MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown coach Dave Tallman wasn’t thrilled with his team’s offense in Tuesday’s season-opening win Tuesday at Elkins.
On Friday during the Big Shots Country Roads Tip-Off at University High, there wasn’t a whole lot for the six-year Mohigans coach to be upset about.
MHS knocked down 11 3-pointers and scored 96 points in a 96-44 win over Notre Dame. But it wasn’t just the Mohigans’ offensive output that made Tallman happy.
“I thought our guards were really good and I thought they did a great job [defensively] on a great player [Notre Dame’s Jaidyn West],” Tallman said. “I was really proud of the effort from our guards.”
West, son of Notre Dame (1-1) coach and former WVU guard Jarrod West, was held without a field goal until the third quarter. In total, he scored just 13 points. On the other side, MHS (2-0) was led by Xavier Pryor with 16 points, a transfer from Northern Garrett, Md. Tallman also credited Pryor for one of the biggest reasons West was held in check.
Mac McMillen added 14 points for the Mohigans, followed by 12 from Alex Rudy.
What Tallman wasn’t as thrilled with was the play of his bigs — Carson Poffenberger, Max Washington and Lonnie Borom — a position he believes needs to provide a bigger spark if the Mohigans want to continue their strong offensive start.
It’s not a matter of if, though, it’s a matter of when his frontcourt gets into a groove.
“I love [that] those guys are they’re doing everything we ask of them, but , man, you should see them practice,” Tallman said. “They’re All-Americans in practice and then the lights turn on and they’re just not giving us that juice yet. It’s coming — I’m not down on them — it’s coming, but they need to kick it into gear a little bit and play the way they’re capable of.”
But overall, Tallman is excited about the potential of this team, especially on the offensive end. Since the state championship team in 2016, MHS has struggled to find a consistent offense, but Tallman thinks this may be the best collective group of basketball players he’s had.
“Instead of a football guy here and a track guy there, these guys are great basketball players,” he said.
MHS will continue play in the Country Roads Tip-Off at 4 p.m. Saturday against Spring Valley.
BOX SCORE
Notre Dame (1-1)
Goodman 6 4-8 15; Britton 2 2-3 7; West 3 6-10 13; C. Martino 1 0-0 3; K. Martino 0 0-2 0; Zummo 0 0-0 0; Hausvater 2 0-0 4; Fagan 1 0-0 2; Rogers 0 0-0 0; Iwunor 0 0-0 0; Lopez 0 0-0 0; Petitto 0 0-0 0; Mazzie 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 12-23 44.
Morgantown (2-0)
Poffenberger 2 2-2 7; Rudy 4 3-4 12; Pryor 7 2-2 16; McMillen 6 0-0 14; Battle 4 2-2 12; Washington 3 0-1 6; Gage 0 2-2 2; Borom 2 2-4 6; Poland 3 2-2 9; Rollo 3 0-0 9; Felton 1 0-0 3. Totals: 34 15-19 96.
ND 15 9 9 11 – 44
MHS 22 23 32 19 – 96
3-pointers: ND 2 (West, C. Martino); MHS 11 (Poffenberger, Rudy, McMillen 2, Battle 2, Poland, Rollo 3, Felton).
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