Cover photo by WV Sports Photography for RSN Sports
By Rich Stevens
The Robert C. Byrd boys basketball team couldn’t take advantage of second chances and, as a result, was another first-round victim of Wyoming East.
The fifth-seeded Eagles converted just six points out of 21 offensive rebounds and couldn’t overcome a 30-point performance from R.J. Foldon as the No. 4 Warriors defeated Byrd 51-48 in the state tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center.
Wyoming East (20-4) returns at 1 p.m. on Friday to face defending champion Poca in the semifinals.
Since its first season in 1998-99, Wyoming East is 14-5 in the state tournament with three championships. The Warriors have faced Poca just once in the postseason, with Wyoming East’s first state championship coming in a 72-62 win over the Dots in 2002.
“We’re expected to win,” said 34-year-old Wyoming East coach Rory Chapman, who is in his seventh season as head coach after serving three as an assistant. “When we left Wyoming County everybody expected us to win. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to come up here and perform.”
And, perform they did, especially senior R.J. Foldon, who averaged eight points entering the state tournament. He had career highs in points (30) and 3-pointers (6) and added seven rebounds.
“I knew Foldon was capable of that,” Robert C. Byrd coach Bill Bennett said. “We followed them all year and he kind of got going. Not a lot of people shoot that way in this building.”
The Eagles (19-6) had an uphill climb on their hands, trailing by 12 with 4:20 left in the third and by six with 21 seconds remaining.
Then, Ron Turner hit a pair of 3-pointers – the second which cut the lead to one with 4 seconds remaining. A quick foul sent Foldon to the line. He hit both and a desperation inbound to midcourt was intercepted as the buzzer sounded.
“I think they played the best defense we’ve seen this year other than the Fairmont team,” Chapman said of Robert C. Byrd. “It was sloppy and ugly for us. We turned the ball over more times, were outrebounded, but knocked down foul shots in the fourth quarter and won the game.”
Indeed, the Eagles had plenty of chances to score and had eight more rebounds than East. In fact, Byrd had one fewer offensive rebound than the Warriors had total boards.
“We didn’t do a very good job of getting stuff back up there,” Bennett said. “We’ve been a good rebounding team all year. We got those opportunities, we just didn’t do a very good job of getting them back up there.”
David Carte had 10 rebounds for East, which had only one double-figure scorer and turned the ball over 19 times, compared to 14 for Byrd. Dante Speas had 18 points and seven of his team’s 14 steals to lead the Eagles. Luke Dyer added 15.
