Love is BSC's bedrock in a rocky season

By BRIAN WOODSON

BLUEFIELD — It hasn’t been the Love-ly senior season that Corey Love was hoping for at Bluefield State. But, as BSC head coach Don Jones says, it certainly isn’t anything Love has done wrong.

“We’re not killing anybody by no means, but the games that’s we’ve been in, we’re in those games because of Corey Love,” Jones said. “Offensively, he’s been the one person we’ve been able to count on night in and night out and his shooting percentage and his scoring and rebounding have been such a plus for us.

“If we could get some other kids to step up to half the level that he’s playing at, it would really help our season.”

Love told Jones before the season that he really wanted to go out on a “winning” note. Instead, the Blues lost 15 straight games before defeating West Virginia Wesleyan 100-95 in overtime on Jan. 21.

“It was a pressure release for me,” Love said. “I had been waiting for it the whole year. I expected a lot earlier, but when it came, it was just a big sigh relief for me.”

Love has been a beacon of consistency for the Blues, which dropped to 1-18 after Thursday’s loss at West Virginia Tech. Love and Jones both said much of the problem has resulted from injuries and academic issues.

“Frustrating wouldn’t be a strong enough word to be honest, but a lot of things didn’t fall like we expected,” Love said.

“It’s tough after games,” Jones added. “I look at him after games and I feel bad for him being a senior and we’re where we are right now, but give him a couple of minutes and he’s back to his own self. He’s just a great kid, I really enjoy having him on this team.”

One of just two seniors for BSC, the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Love is among the best players in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, averaging 22.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. He’s also hitting 61 percent of his shots. Just as important are his leadership skills with a young team enduring a frustrating campaign.

“I will try to do anything possible to motivate and get the guys on the right page as far as talking to them during the game, before the game and during practice,” Love said. “I’ll do anything to get them on the right page and get us on the winning track, but unfortunately we’ve only won one game and that’s nine games short of what I thought we would have won by now.

“I have to play my hardest. Even though we lose the game or win, I have to go out and give 110 percent because if I don’t play, it affects the rest of the team. Me being their leader and a senior, if I don’t go out and give my all, they won’t go out and give their all.”

That isn’t a problem for Love, who is candidate to be an All-WVIAC selection. Despite scoring 17 points per game as a junior, Love said he’s just now starting to turn heads.

“Honestly, this is the first season I have really gotten noticed as far as basketball,” Love said. “There’s more pressure on me...Since this is my last year, every night I come in, it’s a countdown game. It’s one of my last college games and I want to play my hardest.”

Even though the Blues are currently in 14th place in a 15-team league, and still need two wins to equal last year’s win total of three, Love is an optimist, confident that BSC could still go out as a winner.

“That’s what I’m hoping for. I will do whatever I have to do to get us at least four or five more wins so we will have a good standing and make a conference (tournament) run,” said Love, whose Blues travel today to Fairmont State. “As of right now, there are some other teams that are 1-8 and 1-9 in the conference so we’re not at the bottom by ourselves, but we don’t want to stay at the bottom for these next nine games.”

A product of Red Springs, N.C., Love was all-everything in high school, and ranked as one of the top 100 players in North Carolina. BSC graduate Shane Compton, an assistant coach at Red Springs, suggested that Love visit Bluefield State. The school and even the state was a mystery to him. Five years later, he’s pleased with his choice.

“No, I didn’t know of Bluefield, honestly I didn’t know of West Virginia,” Love said. “I thought it was just the western part of Virginia, but since I’ve lived here the last five years, I have grown to love it, besides the cold weather.

“Besides that I have grown to call Bluefield and West Virginia my home.”

—Contact Brian Woodson bwoodson@bdtonline.com

Text Only