MORGANTOWN — Two straight days, two straight wins.
The Morgantown and University boys’ basketball teams each earned two impressive victories Saturday at the inaugural BFS Tip-Off Classic shootout hosted by UHS.
The Mohigans (2-0) picked up on Saturday right where they left on Friday. MHS defeated Washington 97-22 on Friday, before turning around and defeating Hurricane 103-39 on Saturday.
The opening quarter even began the same way it did Friday, with MHS out to a double-digit lead before surrendering a point to its opponents. An 11-0 run was ended by a triple by Mondrell Dean that broke the ice for HHS.
That would be only one of two made field goals in the first for the Redskins, giving them just five points and trailing by 19, 24-5. The Mohigans were 4-for-6 from deep in the first quarter alone with six different scorers, a nod to the depth of MHS this season.
“We’re a really deep team, and that’s a nod to our staff,” MHS coach Dave Tallman said. “They do such a great job developing the guys in the program from JV on down and they put their time in so that went they come to varsity, they’re ready to go.”
In fact, every single player for MHS entered the game at some point. One further, every Mohigan that entered the game scored.
Four players registered double-digit scoring, led by senior Brody Davis with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.
But it was the aforementioned depth that was the story for the Mohigans. MHS’ scored’s bench scored 46 of its103 points. None more than Izzy Everett who scored 14 points while only missing one of his six shots, including four threes.
Not to be forgotten is the defensive effort also, as across two games the Mohigans only allowed 61 points combined (22 on Friday, 39 on Saturday).
“We played well (Saturday), I was particularly happy with our defense. We created a lot of chaos and created some runouts for our offense,” Tallman said. “Just proud of our guys because they’re a really tight-knit group, they love to share the ball as you can see. They work together very well.”
Cam Danser and Garrison Kisner added 13 and 12, respectively for MHS as they improved to 2-0.
The Hawks also continued an impressive start to their season after defeating Hurricane on Friday by 11, 86-75.
On Saturday, 11 different scorers helped UHS (2-0) run past Washington 81-45 as three Hawks reached double-figures.
Junior Rafael Barcinas led all scorers with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while Demarcus Bandy added 11 off of the bench.
The brightest spot for the Hawks on the night was the efficiency of big men John Coleman and Charles Nemecek on the offensive side of the floor. The two combined for 17 points (9 for Nemecek, 8 for Coleman) while not missing a shot (8/8 FGs) and getting it done in multiple ways. Coleman hit two jumpers on consecutive possessions at one point along with using his strength to get inside for a couple of layups.
UHS head coach Joe Schmidle says that if the two continue to get better as a duo, they will be crucial to the long-term success of his team.
“Both of those guys are still getting the rust off a little,” Schmidle said. “Charles had knee surgery in August and didn’t really begin running until tryouts came around and John has been in football mode. When all these guys get in basketball shape and mode it will help us not only on offense but rebounding and defense also.”
As a team, the Hawks shot 25-for-36 from inside the arc, but only 6-for-21 from deep.
Either way, UHS improved to 2-0 and will travel to Bridgeport on Tuesday for a huge early-season matchup.
Morgantown 103, Hurricane 39
MHS 24 28 20 31 – 103
HHS 5 13 15 7 – 39
MHS – Young 10 4-4 9; Davis 9 2-2 15; Danser 8 0-0 13; Kisner 12 0-2 12; Shrewsberry 5 2-2 8; Neal 3 0-0 4; King 2 4-4 8; Everett 6 0-0 14; Savage 3 0-1 7; Johnson 1 0-0 2; Hill 3 2-2 9; Murray 1 2-4 2
HHS – Dean 10 1-4 10; Clark 2 0-2 2; Taylor 3 1-2 6; O’Dell 5 0-0 6; Spencer 6 0-0 10; Dues 3 1-3 3; Murrell 3 0-2 2
3pt Goals – MHS 13 (Everett 4; Davis 3; Shrewsberry 2; Savage 1; Hill 1; Young 1; Danser 1). HHS 6 (O’Dell 2, Spencer 2, Dean 1, Taylor 1)
University 81, Washington 45
UHS – 17 24 23 17 – 81
WHS – 4 14 18 9 – 45
UHS – Nemecek 4 1-1 9; Coleman 4 0-1 8; Cool 3 2-2 4; Ford 6 0-0 8; Hudson 5 1-2 5; Farrell 8 0-0 10; Barcinas 7 4-5 13; Fortney-Garbert 5 2-2 7; Bandy 8 2-2 11; Jordan-Egnot 3 0-0 2; Demedovich 1 1-2 4
WHS – McCarthy 9 2-2 9; Smith 2 0-0 3; Doleman 6 0-0 13; Zimmerman 6 1-3 8; Spriggs 2 1-2 6; McCarthy 2 0-0 0; Burch 4 0-0 3; Hale 4 0-0 3
3pt Goals – UHS 6 (Ford 2, Barcinas 1, Fortney-Garbert 1, Bandy 1, Demedovich 1). WHS 9 (Doleman 3, McCarthy 1, Smith 1, Zimmerman 1, Spriggs 1, Burch 1, Hale 1)
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