MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In Saturday night’s monstrous 109-45 Senior Night University boys basketball celebration and comfortable victory against John Marshall, there was a moment in the first quarter — when only seniors were on the floor for the Hawks — that would’ve made WVU basketball legend Hot Rod Hundley proud.
The hot-shooting Hawks had already built a 30-9 advantage as time was running down in the quarter, and Kaden Metheny had sneaked into the paint and corralled a loose ball on the floor. With no chance to shoot or escape, the quick-witted senior spied John Ross Mazza open on the right elbow behind the arc.
A perfect pass to Mazza who knocked it down, one of seven first quarter bombs and 14 overall for University (11-3) on its way to the 54-point win.
The No. 3 Hawks wasted little time in putting away the greatly overmatched Monarchs (5-10).
UHS coach Joe Schmidle enjoyed watching his team play with a relaxed joy that he hadn’t seen all year, although he might have something to do with that.
“This was the first time we played a team below .500 all year,” he said, “and the lowest ranked team before John Marshall was No. 19 in the state. So we’ve had to bring our A-game just about every night. So it was great to see them playing relaxed and just having fun out there, plus I got a chance to really empty the bench and get a bunch of guys a lot of minutes.”
Eleven Hawks scored, led by the usual suspects: Metheny’s 27 points and K.J. McClurg’s 18, with Ryan Niceler (who scored 12 of his 14 in the second quarter) and Mazza (11) also getting into double figures.
A truly gifted shooter who can pass, penetrate, and play shutdown defense, Metheny played like he definitely deserves the McDonald’s High School All-American nomination he received last week. Schmidle was understandably thrilled for his leader.
“Only 450 boys and 450 girls get nominated in the whole country,” he said. “So it’s just a huge honor. I think the last player from University to be nominated was Jedd Gyorko. It’s so tough for anyone from our state to get noticed, but since we played out of state against nationally-ranked competition in five of our first 10 games, I think that might’ve helped get him noticed. All you have to do is see him play to know how special he is.”
“I had no idea about the nomination at all,” Metheny said smiling. “I’ve watched the games on TV since I was a little kid, so to be mentioned at all with those kind of players is a dream come true.”
University is off until this weekend, when it travels to Beckley for the Big Atlantic Classic, which includes Greenbrier East (the Hawks’ opponent Friday night), Hampshire and Woodrow Wilson.
JOHN MARSHALL (5-10)
Adam Miller 4 2-2 12 Cole Gilbert 3 2-4 8 Derrick Derrow 6 4-8 17 Peyton Berner 0 2-4 2 Zach Bishop 2 0-0 4 Jacob Korngiver 1 0-0 2 Totals 16 10-18 45
UNIVERSITY (11-3)
KJ McClurg 4 7-7 18 Kyle Smith 2 0-0 6 Kaden Metheny 10 4-4 27 Tracy Brooks 4 0-0 8 Javier Reyes 2 0-0 5 Blake Barkley 2 3-7 8 Ryan Niceler 4 5-5 14 Jaeden Hammack 1 0-0 2 Mike Maumbe 1 4-6 6 John Ross Mazza 4 0-0 11 Aaron Forbes 2 0-0 4 Totals 36 23-29 109
JMHS 13 11 6 15 – 45
UHS 34 28 30 17 – 109
3-pointers: JM 3 (Miller 2, Derrow); UHS 14 (Metheny 3, McClurg 3, Mazza 3, Smith 2, Reyes, Niceler, Barkley)
