By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — Captain status is normally reserved for seniors or veterans of several years in their chosen sport.
An exception has been made at Bluefield High School, and for good reason.
Lykel Collier exhibits all the attributes that a captain must have, and the talented point guard is just a sophomore.
“He means so much not only to us on offense, but on defense and also, most importantly, leadership,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said. “The kids really look up to him, his work ethic in practice is what sets the standard. I think all the kids truly respect that and he has just a tremendous attitude.
“He is one of these I don’t have to ask him to work hard. I know he is going to provide the leadership. It is there every day and that is why he is a captain.”
It also helps to be one of the top players in West Virginia, working as a pass-first point guard, who has led the Beavers to a 10-0 start to the season.
“I am pretty proud to be a leader as a sophomore. The point guard is normally the quarterback of the basketball team, but I wasn’t expecting to be a captain,” Collier said. “I just expected to be a captain on the floor.
“I could never coach, but I am happy and honored to be a captain this year.”
He’s earned it. Collier has been productive since arriving as a freshman last season. His play has only continued to improve, helping Bluefield to a pair of wins last week including a 79-44 victory over James Monroe, and a 73-53 decision against Wyoming East as the top-ranked Beavers ran away from the second-ranked Warriors.
It was their first win over Wyoming East in recent memory, having lost five times in the last two seasons to the Warriors, and three last year.
“Last year we lost to them in two close games and one game they blew us out so it was nice to get this win to get the monkey off our back against them,” Collier said. “They are good ball club, it is always good to get a good win against them.”
He scored 31 points in those games, but was more proud of 19 assists.
“That is what I normally do is distribute first and then I look for me next,” Collier said. “I like to get everybody involved in scoring, not just me, I want to get my teammates involved.
“Wyoming East was a big one, they are good team. It was good for us to get that win. I just want to go out there and play hard. It was a big game against a great team like that.”
Collier had 10 points, 12 rebounds and five steals against the Mavericks, and added 21 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals in the win over Wyoming East.
“A solid performance in both games,” Large said. “He is what I call our playmaker, when we go he goes.”
For those efforts, Collier has been chosen as the Pocahontas Coal Association/Bluefield Daily Telegraph Player of the Week. He was also a winner of the award last season as a freshman.
“I am truly surprised. To be a freshman and win it and to be a sophomore and win it, I am very lucky to win it, I am happy I won the award this week,” Collier said. “I just want to thank my mom, my coaches and my teammates, I couldn’t have done it without them.”
The 5-foot-10 Collier has been a steadily influence for the Beavers. While he won’t ‘wow’ anyone with his stature and outward appearance, put him on the court and ‘wow’ will be in the conversation.
“I am not the biggest, but I play with heart,” Collier said. “I am not going to be the biggest, I am going to make up for it with something, defense, offense, or something.”
“As far as heart, you look at his size, but he just plays 120 percent every minute he is in the game,” added Large, who is thrilled that Collier, and teammates Anthony Eades and Michael Yost are just sophomores. “We are just tickled to death to have him back for a while.
“Not only is he is very good at basketball, he is one of these kids that is just an outstanding student-athlete, He is going to be in the classroom, I think he is a straight-A student. When you get a kid like that with all those good ethics and good work habits, it just makes coaching so much easier.”
A point guard is a like a coach on the court. No one shows that more in his actions than Collier, who has been distributing the ball since the opening game, recording 14 assists against Graham, and he had 13 dimes and 21 points in a win over PikeView.
“The role of a point guard is really a playmaker, he really needs to look to score for others than himself,” Collier said. “If I can get others involved in the game besides just me, I like to get the whole team involved.
“Anybody can get in the scoring column, not just me or the starters, everybody, so I really look to pass the ball first and then score next. Scoring is not really a big thing to me, I would rather have eight points and 12 assists, it is not really a big thing to me.”
Bluefield, which improved to 10-0 with a Wednesday night win over Summers County, is currently the top-ranked Group AA team in West Virginia, and Collier knows why.
“Defense, defense wins championships, if you can’t play defense, then you can’t win,” said Collier, prior to Wednesday’s game. “We stress that mostly, defense, defense, defense, that is all coach talks about, defense. Other than that, rebounding is another thing that we need to get better at and then running the floor.
“We like to run the floor, we like to score a lot of points and have a high-paced offense. I think that is our keys and why we started off 9-0.”
Bluefield won state championships in 1995-96 and lost in the finals in ‘97, ‘99 and 2006. They last got to the state tournament in 2008, and now the Beavers might be the favorite as the top-ranked team in the state.
“I am just glad we started off undefeated right now,” said Collier, whose Beavers will travel to Scott on Friday, their first of six straight road games. “It is a big thing, but we are not going to get big-headed or cocky. We are just going to take it one game at a time and not overlook any team this year because anybody can beat you.”
Bluefield last won a sectional title in ‘08, having been eliminated last season in the sectionals on a buzzer-beating 3 by Greenbrier West. Getting past the sectionals is a definite goal for the Beavers.
“If we just stick to do what we do best, hustle and everything, running our game, not playing to other teams’ game then we will be able to accomplish good things,” Collier said. “First and foremost, we could like to win the sectional this year. We haven’t won a sectional in three years so we would like to win the sectional championship.
“Last year it was crazy. That was last year, but this is a new year. We are hoping to win the sectional this year.”
Having Collier on board will help.
“As a sophomore he is a captain. We haven’t told a lot of people, but he is the captain,” Large said. “We decided to do that based on what he did last year as a freshman, how he worked this summer and how he worked in the preseason.
“I don’t think he missed a day of weight-lifting, and I think everybody is seeing all these things pan out for him.”
That can only mean good things for the Beavers. That number one rating is nice, but it also makes them marked men.
“It is nice to be number one, but when you play these teams, rankings don’t mean anything,” Collier said. “Everybody is going to try and knock us off since we are the number one team in the state, but we have got to go out there and play our best and play the game we like to play.”
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

Honorable Mention
Bland County (0-2 during week): Asher Dillow, 50 points, 8 3s vs. Grayson County; Darryl Clark, 36 points; Chase Hankins, 34 pts, 7 3s vs. Grayson County.
Bluefield (2-0): Anthony Eades, 47 points, 8 steals, 5 assists; Michael Yost, 33 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists.
Graham (3-0): Tony Hood, 21 points; Colby Hill, 25 points; Zach Proffitt, 10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists vs. Bland County; Corey Coppola, 13 points, 14 rebounds vs. Bland, 9 pts vs. Narrows; Gray Baker, 12 pts vs. Bland, 15 pts vs. Narrows; Tyler Thompson, 16 points vs. Tazewell; Lamont Edwards, 12 pts vs. Tazewell.
Grundy (1-1): Ben Rife, 33 points; Tyler Stacy, 14 pts vs. Hurley.
Haysi (0-1): Tyler Tipton, 25 pts; Peyton O’quinn, 19 pts.
Hurley (2-0): Tyler Cooper, 32 points; Dustin Waynick, 25 points (9 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. Twin Valley); Austin Cooper, 38 points; Thomas Allen, 12 pts vs. Twin Valley; Wesley Pack, 13 pts. vs. Grundy.
James Monroe (0-1): Mark Dixon, 17 points.
Mercer Christian (0-1): Jonathan Easter, 29 points; Josiah Janning, 10 points.
Montcalm (1-0): Michael Blackwell, 20 points, 11 rebounds; Jacob Howard, 15 points, 9 rebounds.
Mount View (0-1): Antoine Calloway, 17 pts; Maurice Brown, 11 pts; Tayshawn Vineyard, 10 pts.
Narrows (1-1): Chander Burton, 34 points vs. Craig County; Garin Givens, 12 pts vs. Craig County; Joe Hall, 10 pts vs. Graham; Allen Oney, 10 pts vs. CC.
PikeView (1-0): Cory Peyton, 18 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals; Will Webster, 11 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists; Jason Weitzel, 11 points
Pipestem Christian (2-1): Austin Peyton, 54 points; Aleks Lane, 63 pts, 31 vs. Ballard Christian; Dylan Kinzer, 17 pts vs. South Haven.
Princeton (1-0): Ryan Meadows, 27 points; David Brewster, 10 points.
Richlands (0-1): Ben Brown, 15 points.
Tazewell (1-1): Jalen Jordan, 44 points, 33 vs. Graham; Noah Walker, 33 pts, 21 pts, 18 rebounds, 6 blocks vs. Marion; Blake Hash, 28 pts, 18 pts, 8 steals vs. Marion; Ryan Hankins, 11 pts, 7 reb vs. Marion; Colin Hancock, 10 pts vs. Graham; John Walker, 14 pts vs. Marion.
Twin Valley (0-1): Chance Moore, 10 points, 10 rebounds.
NOTE: Only games reported to the Daily Telegraph are included in statistics. Coaches are urged to report all varsity scores and make recommendations for this award at (304) 327-2813 or sports@bdtonline.com