MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown has had a string of big-bodied centers since Dave Tallman became the head coach in 2014 — from C.J. King, to Elvin McNally to Nick Malone.
At 6-foot-7, Carson Poffenberger is far from small, but doesn’t have the wide body as his predecessors. Trying to figure out how to work that type of body into his system was something Tallman wanted to figure out, and Poffenberger’s 17 points in Saturday’s 82-60 win over Spring Valley (1-1) in the Country Roads Tip-Off was a decent start for the Mohigans, especially with struggles Friday against Notre Dame.
“Awesome — sometimes when you call people out, they perform,” Tallman said. “We needed Poff to have a game like he had today. He looked like a big time player.”
Poffenberger got the majority of the minutes at center, especially in the first half. Of his 17 points, he scored 14 in the first half. Max Washington and Lonnie Borom played the rest of the game in the post in relief of Poffenberger, combining for 13 points.
Collectively, Tallman knows he has a strong group of guards, perhaps the best he’s had in the last four years at MHS. Adding the dynamic of scoring in the post is important to MHS’s success this season, and Poffenberger, a junior, knows it. He will be a major piece to the puzzle of the Mohigans (3-0) want to get back to the state tournament for the fifth-straight season.
“I went home last night and just felt like I let me team down,” Poffenberger said. “Being one of the older guys and the big guy on the team, I feel like I let my team down if I’m not producing every night.”
Troy Battle was second on the team with 13 points, while Xavier Pryor and Brooks Gage each added 11.
BOX SCORE
Spring Valley (1-1)
Adkins 0 0-0 0; Meredith 9 2-3 25; Booth 3 2-2 9; Maynard 4 0-1 9; Page 5 0-1 10; Ellis 2 0-0 4; Biggs 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 4-7 60.
Morgantown (3-0)
Poffenberger 7 2-3 17; Rudy 3 0-0 6; Pryor 4 2-5 11; McMillen 3 0-0 8; Battle 5 3-5 13; Gage 4 0-0 11; Washington 3 0-0 6; Poland 0 0-0 0; Rollo 1 0-0 3; Borom 2 3-3 7; Felton 0 0-0 0. Totals: 32 10-16 82.
SVHS 19 6 16 19 – 60
MHS 17 27 16 22 – 82
3-pointers: SVHS 6 (Meredith 4, Booth, Maynard); MHS 8 (Poffenberger, Pryor, McMillen 2, Gage 3, Rollo).
