By Rich Stevens
No amount of offensive rebounds and second chance opportunities could save third-seeded Capital from being the first upset victim at the 2016 boys state high school basketball tournament.
Cole Day scored with 1:29 left in the second overtime and Capital’s Miguel “Crunchy” Bays missed the front end of a two-shot foul with 4 seconds left as No. 6 Parkersburg South held on for an 87-86 victory in the final Class AAA quarterfinal of the week.
Capital had a desperation attempt from about three-quarter court that went over the backboard, setting off a wild celebration for the Patriots.
South (19-7), the top seed last year that fell to Huntington in the title game, advances to face the second-seeded Highlanders at 9 p.m. on Friday.
“There is a ton of emotions,” South coach Mike Fallon said. “The first half was a dogfight, back and forth. We couldn’t keep them off the boards. We rebounded much better in the second half.”
Capital’s largest lead was seven with 4:44 left in the first quarter. South, on the other hand, went up by 15 with just 1:42 remaining in the third.
The Cougars scored the last six points of the third and 20 of the first 28 points of the fourth to take a two-point lead with 1:30 remaining.
“Parkersburg South did a really good job handling the pressure early,” said Capital first-year coach Matt Greene, the son of George Washington coach Rick Greene, who won the 1971 Class AAA state title as a player for GW and coached it to the 2011 crown. “We went to more of a half-court man defense and got some turnovers.”
It was no surprise that a pair of Cody Boggs free throws tied the game for South and forced the first overtime.
South star Garrett Gilkeson said the players shoot a lot of free throws in practice with Fallon pointing out that they have to run for every miss.
It paid off.
South was 33-of-41 from the line, offsetting a 53-43 deficit in rebounds, a 25-10 Capital advantage on the offensive boards and finishing with 23 turnovers. The Cougars struggled mightily at the line, hitting only 21 of their 37 opportunities.
“We haven’t shot free throws particularly well all year,” Greene said. “We’ve been sporadic from the line.”
As for second chances, Capital could only get 18 points out of those 25 offensive boards, while South had as many second-chance points (10) as offensive rebounds.
Ultimately, it came down to what is officially a jumper from Day, but went in as he fell backwards near the baseline.
“I was just going for a turnaround jumper, got hammered and just threw it up there,” said Day, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Patriots finished with five double-figure scorers, led by Garrett Gilkeson, who had 21 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals before fouling out early in the first overtime.
Bays had 26 points and a game-high 18 rebounds to lead Capital. Point guard Leondre Rogers had 24 points, five rebounds, six assists and six steals. Deshawn Hatfield had 13 points and six boards. Capital had eight players with at least four rebounds each.
