="H_7jIs D_F ab_C Q_69H5 E_36RhU" data-test-id="toolbar-hover-area"> <div class="D_F W_6D6F r_BN gl_C" data-test-id="card-toolbar"> <div class="D_F ab_C en_0 b_Z14vXdP e_3mS2U I_52qC P_Z1otBpf"> <ul class="hd_n P_0 H_6D6F M_0 ir3_0 iy_h D_F ab_C" tabindex="0" role="menubar" data-test-id="navigable-list"> <li class="G_e p_R" role="menuitem"> </li> <li class="G_e p_R" role="menuitem"> </li> <li class="G_e p_R" role="menuitem"> </li> <li class="G_e p_R" role="menuitem"> <div class="D_F cdPFi_Z1RVMOO cdPFi4_Z2aVTcY" data-test-id="popover-container"> </div> </li> </ul> <hr class="M_0 P_0 cn_0" /></div> </div> </div>