MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown boys’ basketball team was thrown a curveball this week as the top team in the state now has to learn how to play without its best player.
MHS announced on Thursday that standout junior point guard ShaRon Young will miss a couple of weeks with a broken hand, leaving the No. 1 Mohigans (17-1) in a precarious spot down the stretch of the season.
It’s been so far, so good, however, as MHS defeated No. 9 Wheeling Park 52-48 on Friday and turned around to top No. 7 Spring Mills (13-4) 71-45 inside the Rowdier Center on Saturday.
“We just played hard,” MHS coach Dave Tallman said Saturday. “We’re learning how to play without ShaRon here for a couple of weeks and I was proud of our effort. It wasn’t pretty at all times but we want to go out there and play hard, physical and fast and I thought we did that.”
Morgantown led 13-12 after a contentious first quarter, but from there the Mohigans’ defense dialed in and their offense started to hear up.
MHS outscored the Cardinals 19-9 in the second quarter and 21-9 in the third to take a commanding 53-30 lead into the final frame.
Spring Mills’ top two scorers in the first half were Caleb Thomas (seven points) and DJ Boardley (nine) and the duo combined for only one point in the third.
“We picked up the pace (on defense) a little bit I think,” Tallman said. “ShaRon’s a heck of a guy on the ball, but I thought the guys stepped up and played great team defense. (Thomas) is a good player and he got some paint touches for them early and I think we kind of erased that as the game went on.”
Offensively, shooting guard Izzy Everett supplied a spark, hitting three straight three-pointers after halftime. Everett finished tied for the team-high in points with 14.
“Izzy’s earned it,” Tallman said. “He’s a great kid, a 4.0 student and he works at it. He’s earned the success that he’s got and I’m super proud of him.
“I would say he’s another double-figure scorer now. He’s just a great kid, he’s someone you can count on and I have all the confidence in the world in him.”
In all, Morgantown had five players finish in double figures. Everett and Garrison Kisner each scored 14, Cam Danser had 11 and Brody Davis and Jonathan Shrewsberry both had 10.
Thomas led Spring Mills with a game-high 16 while Boardley finished with nine.
Morgantown will start play in the OVAC tournament next week with a semifinal match at home against Wheeling Park on Tuesday. It will be MHS’s third contest against the Patriots in three weeks. Tallman said the team’s ultimate goal is still winning a repeat state title.
“You get 22 exhibition games in West Virginia,” Tallman said. “We’re trying to work and get better for the playoffs. We’ve got one goal and that’s to get back to Charleston and hopefully get another ring, but it’s a lot of work to get to that point.”
Morgantown 71, Spring Mills 45
SM 12 9 9 15 — 45
MHS 13 19 21 18 — 71
Spring Mills — Thomas 6 4-6 16; M. Anderson 1 2-2 4; Robinson 2 1-2 5; Franklin 2 0-1 6; Davis 1 0-0 3; Boardley 3 1-4 9; X. Anderson 1 0-0 2.
Morgantown — Everett 4 2-2 14; King 1 1-2 3; Danser 3 4-4 11; Davis 2 6-6 10; Kisner 6 2-4 14; Neal 2 3-3 7; Shrewsberry 4 0-0 10; 1 0-0 2.
3 Pt. Goals — Spring Mills 5 (Franklin 2, Boardley 2, Davis 1). Morgantown 7 (Everett 4, Shrewsberry 2, Danser 1).
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