PRINCETON — Being in the top three in the state is brand new for the PikeView Panthers. For Bluefield High School, it’s old news for the Beavers to be in the top 10.

For both, it’s good to be playing well as the postseason starts, as the coaches for PikeView (14-4), the top seed in their section, and second-seeded Bluefield (15-6) attest.

Tonight at Princeton Senior High, the Panthers take on the Summers County Bobcats (6-16) at 6 p.m. and the Beavers play Greenbrier West (10-6) at 8 p.m.

PikeView head coach William Anderson said his players are “pleasantly shocked and surprised” to be ranked third in Class AA in the Associated Press poll released on Monday.

The squad from Gardner has received votes for the No. 1 spot in the last couple of weeks. “We’ve never done that before,” Anderson said.

But, after a season in which the Panthers played one of the toughest schedules in the state, he added, “There are a lot of schools around the state that aren’t surprised.”

“We’ve played some really good teams,” he said. “We’ve played teams within our section very competitively. I think it’s prepared us, pretty much, for what we’re going to face.”

“We’ve played No. 1, No. 2, No. 7,” he said. “It showed us that we can play with anybody in the state — that when we’re playing our best ball, we can possibly beat anyone. And that’s what we have to do.”

Anderson said the team has faced a variety of looks this season.

“Teams have played us slow-down; they’ve sped us up,” he said. “They’ve played hard defense against us. They’ve played trapping defenses. I think we’ve seen just about everything.”

He said Summers County played a “very deliberate” game in the Bobcats’ 46-43 first-round win over Mount View on Saturday.

Anderson said, “Summers is always dangerous. They had us down when we played them at their place. We can’t afford that, with them.”

The PikeView coach said his counterpart on the other bench, veteran coach James Payne, has “seen it all. I don’t think we could do anything that’s going to surprise him. I think he’ll prepare for all contingencies. ...

“Their boys are coming at you 100 percent, and they’re not going to back down from you at all.”

Anderson has used nine to 10 players regularly. “That’s given them game experience,” he said. “So going into a game is easy for them, plus they’re not going to get tired.

“They know they can go 2 to 4 minutes real hard (because) they know they’re coming out to get a rest and they know they’re coming back in.

“We want to maintain the same speed on the floor, while putting fresh legs in all the time. Hopefully, it’ll will wear down the other team.”

He said that could cause matchup trouble for Summers County.

“They may have trouble matching with us, especially when we start going to the bench. We don’t lose too much when we go to the bench. We’ve been fortunate with that, this year,” he said.

The weather cost PikeView four games, including their planned Senior Night.

“Just trying to get into the gym, period, and practice, has been a challenge,” Anderson said. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to coach (Darrell) Presley and to coach (David) Blevins. They’ve done a wonderful job this year.”

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The Bluefield Beavers are ninth in Monday’s poll. Head coach Buster Large said after Saturday’s 67-44 win over Princeton that the Beavers are “starting to hit on all cylinders.”

“I thought their concentration was good,” he said. “I’m just very, very pleased with this game.”

“These kids really care about each other, and I think we’re really getting ready to play,” he said. “And I think it’s going to be one tremendous sectional tournament and regional battle. ... I think we really need to play well Tuesday night.”

The win helped ease memories of losses last week to No. 1 Wyoming East and No. 2 Oak Hill — the only time this season Bluefield has lost back-to-back games.

The team and its coaches regrouped after losing 64-60 to Wyoming East last Tuesday, though Large said he was “very pleased with our effort.”

Senior Damien Price said, “We just had a big talk after the Wyoming East game, that we needed to step it up and do our thing.”

Junior center Joe Woodrum said, “We’ve got to play team ball, and everybody’s got to get involved.”

Price concurred. “We need to do that, to go upstate and win,” he said.

Woodrum said that in sectional competition, “We’re going to have to get mentally tough, and go out and play our hearts out, ’cause that’s all we can do.”

— Contact Tom Bone

at tbone@bdtonline.com