Home Uncategorized BOYS STATES: Huntington Pulls Away From Musselman

BOYS STATES: Huntington Pulls Away From Musselman

by David Kravetz

By Rich Stevens

The slow-starting Huntington Highlanders used a 23-point third quarter to withstand a game effort from upset-minded Musselman and earn a 69-45 victory over the No. 7 Applemen (18-6) in the Class AAA state boys basketball tournament on Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center.

All-State guard and Akron recruit Tavian Dunn-Martin struggled in the first half, missing nine of his 12 shot attempts, but had 11 points in the third as Huntington advances to face the winner of the quarterfinal between No. 3 Capital and No. 6 Parkersburg South.

The Highlanders hit only 9-of-28 shots in the first half, compared to 9-of-18 for Musselman. The Applemen were also selective and successful with their 3-point attempts, hitting three of five tries.

Instead of a collective look of bewilderment the second-seeded Highlanders (24-1) had in the first half, the two-time defending state champions forced nine turnovers through 12 minutes of the second half after forcing 10 in 16 first-half minutes.

“I thought defensively we were really good. We rebounded the ball well, we had good movement and were able to keep the pace to our liking,” Musselman coach Derek Basile said. “In the second half, they got a couple runouts and our legs went out a little bit.”

A J.R. Howard basket with 2:51 left in the third quarter gave the Highlanders their largest lead to that point (61-41). A minute later, threes from Howard and Pennington pushed the advantage to 24.

The upset bid was over and both teams cleared their benches at the 1:38 mark.

Dunn-Martin finished with 24 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals and only three turnovers. Huntington had 21 assists to only nine for the Applemen.

“That’s the thing about this team, they can score points in bunches,” Huntington coach Ron Hess said.

Huntington allowed only six points in the fourth quarter and had three players in double figures – Dunn-Martin, J.R. Howard (15) and Mikal Dawson (13).

Jake Stephens and Kyle Jackson had 12 and 11 points respectively for Musselman, making its second consecutive state tournament trip and third overall. The Applemen haven’t made it past the quarterfinal round.

This is Huntington’s fourth straight state tournament berth, losing in the quarterfinals in 2013 – Dunn-Martin’s freshman year.

The Highlanders went to five in a row from 2004-08, winning the last three of that string. The 2008 championship was capped by a 103-61 win over South Charleston in the final behind All-State players O.J. Mayo and Patrick Patterson. Both play in the National Basketball Association: Mayo for the Milwaukee Bucks and Patterson for the Toronto Raptors.

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