MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A cursory glance at the numbers before No. 2 Morgantown’s boys’ basketball showdown at home last night against regional rival No. 4 Wheeling Park might lead you to believe that the two teams were about as evenly matched as could be.
But take a look at the statistics box and, in particular, at the number of names with numbers for each team. Yep, twice as many Mohigans scored compared to the Patriots, and it was that depth and doggedly fresh-legged defense that prevailed in Morgantown’s solid 59-45 victory.
MHS (11-2) started quickly by cutting sharply through the paint for layups and drawn fouls, while Wheeling Park (10-3) had trouble handling the vaunted Mohigans man pressure. A 6-0 start quickly grew to a 9-1 lead after 3 minutes, and two minutes later, Park trailed by double digits for the first time, 15-4. But the talented Patriots, led by smooth shooting guard Alex Vargo and intimidating center Travis Zimmerman, rattled off eight straight points in a little over a minute to pull within three, 15-12. The Mohigans responded with a six-point run of their own to carry a 9-point lead into the second, and they continued to stretch their advantage with sharp outside shooting from Mac McMillen. The bulge hit a high of 17, and MHS held a 37-22 lead at the half.
Whether there was complacency, stagnation, or just plain cold shooting, the Morgantown offense had trouble getting untracked in the third quarter. They’d only score nine points, and when McMillan had to sit early with three fouls, WP’s Vargo got hot, scoring nine in the quarter (on his way to a game-high 24) to help whittle the MHS lead down to just six.
But Morgantown coach Dave Tallman inserted his best defender back in the game and Vargo was shut down. In fact the MHS defense allowed just a single point for the first 7:25 of the final quarter.
After the game, Tallman acknowledged that his team had a rough go of it coming out of the break.
“We didn’t shoot it well, and we weren’t as crisp with our cuts or our passes, and that allowed them to get back into the game,” he said. They’re a good team, and they’re going to make a run at you, but I really liked how we responded in the fourth. We stuck with it and put them away.”
McMillan led with just 12, but Alec Poland, Troy Battle — who Tallman praised for his “aggressive, bounce back performance” — and Alex Rudy each had 9 for the Mohigans.
Wins are good, but getting better is better, according to Tallman.
“It’s early yet,” he said, “and we are nowhere close to reaching our potential. We keep taking things one game at a time, and as long as we play unselfish basketball and put full team full effort in, I like the direction we’re headed.”
The Morgantown boys JV team continued its strong play with a 61-47 win over the Patriots. Rocco Morgano led the balanced MHS offense with 13, while Garrison Kisner scored 12.
The Mohigans travel to Buckhannon-Upshur on Wednesday night. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.
WHEELING PARK (10-3)
Xavier Morris 1 3-4 5 DJ Saunders 1 0-1 3 Alex Vargo 9 5-5 24 Travis Zimmerman 5 3-5 13 Totals 16 11-15 45
MORGANTOWN (11-2)
Alec Poland 3 2-2 9 Troy Battle 4 1-2 9 Brooks Gage 1 2-2 4 Mac McMillan 4 3-4 12 Xavier Pryor 1 4-6 6 Alex Rudy 3 1-2 9 Antonio Rollo 2 0-0 6 Carson Poffenberger 1 2-2 4 Totals 19 15-20 59
WPHS 12 10 18 5 — 45
MHS 21 16 9 13 — 59
3-pointers: WP 2 (Saunders, Vargo), MHS 6 (Rollo 2, Rudy 2, McMillen, Poland)
