Losing three starters that logged a lot of minutes will have a profound effect on most teams, so that’s what Morgantown High boys’ basketball coach Dave Tallman wanted to see from his group during the three-week summer workouts — play together.
Tallman threw his group right into the fire during the first week, heading across town to compete in the WVU Team Camp from June 15-17, which featured teams from all over the region with a variety of skill sets and prospects.
The Mohigans played Richmond Heights from inner-city Cleveland on the first day of the camp and lost by 10 points. By the end of the tournament in the championship game, MHS got a second chance against Richmond Heights and won 60-34.
In two days, the Mohigans made a 36-point turnaround, and Tallman credits everyone starting to play together.
“I thought we got a lot better and really started gelling together,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of new faces, and I know coaches always say that their guys have worked hard, but our guys have taken it to another level this offseason with their work ethic.”
Gone are Cam Selders, Garrett Haines and Nick Malone from a team that went 16-10 and lost to Capital in the state quarterfinals. Those seniors last season reached the state tournament all four years, and Malone was a big part of Morgantown High’s undefeated state championship run in 2016.
But now, rising senior Mac McMillen and Alex Rudy have a chance to duplicate that success. Rudy was the fourth-leading scorer last season (8.4 points per game) and much of his success came down the stretch when Selders battled injuries, while McMillen dropped 4.8.
It’s no secret what has been the Mohigans’ bugaboo since winning the state title — shooting and offensive production outside of the paint.
“You know, our plan is to make more shots this year,” Tallman said with a grin. “Our team last year really struggled from the line and from the field. I had one person tell me that my system was broken. Well I told him, ‘It’s the name system we used when we went undefeated, so.’
“You’re a lot better coach when the ball goes in the basket, and at the team camp last weekend, we made a lot of shots and I looked like a good coach again.”
Despite losing three starters, it’s not as if the Mohigans will lack experience. Toward the end of last season, Tallman went eight deep on his bench with different matchups and to try and solve the offensive problems. McMillen and Rudy played the most, but they like what they’ve seen from their teammates during tournament play over the last two weeks.
“It helps with team chemistry and helps us play together,” Rudy said. “In our first game (against Richmond Heights), we didn’t pass the ball around as much, but when we played them in the championship, we passed it around, got open shots and it was just easier as a team.”
Tallman credits Luke Bechtel, a junior guard, for making major strides in the weight room and it’s paying off early on. He suffered a torn ACL as a freshman and was “thrown into the fire” as a sophomore last season, but Tallman’s seen significant improvements from Bechtel.
“He’s been a monster for us,” Tallman said. “He put on a show at the team camp. He’s gotten so much stronger and his shot has been great. He was knocking down 3s — I think he averaged 20-25 points at the team camp.”
Carson Poffenberger and Brooks Gage also shot the ball well at WVU, and Troy Battle is returning after a knee injury sidelined him all of last season.
Twitter @SeanManning_DP
