MORGANTOWN – Brody Davis was open, so he shot the basketball.
Never mind that it was a deep 3-pointer, never mind that it was for the lead, never mind that it was a big game.
Davis sank his long triple with 24 seconds left and then hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left to give Morganton High School a 56-52 victory over Shady Spring on Friday.
“Brody deserves to shoot that shot,” MHS head coach Dave Tallman said. “He has been in the gym all offseason, he’s a great shooter.”
Davis, who finished with 10 points, fought through foul trouble much of the contest and said he does practice those deep shots.
“I mean if that wasn’t an NBA-range 3-pointer, I don’t know what is,” Davis said.
While Davis will get the credit for his shot, the Mohigans (4-0) don’t win the game without the play of Koma Neal and Marty Johnson.
Neal scored nine points in the contest but also did the little things to keep MHS in the game. MHS trailed by 10 points throughout the first half and it could have been more if not for Neal. He grabbed loose balls, drew fouls and even dove over the Shady Spring bench during the contest.
“Koma and Marty were our two MVPs tonight,” Tallman said. “Koma gives us so much toughness and competitiveness.”
Johnson, a sophomore, was likely going to see limited or no minutes at all for this game. However, when starting point guard Sharron Young had to leave the game with an injury — it was Johnson that Tallman turned to.
“Marty played almost the entire second half,” Tallman said. “He really wasn’t in our plans to play tonight but he came in and found a way to win for us. I’m really proud of Koma and Marty.”
Shady Spring held a 34-24 lead at halftime but an adjustment on defense and more intensity on that end of the floor helped the Mohigans grab a 44-43 lead after three quarters. MHS went on a 13-0 run to end the third period with Cam Danser scoring six of his nine points during that stretch.
The Tigers (0-1) still managed to grab a three-point lead at 50-47 when Cole Chapman drained a 3-pointer with over four minutes left in the contest. The problem for Shady Spring is that it scored just a pair of free throws the rest of the way.
“That’s a heck of a team,” Tallman said. “They played really hard and they came in and punked us in the first half and we did not come out to compete.”
Young, who returned to the game with 1:26 left in the contest, led all scorers with 14 points while Chapman led the Tigers with 12 points and Cam Manns scored 11.
Both teams return to action today on the second day of the Little General Holiday Classic hosted by MHS. The Mohigans face Jefferson at 1:15 p.m. while Shady Spring will play University at 3 p.m.
By ERIC HERTER
1 2 3 4 F
SS 21 13 9 9 52
MHS 17 7 20 12 56
SHADY SPRING
B. Chapman 3 3-3 9, Richmond 1 0-0 3, Maxwell 4 0-0 9, Davis 2 0-0 4, C. Chapman 4 2-2 12, Holstein 1 1-3 3, Manns 4 3-3 11. Totals: 19 9-12 2
MORGANTOWN
Neal 2 5-6 9, Danser 2 4-6 9, Everett 1 2-2 4, Young 5 2-2 14, Shrewsbury 1 0-0 2, Davis 3 2-2 10, Kisner 4 0-0 8. Totals: 18 13-16 56.
3-Pointers – SS: 4 (C. Chapman 2, Richmond, Maxwell). MHS: 5 (Young 2, Davis 2, Danser).
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