MORGANTOWN — The University High boys’ basketball team defeated John Marshall 70-51 on Monday in their final game at home for the season. The Hawks (14-7) made 32 total field goals, with only two of those made baskets being from 3-point range. Garrison Kisner led UHS with 14 points, while Charles Nemacek scored 13 off the bench for the Hawks. Roman Gray led all scorers with 19 for the Monarchs (6-14).
It’s safe to say UHS head coach Joe Schmidle wasn’t exactly pleased with his team’s effort in the opening quarter. Despite having five different scorers in the first quarter, and making four of their first five shots, the Hawks found themselves down by two after Monarchs leading scorer Roman Gray sank a deep 3 at the buzzer to end the first.
“It seemed the starters didn’t want to play,” Schmidle said. “No effort, no hustle, and I’m not going to watch it.”
He would do what any coach does when unhappy with their current lineup: Put in a brand new lineup.
Four new Hawks checked in to begin the second quarter, barring starter Rafael Barcinas. After trading baskets with JMHS, UHS applied a full court press (not something it does often), leading the Hawks to take the lead at 20-18 and keep it until the end of the game. Nemacek came off the Hawk bench and scored all 13 of his points in the second on 6 of 7 shooting. He and teammate John Coleman were punishing the Monarchs on the offensive boards, as well, grabbing nine rebounds on that side of the ball.
What benefitted the Hawks even more than a 22-point quarter on offense, was only allowing four points scored on them in the quarter on defense. This allowed them to extend a lead before halftime at 36-20, outscoring JMHS by 18 in the quarter.
“Well we don’t press a whole lot normally,” Schmidle said about applying the press in the second quarter. “But we needed to spark some energy and I thought those guys in the second quarter wanted to play and played hard.”
The begin the third, neither team would score until 90 seconds into the quarter on a UHS layup. Despite the slow start on offense, the Hawks pressure continued to give the Monarchs problems in the full court. This granted UHS more possessions overall and a significantly higher number of shot attempts.
A trio of Kisner dunks, including an alley-oop slam on a designed play, gave UHS the momentum it needed to close out the game. Elija Jackson hit the first 3-point FG for the Hawks halfway through the fourth. 10 different players scored for UHS as well.
UHS will conclude the regular season on the road Thursday at Preston.
University (14-7)
Garrison Kisner 7 2-2 14 Charles Nemacek 7 1-1 13 Landon Cool 5 0-0 7 Elija Jackson 4 0-0 7 James Garbart 6 0-0 6 Jaeden Hammack 4 0-0 6 John Coleman 2 1-3 5 Rafael Barcinas 4 0-0 2 Carson Ford 7 0-0 2 Luke Hudson 3 0-0 2 Ty Jordan-Egnot 3 0-0 2
John Marshall (6-14)
Roman Gray 6 3-4 19 Cody Hartman 8 2-2 9 Brennan Sobutka 8 1-2 7 Tyler Stauffer 6 0-0 5 Braden Sobutka 7 0-0 5 Conor Fitzpatrick 2 0-2 2 Grant Neiswonger 4 0-0 2 Andreas Hunter 2 0-0 2
UNIVERSITY 14 22 18 16 – 70
JOHN MARSHALL 16 4 14 17 – 51
Three-pointers: University 2 (Jackson and Cool 1); John Marshall 7 (Gray 4, Hartman 1, Sobutka 1, Stauffer 1)
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