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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.

By Rich Stevens

Playing in his seventh state tournament game in four seasons, nothing was going to surprise Fairmont Senior point guard Darhius Nunn.

The senior hit 10-of-13 shots and finishing with 21 points, eight steals and seven assists and the third-seeded Polar Bears pulled away late to post a 63-50 victory over No. 6 Bluefield on Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center to kick off the 103^rd boys state basketball tournament.

Nunn’s first was the 100^th and he played just eight minutes, scoring two points.

“You can’t really panic, no matter how the first half goes,” said Nunn, who had six assists in the first half, but also had three of his four turnovers. “My freshman year, I was like everybody else, got caught up in the lights instead of the game.”

There were 13 lead changes during the first 16 minutes, but the Polar Bears (21-5) – who face the Bridgeport-Ravenswood winner in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Friday – took the lead for good on a Nunn jump shot with 3:47 left in the third.

Jeremy Thompson kept the Beavers (15-8) in the game with a 20-point first half, but made only one of six shots after halftime. He was 8-9 before intermission.

Thompson was averaging 16.7 points entering the game.

“They changed their defense,” Thompson said. “The first half, I was feeling good. In the second half, they were bringing in someone fresh, in my face the whole second half, but I still had a couple open shots I should’ve knocked down.”

It was a simple solution to a problem.

“In the first half, they shot the ball really well,” Fairmont Senior coach said of the Beavers, who were 15-of-21 in the first half. “We thought we did a pretty good job with the press, wearing them down some, but we lost some guys in transition. Consequently, No. 10 (Thompson) had a tremendous half. In the second half, we had several guys guarding him. Stopping the dribble penetration was huge.”

The game was a rematch of the 2013 championship won by Bluefield 63-43. Nunn had no points and one shot attempt in two minutes in that game.

Fairmont Senior is 4-3 in state tournament games in which he has participated, with the seventh including 24 Bluefield turnovers and 15 steals and 12 assists for the winners.

The momentum shifted late in the first half when Fairmont Senior’s Brennan Moorehead and Jalen Bridges sandwiched a Bluefield basket with 3-pointers to cut into a five-point lead.

“I can live with the effort we displayed,” Bluefield coach Charlest “Buster” Large said. “We had a golden opportunity in the first half. They got the charging call and drained two threes. That’s a critical moment.”

Latrell “Mookie” Collier had 10 points to help Bluefield. Moorehead added 10 points for the Polar Bears while Justin Lee (9 points), Zyon Dobbs (8) and Dante Stills (8) combined for 25 points for the winners.

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Cover photo by Star Tribune

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PERFECTO!

Morgantown Finishes Unblemished in Taking AAA Championship

By Rich Stevens

The on-court conversation wasn’t particularly diplomatic, but it provided more dramatics at the Class AAA boys high school basketball state championship game.

It also invigorated undefeated Morgantown, as if the No. 1 Mohigans needed any help in claiming the school’s first boys basketball title.

Senior Kenzie Melko had 15 of his 17 points and nine of his 14 rebounds in the second half and overtime and Morgantown held off two-time defending champion Huntington for a 65-62 verdict in overtime.

The Mohigans (27-0) became the first Class AAA team since 1985 to finish undefeated when coach Don Stover’s Stonewall Jackson Generals were 26-0.

It also was Morgantown’s first boys championship in 24 trips to the state tournament dating to 1917 when it lost in the semifinals in a one-class system. The only other time Morgantown played in the final was 1956 when it lost to Jerry West and East Bank.

“We’ll have a bond that will last forever,” said Morgantown coach Dave Tallman, who played for the 2000 Magnolia team that won the Class AA title.

Tallman’s high school coach was his father, also Dave Tallman, whose team won the 2015 single-A championship, but fell in this year’s semifinals on Friday to St. Joseph.

He sat in the front row near the Morgantown bench, saying he was more nervous watching his son coach than he is trying to win as a coach.

Despite multiple hindrances, missed free throws and opportunities given star point guard Tavian Dunn-Martin and the Highlanders (25-2), Morgantown held on to be the only favored team to win a state championship this week.

“Total team effort,” the Morgantown coach said. “People want to talk about coaching decisions. I’m coaching, but I’m not the one when we were down, playing defense and rebounding. It’s all about these guys.”

Dunn-Martin misfired on a 3-pointer with five seconds left in regulation and had a layup that went in and out with 11 seconds in overtime.

Dunn-Martin was 1-of-11 from 3-point range after hitting 10-of-20 in the semifinals and quarterfinals combined.

However, he led his team with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and one blocked shot with no turnovers.

“It’s a tough loss,” Dunn-Martin said. “I had the ball in my hands, missed a layup.”

The back-and-forth game featured four lead changes and eight ties with each team holding a nine-point advantage. The Highlanders largest lead was with 6:11 left at the height of emotions.

The teams were exchanging words and, at one point, officials had to talk to players from both teams.

Morgantown guard Antonio Morgano, whose teammates called the “best defender in the state,” almost forced a turnover against Dunn-Martin and immediately stared down his counterpart with no response from the Huntington star.

“It was just part of intimidation,” Morgano said. “That’s part of his game and I wasn’t going to let him do that.”

Melko, who was joined by teammates Steven Solomon and Nicky Solomon on the All-Tournament team, helped energize a 16-4 run capped by a dunk to give Morgantown a 54-50 lead with 3:21 remaining.

Huntington reserve Jadon Hayes hit two free throws and J.R. Howard scored two of his team-high 20 points to tie the score and force overtime.

Steven Solomon, the senior Solomon brother, had a tip-in and a pair of free throws in overtime. His first basket gave Morgantown the lead for good.

Melko had an overtime basket as did 6-7 forward Elvin McNally, who finished with eight points and six of Morgantown’s 44 rebounds.

Dunn-Martin hit a jump shot that cut the lead to 58-57 with 2:42 remaining and two free throws to trim it to 60-59 at 1:49, but the Highlanders couldn’t get over the hump.

Two missed free throws from McNally with eight seconds remaining left the window open for the two-time defending champions. Dunn-Martin went the length of the court and split the lane, but his layup with one second left wouldn’t fall.

“Anytime we have the ball in Tavian’s hands, we feel good,” Huntington coach Ron Hess said. “I just thought it was a great championship game. We had a chance to win.”

Dunn-Martin was playing in his 10^th state tournament game and third final after the Highlanders fell in the quarterfinals his freshman year.

The guard, who will play his college basketball at Akron, played 287 minutes in four years of state tournament games, hitting 58-of-154 field goals, 28-of-88 3-pointers and 37-of-44 free throws with 43 rebounds, 28 assists and 181 points.

The championship capped a Morgantown season during which the Mohigans defeated every team ranked in the top five of the Associated Press Poll of the state’s sportswriters – Huntington, Woodrow Wilson, Martinsburg (twice) and Capital; as well as Parkersburg South (three times), which also was ranked in the top 10.

“No disrespect to Huntington, but we’re the undisputed champs,” Morgantown’s coach said. “We didn’t play a single double-A team. We beat everybody. We played them all, and beat them all.”

Steven Solomon had 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals and brother Nicky Solomon added nine points and eight boards.

Dajon Congleton finished with eight rebounds for Huntington, which also received a game-high 20 points from J.R. Howard and 11 points and six rebounds from Mikal Dawson.

 

 

Saint Joe Central Outlasts Wheeling Central For Class A Title

By Rich Stevens

The 2016 state high school boys basketball tournament didn’t have its first upset until the next-to-last quarterfinal game.

After the Class A championship, it has four.

St. Joseph won the school’s first state championship in just its second visit to the final eight with a 67-65 victory over second-seeded Wheeling Central, capping the second consecutive upset in Saturday’s finals after Fairmont Senior upended No. 1 Poca in Class AA.

The game ended with a flurry of missed free throws and Keith Clemons stripping the ball from Wheeling Central senior Chase Harler as the clock wound down in overtime to give St. Joseph (21-6) the title.

Harler, who battled foul trouble and sat out the end of the third and parts of the fourth quarter with four, helped the Maroon Knights to the 2014 championship before they fell in the finals in 2015 (Magnolia) and Saturday (St. Joseph).

St. Joseph coach Ross Scaggs was comedic after winning the title.

“You don’t know if it’s all worth it until you do it,” Scaggs said of winning the title. “It was worth all of the suicides I watched them run.”

The running in practice paid big dividends for a starting five that includes four perimeter players who provided major matchup issues for opponents.

When Harler was on the floor with four fouls, it was more noticeable.

Wheeling Central (24-3) was forced to change to a zone defense to protect Harler, who was defending in the post. St. Joseph’s Keith Clemons went regularly at the WVU recruit.

“I knew I had four fouls, so I couldn’t be overly aggressive,” Harler said.

Clemons finished with 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. He had only two turnovers.

“They did a good job,” Wheeling Central coach Mel Stephens said. “They set the ball screen with Chase’s guy. Our plan wasn’t to switch, but they did such a good job with it we had to.”

Two of Clemons’ steals played an integral part. He stripped Harler at the end of regulation to force overtime and again at the end of overtime with the Irish protecting a one-point lead.

“John (Morrison) did a great job of forcing him my way and stepped over and took away the drive,” Clemons said.

St. Joseph appeared to be running away with the victory, leading by eight just after Harler picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench with 3:52 left in the third. The Knights made a run, tying the score at 49, capping a 10-2 run with a Brent Price dunk.

Harler returned at 6:49 of the fourth, returned to the bench 52 seconds later and checked back in at 5:19. His only basket after the third quarter was a layup in overtime that cut a St. Joseph lead to one with 3:18 left.

Both teams had chances at the foul line, but missed free throws from Wheeling Central’s Owen Gainer and Gabe Rohmann and St. Joseph’s Clemons left the game in doubt until the final seconds.

After Deaundra Murphy made one of two foul shots with 6 seconds left in overtime, Wheeling Central called a timeout to set up the final play.

That’s when Morrison forced Harler toward the sideline where Clemons stripped the ball, setting off a celebration near center court.

“All the credit to St. Joe’s,” Stephens said. “They drove the ball in the paint, we had a heck of a time taking care of that, and they rebounded the ball extremely well.

“We battled back in the second half, had our chances, had our two best free throw shooters at the line and came up with a goose egg.”

Harler had 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals while playing in his third consecutive state championship game.

John Dawson, who transferred from Huntington High School after winning back-to-back titles with the Highlanders, had 15 points and eight rebounds. Jacob Strieter added 11 points and 11 rebounds and John Morrison had 10 points.

Gainer led Wheeling Central with 22 points, hitting 6-of-12 3-pointers and adding eight rebounds.

Price had 11 points and seven rebounds.

 

 

Fairmont Senior Wins State AA Championship

By Rich Stevens

Fairmont Senior boys basketball coach Dave Retton is the polar opposite of the school’s last coach to win a state championship.

That would be Frank “Babe” Stingo, whose outspoken personality and lack of filter has provided more than enough reading material.

They now have a common bond – a title.

The duo of senior Darhius Nunn and freshman Zyon Dobbs combined for 28 points and held Poca juniors Elijah Cuffee and Luke Frampton to 25 percent shooting to lead third-seeded Fairmont Senior to a resounding 55-37 victory over the No. 1 Dots (25-3) in the state high school tournament Class AA finals on Saturday.

“These guys were tremendous on defense,” said Retton, the son of legendary former Fairmont State coach Joe Retton. “We didn’t hold the ball against Poca. To hold them to 37 points, these guys got the job done. All of them. Our bench, starters …”

Although the game began similarly to last year’s championship meeting won by Poca, Fairmont Senior didn’t stumble this time.

In 2015, Poca trailed by 15 after the first quarter, 10 at halftime, and four after three quarters before completing the comeback in the final period.

On Saturday, Fairmont Senior (23-5) led by seven after one, but ascended to a 12-point edge at the half and a 16-point lead after three. The advantage ballooned to 22 with 3:26 left in the third.

The Polar Bears turned the tables on the ball-sharing Dots, who had 22 assists in the semifinals against Wyoming East. Senior had 17 assists to just nine for Poca to give Retton his first championship after becoming head coach in 1997 when Fairmont Senior was a member of Class AAA.

Conversely, this was Poca’s first loss to a West Virginia high school since it was the No. 2 seed in 2014 and lost to No. 3 Bluefield in the state semifinals – a span of 51 games.

“I thought Fairmont played really, really well,” Poca coach Allen Osborne said. “They defended us extremely well.”

Nunn and Dobbs were the key elements to Fairmont Senior’s defense, which wasn’t the same one that allowed Poca to hit 17-of-37 shots in last year’s title game.

The Dots shot 12-of-52 on Saturday and 5-of-21 from 3-point range. Frampton and Kaden Meeks were a combined 0-of-9 from long range and Frampton didn’t score in the second half after tallying six points the first 16 minutes.

“He’s (Dobbs) really athletic,” Cuffee said. “He anticipates really well. He did a really good job on both of us, bothered us when we tried to shoot.”

Cuffee had 20 points and 11 rebounds, but the Dots were never really in the game after Fairmont took a 10-point lead midway through the second quarter.

In fact, a Brennan Moorehead 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer gave Fairmont a 28-16 lead and the advantage never slipped below 10 again.

In an attempt to slow Senior, Poca went to a zone defense on occasion, a rarity for Osborne.

“Kaden picked up his second foul and playing it really helped us early in the game,” he said. “The 3 at the end of the half hurt us. That was my fault, we should’ve been in man. They were quick, getting in the lane with the dribble, but it all boils down to us not making shots.”

Nunn had 18 points and 10 assists, bringing his three-game assist total at the state tournament to 21.

Moorehead had 13 points and seven rebounds and Dante Stills had 11 of Fairmont’s 32 boards. The Polar Bears scored 12 points off eight Poca turnovers.

 

 

 Huntington Rolls Past Parkersbug South in Semifinals

By Rich Stevens

The seeds for the West Virginia boys state high school basketball tournament have been reasonably accurate since the system was implemented in 2005.

Except, perhaps, in the case of Huntington.

The Highlanders will try for their third consecutive Class AAA title on Saturday after dispatching of Parkersburg South – its victim in last year’s championship game 66-52 in Friday’s semifinals at the Charleston Civic Center.

Huntington (25-1) faces undefeated and top-seeded Morgantown (26-0) for the Class AAA championship at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday.

In winning back-to-back state titles, Huntington’s victims included the top seeds – Parkersburg South in 2015 and Washington in 2014.

Much like Morgantown, Washington was undefeated going into its meeting with Huntington.

In dispatching of the Patriots (19-8), Huntington gave up eight of the game’s first nine points. After a timeout, it scored all but two of the quarter’s next 21 points to take a nine-point lead.

“When the game started out we were a little bit too excited, maybe a little too much emotion,” Hess said. “When you have somebody like Tavian Dunn-Martin, gets us right back into the game and gets everybody else going too.”

Dunn-Martin, the only Huntington player remaining from its 2013 state quarterfinal team that lost to Martinsburg, hit a 3-pointer and followed a Dajon Congleton 3-pointer with two more.

The end of Parkersburg South’s appeared headed to an abrupt end, trailing by 19 with 5:24 remaining.

However, the Patriots cut the lead to 10 with 1:56 to go before Huntington scored eight of the next 10 points to salt the game away.

“There’s always an end,” said emotional Parkersburg South head coach Mike Fallon. “There’s no way to prepare for it. In the long run, we just couldn’t score.”

Cody Boggs had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead South, while Garrett Gilkeson finished with 11 points and seven boards.

Dunn-Martin continued his hot shooting from long range, hitting 5-of-10 3-pointers. He finished with 19 points and is 10-of-20 from long range in the quarterfinals and semifinals this week. J.R. Howard had 21 points to lead Huntington and Congleton added 10 points and 13 boards.

Dunn-Martin will play in his 10^th state tournament game on Saturday when the Highlanders face unbeaten and top-seeded Morgantown (26-0) at 7:15 p.m.

“No matter where he is he can pull it,” Gilkeson said of Dunn-Martin. “There are quick shooters out there but it doesn’t matter where he is.”

The Akron recruit will play in his 10^th state tournament game on Saturday. Through nine games, he has played 251 minutes and has scored 166 points with 27 3-pointers and is 33-of-40 from the free throw line.

 

 

Huntington St. Joe Takes Down Magnolia in Semis

By Rich Stevens

Magnolia senior Preston Boswell is the state’s leading scorer who hoped to save his best for last.

Boswell would have to settle for next to last.

The 2,000-point career scorer poured in a tournament-high 41 points, but didn’t have a field goal past 4:07 of the fourth period as the fifth-seeded Irish stunned the Blue Eagles 70-62 in Friday’s Class A semifinal of the state high school boys basketball tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

The Blue Eagles (22-3) wouldn’t get the opportunity to face Wheeling Central for the eighth time in the last 24 months.

Instead, St. Joseph will play for the championship in only its second trip to the tournament, becoming only the second Class A No. 5 seed to reach the final. Bishop Donahue accomplished the feat in 2007, losing to Charleston Catholic 83-40. Additionally, single-A won’t have a repeat champion for the seventh consecutive year. Wheeling Central won in 2008 and 2009.

“I’m proud of my team,” said St. Joseph guard John Morrison, who had 17 points and five steals for the Irish. “When we get down, we don’t give up.”

The Irish (21-6) found itself in a tight spot with 2:15 remaining, but just like the quarterfinal against Notre Dame, St. Joseph found a way.

Coach Ross Scaggs’ team trailed 50-45 with 2:15 left in the quarters before going on a 9-0 run to wrap up the school’s first state tournament victory.

The Irish was down 62-61 to Magnolia with 2:15 left and scored the game’s final nine points to finish off its second.

“I wouldn’t want to make a living doing this,” Scaggs said.

In the meantime, St. Joseph clamped down on Boswell, who didn’t score the first 3:20 of the game, then had 17 points the next six minutes. He left the final 1:16 of the second quarter because he was bleeding, giving him 41 points in 27:31 minutes. He returned to start the second half.

“They didn’t do anything we haven’t seen,” Boswell said. “It was very similar to what Wheeling Central does. The uptempo, I think that sped us up a little and we had some bad passes and they had some easy buckets.”

Keith Clemons led the way for the Irish with 24 points, while adding seven rebounds, four assists and two of his team’s nine steals. Deaundra Murphy had 14 points and five rebounds and John Dawson added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Mitch Winters had nine rebounds for Magnolia, but no other Blue Eagle player scored more than nine points while its bench was outscored by Morrison’s 17

 

 

Morgantown Fights Off Pesky Woodrow in Semifinal

By Rich Stevens

If Morgantown was trying to lull Woodrow Wilson into a false sense of security, it worked beautifully.

If the Mohigans weren’t, it still worked beautifully.

Nicky Solomon matter-of-factly hit a 13-foot floater with 3:58 left to give his team a four-point lead, its largest since the first quarter, and the Mohigans preserved their undefeated record with a 54-50 victory over the Flying Eagles (24-3) in Friday’s Class AAA semifinals of the 2016 boys state high school basketball tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

Morgantown faces the winner of the Huntington-Parkersburg South game at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday for the Class AAA title.

“That’s a play we ran in 2000,” said Morgantown coach Dave Tallman, who played on Magnolia’s Class AA state title team 16 years ago. “We work on it, we’ve had a lot of leads this year and we don’t play smart basketball all the time. We call that some of our motion. We run it and don’t just want to say don’t score.”

While odd that a score with four minutes left of a four-point result in a state tournament semifinal might have been the play of the game, Woodrow Wilson coach Ron Kidd and forward Nequan Carrington remembered it.

“I felt like once they got a lead, they were just trying to slow us down, trying to put us to sleep,” Carrington said. “When they felt like they caught us sleeping, they were going to try to score.”

That wasn’t the intention of the Mohigans, who are making their 18^th state tournament appearance.

Solomon saw a crease and, like so many times this season, the junior took advantage.

“The runner’s been one of my best shots all year,” said Solomon, who had 14 points, four rebounds and two steals. “We move the ball until we get an open shot. Kenzie (Melko) passed it and I found an open lane.”

The lead reached five and Woodrow cut it to one twice in the last 1:34, but couldn’t get over the hump.

The victory put behind Morgantown a precarious 32 minutes that threatened its chance to become the first Class AAA team to go unbeaten since the 1985 Stonewall Jackson Generals.

Woodrow Wilson (24-3), which has 16 titles but none since 2008, hit 3-pointers early and attacked the basket late, staying around through second chances – its M.O. this season.

Woodrow had five more offensive boards than Morgantown, but only two  more putbacks. Surprisingly, it also lost the battle of fast break points (12-6) and points in the paint (32-26) – two strengths of the Flying Eagles.

The Flying Eagles didn’t rely heavily on the 3-pointer after hitting 5-of-8 in the first half. Kidd was fine with his team attempting only five in the third and fourth quarters.

However, Kidd would like to have seen his players attack the rim with more vigor.

“Some of our shots wouldn’t fall,” Kidd said. “Like we did the night before, I didn’t think we attacked the way we should have tonight. We weren’t aggressive enough.”

Ty Walton finished with 13 points to lead Woodrow, but missed three 3-point attempts after going 3-of-4 in the first half. Breland Walton had 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Nequan Carrington had 10 points, six rebounds and three steals.

Steven Solomon’s 18 points led the way for Morgantown, which plays in the title game for the first time since before the three-class system was implemented in 1959. In 1956, Jerry West led East Bank to a 71-58 decision over the Mohigans in the final of Class A – then the state’s largest class.

 

 

Poca Pounds Wyoming East in Semifinal

By Rich Stevens

The Wyoming East boys basketball team wanted to stay true to itself.

So did Poca.

Advantage, Dots.

Fourth-seeded Wyoming East ran into a determined defending champion on Friday afternoon in the 2016 boys high school state basketball tournament, dropping a 85-55 decision — the largest margin of victory in a Class AA semifinal since seeding began in 2005.

Poca (25-2), which won the 2015 title to cap a 27-0 season, emphatically eliminated the Warriors to advance to a championship-game rematch against Fairmont Senior at noon on Saturday.

“We wanted to run it back at Poca and it didn’t turn out in our favor,” Wyoming East coach Rory Chapman said. “Everybody tried to slow it down. Scott slowed it down, Chapmanville slowed it down and stayed in the game. We wanted to be true to our style and play up tempo. They started making lots of shots in the second quarter.”

With 6:34 remaining, Poca led 71-35 in a game that it didn’t trail. The Dots defeated Scott in the Region 4 co-final 20-10 and Chapmanville in the state quarterfinals 30-28.

The semifinal was never in question.

Poca scored the first seven points of the game, had four more unanswered points after East’s first basket, went on an 11-0 run that spanned the first and second quarters and sprinted away with 12 of the final 14 points before the intermission to lead by 32.

“I thought the first half we really played well,” Poca coach Allen Osborne said. “Our defense was outstanding. We took away their transition game, took them off the boards. Offensively, we were pretty efficient. Guys made some shots. They broke a sweat today.”

Junior Jason Cuffee had 20 points 18 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Luke Frampton led Poca in scoring with 24 points and contributed six assists, five rebounds and three steals. The Dots had a tournament-high 22 assists with seven players contributing to the total.

Kaden Meeks added 17 points six rebounds and three assists.

Wyoming East (20-5) shot 34.5 percent from the field and was outrebounded 44-30. R.J. Foldon, the hero of the Warriors’ quarterfinal win over Robert C. Byrd, had 14 points to lead East.

Poca will play for its second straight Class AA state title against Fairmont Senior for the second consecutive time.

The Dots also own a 60-53 win over the Polar Bears in the Big Ten/Cardinal Challenge at West Virginia State University’s Walker Convocation Center on Dec. 19.

 

Wheeling Central Rolls Past Tug Valley in Semifinals

By Rich Stevens

Second-seeded Wheeling Central did its part.

Now, the Maroon Knights await the result of the second Class A semifinal at the 2016 boys state high school basketball tournament to see if its sectional nemesis will take care of business.

Wheeling Central coach Mel Stephens will seek his sixth state championship since taking over in 2003 when his team faces the winner of the meeting between defending champion Magnolia and St. Joseph in the Class A championship at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

What could only be mildly described as a result that wasn’t as close as expected, Wheeling Central rolled over No. 3 Tug Valley for a 69-47 semifinal win on Friday.

All-State guard Chase Harler had 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists to lead the Maroon Knights (24-2) before leaving the game in the fourth quarter of the rout.

Harler played much of the fourth with a noticeable limp, but didn’t leave the game for good before the result was no longer in question.

“I helped on (teammate Brent Price’s) guy and I stepped on his foot (in the third quarter),” Harler said. “I sprinted back into the training room, got it taped, and came back out. It’s hurting right now, but I’ll be ready for the (championship).”

Tug Valley (20-4) kept it close, despite leading scorer Jeremy Dillon picking up two fouls at 6:40 and 6:49 of the first quarter respectively.

Dillon, who averages 16.8 points, stayed in until the 1:45 mark of the first, avoiding any more foul trouble. He finished with 15 points and six rebounds, both team highs.

“We got off to a fast start and a quick lead, then Jeremy picked up his second foul on a block call,” Tug Valley coach Edwyn May said. “That changes the game. They went on a run when they created their distance before the half.”

Tug Valley trailed by 12 at halftime and managed to trim the advantage to six with 4:50 left in the third, but couldn’t get any closer.

The Panthers were overmatched by Harler, a 6-foot-3 matchup problem who is moved around the Wheeling Central offense to exploit mismatches.

“Late in the game they put a small guard on me and I had to take advantage of my size,” said Harler, who had 15 points in the second half.

Guard John Burkhalter also added a long-range option for the Maroon Knights, who are used to Harler getting most of the attention from opponents.

Burkhalter had a team-high 20 points in Wheeling Central’s quarterfinal win and added 15 on Friday. He is 5-of-10 on 3-point goals in the two games.

Wheeling Central will try to win its ninth small school championship in 11 tries since winning three titles in eight tries as a Class AA program.

The other semifinal was to be determined in the second game of Friday’s sessions.

St. Joseph is seeking its first championship-game berth in its second state tournament appearance. The Irish were eliminated in the quarterfinals in 1989.

Harler said he doesn’t care who the Maroon Knights play, although there’s a little something extra with Magnolia.

The Maroon Knights and Blue Eagles have played seven times since the beginning of the 2014-15 season with Magnolia winning five, including both sectional championships and last year’s state title game.

“We’ll take whoever wins that game,” Harler said. “Either team that wins, I’m confident that we’ll give them a run for their money. We have a little bit of a rivalry with Magnolia. We lost to them last year, so a little bit of revenge would be nice.”

 

Fairmont Senior Survives Big Showdown With Bridgeport in Semis

By Rich Stevens

The final point scored was the decisive one in Fairmont Senior’s 48-47 Class AA boys state high school tournament victory over Bridgeport.

It came on a free throw following a technical, but the Indians saw multiple opportunities pass by in the waning moments of Friday’s Class AA boys state high school tournament semifinal.

Fairmont Senior (22-5) will play for the Class AA title for the third time in four seasons when it faces the winner of the Poca-Wyoming East contest at noon on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bridgeport (23-3) coach Mike Robey, whose team missed a chance for the three-game sweep of the Polar Bears this season, was incredulous about a technical foul in the last minute.

“I guess that’s the official’s call and that’s the call,” Robey said.

Bridgeport’s Logan Smith intercepted a Fairmont Senior inbound with 28.5 seconds left in a 47-47 game. Fairmont freshman Zyon Dobbs tied up Smith, leading to a whistle for a held ball. A second whistle for a technical foul on Smith immediately followed.

Smith made contact with Dobbs during a deadball, resulting in the technical foul. An intentional foul could also have been called, according to the rulebook, but would have the same result – two foul shots and possession.

“A couple things happened that personally, I never seen before,” Robey said. “I asked if I could talk to him and he said, ‘Yes sir.’ I said, a technical? A technical for what? Did my kid say something? ‘No coach. He made contact with him after I called the jump ball.’

“We teach our kids to rip the ball. We do that every day in practice. He said our kid made contact with him after he called the jump ball. I guess that’s the official’s call and that’s the call.”

Smith, who received the technical, said, “Zyon Dobbs tried to steal the ball, I ripped through like I was supposed to, Zyon fell. I don’t really know how that’s a technical, but he teed me up.”

Fairmont Senior’s Darhius Nunn hit one of the two foul shots and Smith got another steal, setting up Bridgeport for a potential game-winner.

The Indians called timeout with 10.5 seconds left, but the Polar Bears knocked it away with 4.5 left. A final chance was also quelled by Fairmont Senior.

The technical happened near Fairmont Senior coach Dave Retton, who explained what he saw.

“I saw our guys do a great job, our guys maintain our composure, they called the technical and we made one,” Retton said. “That’s what I saw and I liked what I saw.”

The play was merely the exclamation point on a game that featured multiple missed chances.

The teams combined to shoot 57 percent from the free throw line and Bridgeport held Fairmont Senior to four points in the fourth quarter while climbing back from a deficit that reached nine points in the third.

There were nine lead changes in the hard-fought third meeting between the two teams this season. Bridgeport won the first two by a combined 20 points.

Nunn led Fairmont Senior with 15 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and four assists, while Brennan Moorehead added 10 points. Dobbs had nine rebounds.

Bonamico’s 14 points led the way for Bridgeport, which also received 12 points from Smith and 11 from Nick Greely, who was held to 10 points below his season average.

Fairmont Senior, making its fourth straight state tournament as a Class AA program, fell to Poca in last year’s championship. This season, the Polar Bears routed Wyoming East 101-52 in the season opener before losing to the Dots in the Cardinal-Big 10 Challenge at West Virginia State University eight days later.

The Polar Bears have reached the state tournament in Class AAA and Class AA a combined 33 times with five championships in Class AAA. Fairmont Senior still seeks its first double-A crown.

 

Huntington St. Joe Central Tops Clarksburg Notre Dame in Quarterfinals

By Rich Stevens

Fifth-seeded St. Joseph came back from a seven-point deficit with 3:15 remaining, scoring 13 of the game’s final 15 points to earn the second upset of the day — albeit a mild one — with a 54-50 win over No. 4 Notre Dame (19-4) in the final quarterfinal game of the 2016 West Virginia boys high school state basketball tournament on Thursday.

In the last Class AAA quarterfinal of the tournament, No. 6 Parkersburg South upended No. 3 Capital 87-86 in two overtimes.

St. Joseph (20-6) didn’t need extra time.

In fact, coach Ross Scaggs saw his team get down by eight to Notre Dame with 4:46 left, its biggest deficit of the contest.

Junior Jarrod West, the only double figure scorer for Notre Dame, had 19 points, five assists and three rebounds with his last points coming on a three-point play at the 3:15 mark.

“We had a couple turnovers and still had a five-point lead down the stretch,” coach Jarrod West said. “We just couldn’t hold it.”

Notre Dame was plagued by poor foul shooting, hitting just 6-of-14 attempts. St. Joseph, which faces No. 1 Magnolia in the semifinals at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, was 5-of-6 from the line beginning with a pair of foul shots from John Dawson that cut the lead to one with 1:31 left. Keith Clemons stole the ball seven seconds later, leading to a Deaundra Murphy layup to give St. Joseph the lead for good.

“We came back and switched defenses in the fourth quarter the last couple minutes,” St. Joe coach Ross Scaggs said. “We went to a zone press and it seemed to work. This is our third game with Notre Dame and every one has gone down to the wire.”

St. Joseph lost at Notre Dame 68-65 on Dec. 29 before winning the return matchup in Huntington 66-65.

St. Joseph’s balance featured three double-figure scorers. Dawson had 18 points, Clemons 17 and Murphy 14. Murphy also had 19 rebounds to lead the way for the victors. Jacob Streiter had 12 boards as St. Joe held a 42-31 edge on rebounds.

Semifinal Friday at the state tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. with a Class AA matchup between No. 3 Fairmont Senior (21-5) and No. 2 Bridgeport (23-2). The Indians swept the regular-season series, winning at home 67-56 and at Fairmont 56-47.

At 11:15 a.m., No. 3 Tug Valley (20-3) faces No. 2 Wheeling Central (23-2), before the morning session concludes with a 1 p.m. matchup between defending Class AA champion and top-seeded Poca (24-2) against  No. 4 Wyoming East (20-4).

The evening session gets underway at 5:30 p.m. with No. 1 and unbeaten Morgantown (25-0) battling No. 4 Woodrow Wilson (24-2), followed by Class A No. 1 and defending champion Magnolia (22-2) facing No. 5 St. Joseph (20-6) at 7:15 p.m.

The final semifinal will pit two-time defending Class AAA champion and second-seeded Huntington (24-1) against No. 6 Parkersburg South (19-7).

Saturday’s championship games begin with the Class AA final at noon, followed by Class A at 2:30 p.m. before the Class AAA championship set for 7:15 p.m.

 

 Parkersburg South Wins Double OT Thriller Over Capital

      

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.

 

Magnolia Powers Past Fayetteville in Quarterfinals

By Rich Stevens

The top-seeded Magnolia High School boys basketball team ended a trend at the 2016 state tournament on Thursday.

The Blue Eagles scored 23 of the game’s first 27 points and didn’t look back in handing No. 8 Fayetteville a 72-43 defeat in the third Class A quarterfinal. Magnolia (22-2) faces the winner of the quarterfinal between Notre Dame and St. Joseph at 7:15 p.m. on Friday.

No team led by more than seven at halftime of the first nine quarterfinal games this week. Magnolia held a 33-11 advantage on the Pirates (19-3) through two quarters of the tournament’s 10th game.

“Magnolia was more physical than we were,” said Fayetteville head coach Matt Boyd, whose team was held to its lowest point total of the season. “They just beat us up.”

The Pirates’ defensive focus was senior guard Preston Boswell, a 2015 All-State first-team selection who is leading the state in scoring at 34.8 points per game.

He had 28, but outscored Fayetteville 18-11 in the first half by himself in the Pirates’ first trip to the final eight since 2010, falling to Parkersburg Catholic as the No. 7 seed. Fayetteville also reached the state tournament in 2002, also losing in the first round.

“We had a couple guys we weren’t going to respect as much and wanted to make Boswell kick it out and give it up,” Boyd said. “He’s unbelievable at getting to the rim through the slightest crease. We knew coming in that he was going to get his. Their other guys really hurt us.”

Mitch Winters had nine points and 11 rebounds, as Magnolia won on the boards 41-28. Tyler Williamson came off the bench to score nine points and Derrick Blain added six. All told, 10 Magnolia players scored.

Ricky Meadows had 10 points, which included his 47^th and 48^th 3-pointers of the season.

The Pirates’ forte is to speed up opponents, which also is Magnolia’s plan. The Blue Eagles won the battle of similar styles with 14 first-half turnovers and 17 points off turnovers.

“Give (assistant) coach Bob Ripley a lot of credit for that,” Magnolia head coach Dave Tallman said of Ripley, who was the longtime defensive coordinator for the Magnolia football team. “He really works on that.

“I also have to give credit to Preston Boswell. He brings so much energy and his teammates feed off that.”

Boswell had six steals and four rebounds and Blain added four steals, which contributed to Fayetteville’s 19 turnovers.

 

 

Wheeling Central Takes Down Parkersburg Catholic

By Rich Stevens

Quarterfinal round games haven’t exactly been a picnic for the favorites, even if Wheeling Central made it a clean sweep for the higher seeds at the boys state high school basketball tournament this week.

The second-seeded Maroon Knights broke a 26-26 tie with 6:31 left in the third period by scoring 19 of the game’s next 22 points en route to a hard-fought 68-54 victory over No. 7 Parkersburg Catholic (15-12).

Wheeling Central (23-2) moves to the semifinals at 11:15 a.m. on Friday against No. 3 Tug Valley, a 67-55 winner over Tucker County.

First, coach Mel Stephens’ team had to stave off the game Crusaders, who trailed by 20 with 6:24 left. Catholic cut the advantage to nine with 58 seconds left, behind a flurry of 3-point goals. Austin Sweeny (1), Logan Plummer (4) and Cade Ullman (2) combined for seven of Catholic’s nine 3-pointers in the final 4:38.

The third quarter hill proved to be too high to climb, especially after a 21-0 run that began at 5:10 of the third and didn’t end until Wheeling Central led by 22 with 4:53 remaining.

“We have to limit teams to one shot and we have to make shots, and they had a lot of offensive rebounds in the third quarter,” Parkersburg Catholic coach Rob Strcula said.

John Burkhalter had 12 of his team-high 20 points in the third quarter to lead four double-figure scorers. He also had three steals, a blocked shot, a rebound and an assist in the third.

“It’s nice having John,” said Wheeling Central standout and WVU recruit Chase Harler, who had 15 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots with just one turnover. “He caught fire in the third quarter. Throughout the year we played off the hot hand. We kept feeding him and he led to that spark.”

Brent Price had 11 points and Owen Gainer 10 for Wheeling Central, which received eight points from its bench, doubled Parkersburg Catholic’s points in the paint (36-18) and outscored the Crusaders on the fast break, 14-0.

Aaron Collins had 19 points to lead Catholic, but only five after halftime. Ullman had 16 and Plummer 12.

“In the first half, Parkersburg Catholic did a good job of dictating the tempo as far as driving the ball and getting offensive rebounds,” Stephens said. “They played a zone and we didn’t hit some shots early. At halftime, we really challenged them as far as what they were doing, driving and rebounding, which was a key coming in.

“The third quarter has been really, really good for us. I told them you can’t keep banking on that.”

 

Woodrow Outlasts Martinsburg in Quartefinals

By Rich Stevens

The much-anticipated matchups for semifinal Friday continued to come to fruition with fourth-seeded Woodrow Wilson surviving for a 69-58 victory over No. 5 Martinsburg in the Class AAA quarterfinals of the boys state high school basketball tournament on Thursday.

Despite No. 1 Morgantown (25-0) owning an unbeaten record, the 2016 Class AAA field is considered by many to be among the most wide open in recent memory.

One semifinal is locked in as the Mohigans (25-0) will face the Flying Eagles (24-2) at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Second-seeded and two-time defending champion Huntington (24-1) awaits the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between No. 3 Capital (22-3) and No. 6 Parkersburg South (18-7).

Morgantown defeated Capital (63-45) during the regular season. Huntington split with Capital (76-73 at home, 57-67 in the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship) and defeated Woodrow Wilson (71-65).

The Flying Eagles shot a woeful 22-of-41 from the foul line, but made eight of their last 10 to seal the verdict. A dominant advantage in rebounds also offset the foul shooting issues. Woodrow Wilson finished with 54 boards, compared to only 26 for the Bulldogs (21-5). Woodrow had 24 offensive rebounds, contributing to 19 second-chance points.

Many of those were the result of post players tipping missed shots to the guards.

“The long rebounds were the killer for us in this game,” Martinsburg’s Chris McAboy said. “If they would’ve fell short, I think we would’ve doubled the amount of rebounds we had.”

Martinsburg coach Dave Rogers, whose team is making its eighth state tournament appearance since seeding began in 2005, said Woodrow was more physical.

“I don’t think there’s any question Beckley was a little stronger than we were,” Rogers said. “It brings me way back to 1976 when we beat DuPont and we doubled them up on the boards.”

Martinsburg trailed by 10 with 1:40 left in the third. Over the next 4:41, the Bulldogs managed to wrestle away the lead and hold a 58-55 advantage.

A layup from senior Nequan Carrington, a putback from Courtney Walton and two foul shots from Breland Walton off the bench restored the lead to Woodrow for good.

“He brought a spark,” Woodrow coach Ron Kidd said of Breland Walton. “He’s really a starter. He doesn’t know that. Anytime you can have somebody come off the bench and do that, it’s awesome.”

Walton made all six of his foul shots, finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds. Courtney Walton grabbed 16 boards and Carrington 12 to go with 17 rebounds. Ty Walton and Isaiah Francis had 12 points apiece.

Jessiya Villa had 19 points and four of Martinsburg’s 15 assists. Jarrell Jones added 14 points and Devonte Redman and Aboy had 10 each.

Woodrow Wilson is making its second consecutive appearance in the semifinals. Last season, the Flying Eagles dropped a 63-45 decision to top-seeded Parkersburg South.

Woodrow last played in the championship game as a No. 2 seed in 2013, dropping a 57-52 decision to top-seeded Morgantown.

 

 Tug Valley Advances Past Tucker County in Quarterfinals

By Rich Stevens

The active, fast-moving, balanced, small-town Tug Valley boys basketball team ran past state tournament veteran Tucker County during the Class A quarterfinals at the Charleston Civic Center.

The Panthers, who won the 2013 championship in their first year as a Class A program, moved to the semifinals with a 67-55 victory over the Mountain Lions (19-5) on Thursday.

Tug Valley (20-3) ended a streak of 13 consecutive titles by private schools with its crown three years ago. On Thursday, it continued Tucker’s state tournament misery in the Mountain Lions’ 23rd visit to the final eight.

“I thought we were flat, which is kind of typical for us,” Tucker coach Dave Helmick said. “Our first quarters haven’t been great. I thought we did a good job of not making it too bad.”

The Mountain Lions, making their 23^rd appearance overall and 15^th straight, have reached the semifinals 11 times and were runners up twice without a state championship.

The Panthers next play at 11:15 a.m. Friday against the winner of the Wheeling Central-Parkersburg Catholic contest.

“I felt like we came out ready to play from the get go,” said Tug Valley coach Edwyn May, who is in his first season since taking over for Garland “Rabbit” Thompson, who accepted the Mingo Central head coach job. “I thought we got a little winded, tried to give some of them a break in the second quarter and felt like we got our second wind in the third quarter. “

Tug led 25-18 at the half, but scored 14 of the first 17 points of the third to take control of the state tournament’s first game in which both teams had double-digit assists – Tug had 15 and Tucker 11.

Jeremy Dillon had 21 points, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots, four steals and four assists for the Panthers.

“That’s basically what we do,” Helmick said. “We’ve averaged at least that 1ll year. We have three or four kids averaging 4-plus assists a game. We’d like to ask for a little more, if that’s possible. A few times we had our head down, not seeing the floor.”

A 3-pointer from Chandler Runyon gave Tug Valley a 36-24 lead with 6:02 left in the third and the Mountain Lions didn’t get any closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Tyler May had 17 points for the winners and Runyon added 10.

 

 Wyoming East Gets By R.C. Byrd in Quarterfinals

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.

 

Morgantown Stays Undefeated and Advances

By Rich Stevens

Morgantown made it 35 consecutive victories by a No. 1 seed, and in resounding fashion, extending its own winning streak to 25 games with a 63-39 victory over eighth-seeded Hurricane on Wednesday in the Class AAA quarterfinal round of the state boys basketball tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

The Mohigans (25-0) have held 11 of their opponents to 40 points or fewer this season, averaging 73 points with a winning margin of 28 points.

Hurricane (11-15) was making its fourth consecutive appearance in the state tournament, reaching the semifinals the last two years and the championship in 2014. Morgantown plays in the semifinals for the first time since 2011 when it faces the winner of Thursday’s 11:15 a.m. quarterfinal No. 4 Woodrow Wilson and No. 5 Martinsburg.

“They were killing us on the boards in the first half,” said Morgantown coach Dave Tallman, whose team’s rebounds were almost doubled (17-9) by Hurricane. “We weren’t keeping in front.

“It happened all day, kids get nervous, first game in the state tournament but we got through it. Only four turnovers. In only two games this year we turned the ball over more than 12 times.”

Earlier in the day, Class AA No. 1 Poca slipped past Chapmanville 30-28 and Class AA No. 3 Fairmont Senior held off No. 6 Bluefield 63-50. Top-seeded Class AA team Bridgeport also pulled away from a close game in the second half to beat Ravenswood 50-28.

Morgantown reached the state tournament eight times since it began seeding in 2005. The Mohigans are 3-0 as the higher seed in first round games.

Kenzie Melko had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four dunks for Morgantown, which has won all but one of its games this season by 10 or more points.

Tallman raved about the improvement of 6-foot-7 senior Elvin McNally. He had 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting with three blocked shots.

“Last year he was OK, but this year he’s tough, strong-minded. He’s put it all together,” Tallman said. “I keep waiting for the old Elvin to show up. The old Elvin would tweak an ankle and be out for a month. This year he’s really bought in.”

Hurricane was led by Nick Muto with 11 points and nine rebounds and Braxton Dobert contributed 10 points.

This is the first state tournament victory for Tallman, whose father is a three-time championship coach for Magnolia, winning titles in 2000 and 2003 as a Class AA program, and 2015 as a single-A program. The younger Tallman was a member of the 2000 team that began the postseason with a losing record, but finished 16-11.

 

Bridgeport Takes Down Ravenswood in AA Quarterfinals

By Rich Stevens

The second-seeded Bridgeport boys basketball team bounced back from a slow start on Wednesday afternoon to earn a 50-28 victory over No. 7 Ravenswood (17-9) in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

The victory sends the Indians (22-2) to the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Friday against Fairmont Senior, a 63-50 winner against Bridgeport in the day’s first Class AA quarterfinal.

The Indians, who were averaging 65 points per game, were on a 36-point pace with the score tied at 18 in the first half.

Nick Greely had just five points after 16 minutes, but finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.

The Indians scored 13 of the first 14 points of the second half to take control of the contest.

Ravenswood didn’t shoot particularly well in the first half (5-of-17) and had seven fewer shots than Bridgeport, but managed an 18-18 tie. The Red Devils were 3-of-16 in the second half and were outrebounded 19-9 in the third and fourth periods.

The Indians advance to play Fairmont Senior for the third time this season. Bridgeport is looking for the sweep, earning 67-56 and 56-47 victories earlier this season.

 

Huntington Pulls Away From Musselman in Quarterfinals

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.

 

Fairmont Senior Rolls by Bluefield in Quarterfinals

By Rich Stevens

Playing in his seventh state tournament game in four seasons, nothing was going to surprise Fairmont Senior point guard Darhius Nunn.

The senior hit 10-of-13 shots and finishing with 21 points, eight steals and seven assists and the third-seeded Polar Bears pulled away late to post a 63-50 victory over No. 6 Bluefield on Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center to kick off the 103^rd boys state basketball tournament.

Nunn’s first was the 100^th and he played just eight minutes, scoring two points.

“You can’t really panic, no matter how the first half goes,” said Nunn, who had six assists in the first half, but also had three of his four turnovers. “My freshman year, I was like everybody else, got caught up in the lights instead of the game.”

There were 13 lead changes during the first 16 minutes, but the Polar Bears (21-5) – who face the Bridgeport-Ravenswood winner in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Friday – took the lead for good on a Nunn jump shot with 3:47 left in the third.

Jeremy Thompson kept the Beavers (15-8) in the game with a 20-point first half, but made only one of six shots after halftime. He was 8-9 before intermission.

Thompson was averaging 16.7 points entering the game.

“They changed their defense,” Thompson said. “The first half, I was feeling good. In the second half, they were bringing in someone fresh, in my face the whole second half, but I still had a couple open shots I should’ve knocked down.”

It was a simple solution to a problem.

“In the first half, they shot the ball really well,” Fairmont Senior coach said of the Beavers, who were 15-of-21 in the first half. “We thought we did a pretty good job with the press, wearing them down some, but we lost some guys in transition. Consequently, No. 10 (Thompson) had a tremendous half. In the second half, we had several guys guarding him. Stopping the dribble penetration was huge.”

The game was a rematch of the 2013 championship won by Bluefield 63-43. Nunn had no points and one shot attempt in two minutes in that game.

Fairmont Senior is 4-3 in state tournament games in which he has participated, with the seventh including 24 Bluefield turnovers and 15 steals and 12 assists for the winners.

The momentum shifted late in the first half when Fairmont Senior’s Brennan Moorehead and Jalen Bridges sandwiched a Bluefield basket with 3-pointers to cut into a five-point lead.

“I can live with the effort we displayed,” Bluefield coach Charlest “Buster” Large said. “We had a golden opportunity in the first half. They got the charging call and drained two threes. That’s a critical moment.”

Latrell “Mookie” Collier had 10 points to help Bluefield. Moorehead added 10 points for the Polar Bears while Justin Lee (9 points), Zyon Dobbs (8) and Dante Stills (8) combined for 25 points for the winners.

 

By Rich Stevens

My forecast for the West Virginia high school boys basketball postseason certainly wasn’t impeccable, but I’m not complaining.

March  Madness, for me, is the Mountain East Conference and the girls and boys high school tournaments. I can partake in some NCAA Division I craziness, but it’s what happens at the Charleston Civic Center for three weeks of the month that gets my blood flowing.

There are no prizes for doing well here. Just the satisfaction of knowing that I was dumb enough to tell everybody who I thought would reach the final 24.

The state tournament pairings are in, setting the stage for what promises to be one of the most entertaining and competitive fields in recent memory.

I’m an advocate of accountability and full disclosure, and more than happy to reveal just where I stumbled in my prognostication ability.

I correctly selected 19 of the 24 state tournament teams, taking a chance on some underdogs — Webster County, Man and Charleston Catholic, for example.

Still, entering the regional co-finals, 43 of the my 48 picks were still playing and my top five seeds in each class are still playing — even if the seeds don’t match.

IN CLASS AAA, six of my teams are still practicing as part of the final eight.

I misfired on Hedgesville and St. Albans. In my defense, both were legitimate contenders to get out of the region.

Then again, both were eliminated before the regional. I also had Hedgesville at No. 7 and St. Albans at No. 8 and Musselman and Hurricane are 7 and 8 respectively.

My seeds are a little off, but those are often a tossup. I believe in head-to-head being a tiebreaker, barring a ridiculous discrepancy in won-loss records. That’s why I had Capital No. 2 ahead and Huntington No. 3. The Cougars have lost only to unbeaten and top-seeded Morgantown since  Jan. 15. On that day, Huntington defeated the Cougars by three and Capital has since avenged that defeat in a conference championship game on a neutral court that should have had more influence on the seeding.

Morgantown will have a tough climb to the title, but the Mohigans don’t often employ constant full-court pressure that can lead to foul trouble when games are called tight (a typical scene at the state tournament).

The opposite is true of Huntington and Capital. I know, the Highlanders are two-time defending champions, but I can’t help but rave about Morgantown’s half-court defense. Kenzie Melko and Elvin McNally are a handful with their length and Steven Solomon gives the Mohigans great balance in the backcourt. And, they won’t succumb to the all-out frantic pressure of the Highlanders.

You probably all ready figured out that I think Morgantown will be the first Class AAA team since Stonewall Jackson in 1985 to go unbeaten.

 

MINE

CLASS AAA

1. Morgantown
2. Capital
3. Huntington
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. Martinsburg
6. Parkersburg South
7. Hedgesville
8. St. Albans

 

ACTUAL

1. Morgantown
2. Huntington
3. Capital
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. Martinsburg
6. Parkersburg South
7. Musselman
8. Hurricane

 

CLASS AA

The class has long been the most competitive. It could be again, despite top-heavy Class AAA.

Luke Frampton and Elijah Cuffee are the cornerstones of the defending champion and top-seeded Poca Dots, and Kaden Meeks brings pinpoint 3-point shooting to the table.

However, there is a lot of history in the field.

No. 2 Bridgeport has played in semis two of last three years; No. 3 Fairmont Senior reached two of last three finals; No. 4 Wyoming East returns after reaching 2012 semis and won in 2008 and 2009; Robert C. Byrd played in semis (2013) and finals (2014) two of last three years; and Bluefield won the 2013 and 2014 titles.

Bluefield is a dark horse at No. 6 and Ravenswood and Chapmanville are extreme long shots to get past the first round.

Can you pick against Poca? You sure can and could probably come up with many reasons to choose another team.

I can’t.

 

MINE

1. Poca
2. Fairmont Senior
3. Bridgeport
4. Robert C. Byrd
5. Bluefield
6. Wyoming East
7. Chapmanville
8. Webster County

 

ACTUAL

1. Poca
2. Bridgeport
3. Fairmont Senior
4. Wyoming East
5. Robert C. Byrd
6. Bluefield
7. Ravenswood
8. Chapmanville

 

CLASS A

This is one I stumbled on because I predicted Wheeling Central would defeat Magnolia in the sectional championship. Oops.

The Blue Eagles have the state’s most prolific scorer in Preston Boswell and Wheeling Central’s Chase Harler, who are on a crash course to the title game again.

I picked Tug Valley to emerge from Region 3, but I also picked Man. The Hillbillies lost in the sectionals to Van and then Fayetteville won the regional co-final.

In Region 4, Charleston Catholic was my pick because of its postseason history.

Anyway, the final eight comes down to Wheeling Central and Magnolia. Tug Valley, appropriately No. 3, is the third-best team here and No. 4 Notre Dame doesn’t offer a lot of depth after guard Jarrod West.

The best first-round matchup is Notre Dame and St. Joseph at 9 p.m. on Thursday, their third meeting of the season. The teams split the first two and separated by only four points.

Obviously, Magnolia and Wheeling Central are very evenly matched, which brings it down to coaching. Coaches say coaching is overrated. I say that’s coachspeak. When to call timeouts, scribbling the right things on the dry-erase board and saying the right things — all those matter.

It’s no coincidence that Magnolia coach Dave Tallman has won two state titles with as many combined regular season losses (11 in 2000 and 7 in 2003) as any two Class AA state champs in history. Sounds arbitrary, but it speaks to game management when the chips are down.

Tallman is 10-4 in Class AA and Class A state tournaments. That also means something.

Does anybody think it’s a coincidence that his son has guided Morgantown to an undefeated record so far?

This father-son combination is more similar than physical mannerisms.

This is my tiebreaker in this series and in the title game on Saturday. A toss-up, perhaps, but my coin landed on Magnolia.

As a side note on the state tournament: Only six of the state’s top 15 scorers are playing this week — 1. Boswell, Magnolia (34.8), 6. West, Notre Dame (23.6), 7. Harler, Wheeling Central (23.5), 9. Tavian Dunn-Martin, Huntington (21.), 10. Nick Greely, Bridgeport (21.5); 13. Elijah Cuffee, Poca (20.6).

 

MINE

1. Wheeling Central
2. Magnolia
3. Tug Valley
4. St. Joseph
5. Notre Dame
6. Man
7. Charleston Catholic
8. Tucker County

 

ACTUAL

1. Magnolia
2. Wheeling Central
3. Tug Valley
4. Notre Dame
5. St. Joseph
6. Tucker County
7. Parkersburg Catholic
8. Fayetteville

 

By Rich Stevens

LINK TO ScoreStream Game Page

  Cover photos by Ashley Calvert Photography for RSN Sports

The Morgantown High School girls basketball team won its third consecutive West Virginia Class AAA championship on Saturday night, receiving 25 points and nine rebounds from Sydney Holloway in a 61-56 victory over Huntington at the Charleston Civic Center.

The Mohigans (24-1) became the state’s fifth big school program on record to win three straight titles, matching Wheeling (1920-22), George Washington (1979-81), Parkersburg (1987-89) and North Marion (2009-10).

The bulk of Holloway’s points came from the free throw line, where she was 15-of-17 — making four fewer free throws than Huntington attempted.

Huntington’s pressure defense forced 27 Morgantown turnovers, but it also led to 25 fouls. Ericka Budd fouled out, while Lexi Sheffield, Dazha Congleton, Jordyn Dawson and Josslyn Almonte finished with four apiece.

“When you get in a game where somebody goes to the line 40 times, you’re not going to win,” Huntington coach Lonnie Lucas said. “That was the difference in the ballgame.”

Experience likely played a role, considering the Mohigans were winning their third straight championship with only six losses since the 2012-13 season.

Conversely, the Highlanders (25-2) have lost in the championship game for the fourth time since winning the 2000 title, dropping three straight — Morgantown in 2007, Parkersburg South in 2008 and North  Marion in 2010.

Morgantown’s Holloway, Paige Poffenberger and Lydia Adrian finished the game with four fouls each, and while the Mohigans shot 21 more free throws, Huntington missed 10 of its 19 attempts from the line.

Congleton had 25 points for Huntington, but missed half of her 16 attempts from the line. Dawson added 19 points. Adrian contributed 15 points for Morgantown.

By Rich Stevens

The Gilmer County girls basketball team hung around long enough to shake the fear of playing the seven-time defending Class A state champions.

Showing a renewed bounce in their step, the Titans rallied from a nine-point third-quarter deficit to defeat St. Joseph 42-41, ending the Irish’s dominance and giving a public school its first small-school title since Williamstown won it in 2003.

St. Joseph answered its first deficit early in the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run to regain the lead and led by five with 5:59 remaining. However, the Titans (25-2) went on a 6-0 run over the next 5:56, taking a two-point lead on an Emile Jedamski 3-pointer. Gilmer’s Mackenzie Huff and St. Joseph’s Tyesha Taylor traded free throws and Alexis Hall missed a 3-pointer just before the clock expired.

“I don’t know what the right words are,” said Gilmer coach Amy Chapman, who played on the 2001 Titans team that lost to Mercer Christian in the championship game. “I’m really happy for these girls. They never stopped believing, which was important in the second half.”

The Irish (22-3) limited the impact of 6-foot-3 junior Riley Fitzwater, the focal point of Gilmer’s offense who set the single-game blocks record in the quarterfinals and the rebound mark in the semis.

She finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots after a first half with just four points, two rebounds and two blocks.

“I might been a little intimidated by her size, but knew I had a height advantage and when I knew she wasn’t going to block my shot, I felt more comfortable,” Fitzwater said of St. Joseph’s Tyesha Taylor.

Fitzwater had nine rebounds in the second half, establishing herself in the paint. Guard Kylie Shuff had 13 of her points in the second half as Gilmer overcame some jitters.

“I think the pressure got to them (Gilmer),” Chapman said. “We didn’t get our heads up at times (against the press), but we made those adjustments at halftime the kids executed and took care of the pressure. Our kids gained confidence in the second half.”

St. Joseph continued its reliance on the 3-pointer and it cost the Irish.

Six of the Irish’s 14 field goals were 3-pointers and 28 of its 59 overall attempts were from long range. St. Joseph’s also was outrebounded 40-34 as Gilmer saw four players – Fitzwater (11), Shuff (8), Carly Somerville (7) and Jedamski (6) and Huff (5) finish with at least five rebounds each.

“We struggled all week shooting the basketball,” St. Joseph coach Shannon Lewis said. “We went to Tyesha again tonight, but she had a bigtime defender on her and our young kids weren’t hitting their outside shots.”

The victory ended a 12-year stranglehold private schools had on public schools.

Chapman, who played against Mercer Christian in the 2001 championship during its run of four straight titles, wouldn’t address the issue.

However, Shuff did.

“We’ve (Gilmer) grown up together and played basketball together our whole life,”Shuff said. “To beat a team that hasn’t grown up together or played together feels pretty good.”

Taylor had 16 points to lead St. Joseph while Alexis Hall had 11 points, 11 rebounds and six of the Irish’s 15 steals.

By Rich Stevens

The Wyoming East backcourt makes the Warriors go.

The frontcourt keeps opponents from going anywhere.

Such was the case in the West Virginia Class AA girls state basketball tournament championship on Saturday afternoon when the Warriors charged past Fairmont Senior 54-26 for the school’s first title in its first championship game appearance.

This marks the second consecutive year the Polar Bears (23-5) have come up short, dropping a three-point decision to Sissonville in the 2015 championship.

“Defensively we knew we had to be strong,” said Wyoming East coach Angie Boninsegna, whose team held Fairmont Senior to nine points in the second half. “They were bigger and stronger than us.”

Overall, perhaps, but 6-foot-4 freshman Emily Saunders and 5-7 sophomore Allie Lusk as well as play-making sophomore point guard Gabby Lupardus and 5-10 sophomore wing Kara Sandy were aggressive early and often. Sandy had 14 of her 17 points in the first half for the Warriors (23-2).

Saunders had tournament lows in points (8) and rebounds (9), but altered the game with a tournament personal best of seven blocked shots.

“She does a great job of staying big,” Fairmont Senior coach Corey Hines said. “What you have to learn is to keep going at her. Getting your shot blocked is part of the game.”

Lusk had three of her five rebounds and her only field goal the first two minutes to set the tone while Fairmont Senior’s focus was on Saunders.

“It helps me tremendously (having Saunders on the other side),” Lusk said. “They always look at Emily because she is 6-4. They often underestimate me and I’m able to get rebounds out to Abby to make plays. It’s definitely an advantage.”

Lupardus concluded a three-game visit to Charleston in steady, if not spectacular, fashion. She finished with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists. More importantly, she didn’t pick up another foul after being whistled for her second with 6:24 left in the second quarter.

Boninsegna considered for “a millisecond” taking Lupardus out, but decided against it.

“I told Gabby if they’re shooting a layup, let them go by,” Boninsegna said. “I knew I needed her on the court for floor leadership. That was crucial for us. If she picks up her third that would’ve changed our whole game.”

Wyoming East received 19 points off the bench, sparked by Sandy. Abby Stoller had 11 points to lead the Polar Bears’ offense, which was stagnant against East’s 2-3 zone. Senior shot 18.4 percent (9-49).

“You have to believe in what you’re doing,” Hines said. “If a team is in a 2-3 zone and you get no ball movement, then you’re relying on your jumpshots too much.”

Lupardus, Sandy and Saunders were named to the All-Tournament team along with Fairmont Senior’s Erica Bowles and Stoller, Grafton’s Siera Gabbert, Sissonville’s Karli Pinkerton and Tolsia’s Dena Jarrells.

Wyoming East had reached the semifinals seven times in its nine tournament trip, but is in just its second under Boninsegna, who just completed her sixth season and will welcome back all but three of the 19 players in the program.

The three East standouts are underclassmen, as are 13 of the other 16 in the school’s program. The three East seniors played one minute prior to the championship game. The rest of the Class AA teams in West Virginia could be looking up at more than just the 6-4 Saunders for the next couple years.

Next week, the Wyoming East boys team will seek its fourth state title beginning with a tournament quarterfinal game against Robert C. Byrd at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

By Rich Stevens

The odds caught up to sixth-seeded George Washington in the West Virginia Class AAA girls state high school basketball tournament on Friday.

The Patriots turned the ball over 36 times, succumbing to the Highlanders’ relentless pressure in a 53-27 semifinal defeat at the Charleston Civic Center.

The victory sends second-seeded Huntington (25-1) into the title game for the first time since 2009 when it faces No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion Morgantown (24-1) at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday. The Highlanders finished as runners-up in three straight state title games (2009-11), falling to Morgantown, Parkersburg South and North Marion.

The one-sided result took a while to transpire, despite the Patriots turning the ball over 18 times in the first half. They trailed by just seven at the break.

“I think we just kept playing,” George Washington head coach Jamie LaMaster said. “Defensively in the first half we did a good job, but it got away from us in the second half.”

Out of those 18 first-half turnovers, Huntington managed 15 points – all but eight of its first-half total. In the second half, the Highlanders forced 21 turnovers and scored 18 points off those. The 36 turnovers was one short of the single-game record held by Logan (2000 vs. Huntington) and Parkersburg South (2014 vs. Hampshire).

Huntington iced the game by outscoring GW 15-4 in the third.

George Washington junior forward Shi Banks had 12 points and 11 rebounds after a 27-point, 19-rebound performance in the quarterfinals against South Charleston.

“The 27 and 19 are pretty high for her,” Huntington coach Lonnie Lucas said. “She’s a good player, but she wasn’t going to get that against us.”

The George Washington backcourt, which had success against the South Charleston guards, weren’t as fortunate against Huntington, which also forced 36 turnovers in the quarterfinals against Buckhannon-Upshur.

“Whenever they press, they’re all over you,” said George Washington guard Jessica Lowen, who had eight rebounds, but with sophomore guard Dee McMillan combined for 25 turnovers. “You get the ball and they’re running at you. It’s hard to look up the floor. They’re long and athletic and fast. You have to know where your people are before you even get the ball.”

The Highlanders lost the rebounding battle 43-33, but finished with 23 steals. In two games, Huntington has forced 72 turnovers and has 49 steals. Its 26 thefts in the quarterfinal tied the single-game tournament record shared by Huntington (2000, vs. Logan) and Parkersburg South (2014, vs. Hampshire).

 

 

By Rich Stevens

In a scrum of loose balls and scrambling basketball players, Morgantown emerged again in a rivalry of West Virginia big school teams two hours apart.

The top-seeded Mohigans continued their march toward a third consecutive title with a 57-49 victory over No. 4 Parkersburg South (21-6) in the semifinals of the Class AAA state girls high school basketball tournament on Friday.

Morgantown (24-1), which has lost just twice since the 2013-14 season, has a championship game date with the winner of the Huntington-George Washington game at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday.

The victory was the seventh in the last eight meetings between the teams. In fact, one of Morgantown’s only two losses the last two seasons came to South. The other one came to South Charleston, which was seeded third but eliminated by George Washington on Thursday.

Parkersburg South coach Scott Stephens doesn’t anticipate as many games with the Mohigans next year when South changes regions when the reclassification takes effect for the 2016-17 school year.

“We’re switching from north to south, so we probably won’t see them as much as we have in the past,” Stephens said. “We’ll have to pick up Huntington, Hurricane, Spring Valley, teams from the southern part of the state that we normally don’t see.”

That could be a welcome change for South, which hasn’t managed to solve the Morgantown defense, averaging 39.5 points in the four meetings this season.

On Friday, the Patriots (21-6) were plagued by mistakes, turning the ball over 24 times, including two key miscues late – the first coming when they were down three with 3:15 left and down four with 1:38 remaining.

Senior Sydney Holloway answered the last turnover with a field goal for a six-point lead, and South didn’t get any closer.

Holloway had 13 points, five rebounds three steals and two assists. Two of the other three Morgantown seniors – Rachel Laskody (14 points) and Paige Poffenberger (14) – combined for 28 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and three assists.

“That’s what happens when you have four seniors on the floor,” White said. “Kids who have been in two championship games. Syd has been in four semifinals, it’s not new to her. She’s traveled the east coast on the AAU circuit. I thought Paige did a good job, coming back and wanting the ball, and Rachel knocking down her free throws.”

Poffenberger played 29 minutes, but left the game momentarily after colliding with South’s Carlie Wilson in a game which she said the “harder fouls” were let go.

“It didn’t feel very good when it first happened, but I wanted to come back in and play harder,” she said.

Anna Hayton had 14 points and six rebounds for South before fouling out with 1:48 remaining.

By Rich Stevens

St. Marys coach Howard Meeks, for one, wouldn’t mind calling his team’s 47-43 Class A girls state tournament loss to seven-time defending champion St. Joseph a moral victory.

While not using those exact words, Meeks – whose team lost to St. Joseph by a combined 76 points in the 2013 and 2014 title games – certainly intimated as much after the Blue Devils dropped a hard-fought 47-43 decision to the seven-time defending state champion.

St. Joseph (21-3) faces Gilmer County (24-2) for the Class A title at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“We got over the top of the mountain today,” Meeks said. “My girls stepped up and played with the physicality that was out there tonight.”

The mountain Meeks spoke of might have had something to do with his fourth-seeded team coming back from a 17-point deficit with 5:46 left in the third quarter, or beating the tradition-heavy Irish at its own game.

St. Joseph labored through a lackluster fourth period while St. Marys beat the Irish back down the court regularly. The Blue Devils took the lead with four consecutive Jordan Fox free throws with 5:07 remaining. The teams traded baskets until a Tyesha Taylor score with 1:48 left put St. Joseph back on top. Mychelle Johnson added a layup with 30 seconds remaining to extend the lead and Taylor added a free throw with two seconds left to seal it.

“They played with so much more energy than we did,” St. Joseph coach Shannon Lewis said. “Since January, we’ve just been going through the motions. We better play with more energy tomorrow.”

St. Marys went on a 21-2 run spearheaded by Fox and Ashley Hall, who combined for 36 points and 23 rebounds.

Meanwhile, the closest game St. Joseph had this season against a West Virginia opponent was against Class AAA Hurricane, a 56-38 victory.

“They outplayed us,” Lewis said. “We weren’t playing with energy, we were playing scared. The pressure got to them.”

Taylor had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead St. Joseph. Whitney Jemison had 10 rebounds for St. Marys, which had 21 turnovers, but also was outrebounded by only four.

“They gave me everything they had,” Meeks said of his team. “I think we proved they got the seeding wrong this time.”