MORGANTOWN — The defending state champs looked dominant in their playoff opener Tuesday night as Morgantown High defeated John Marshall 85-44 inside the Rowdie Center.
The Mohigans (21-2) got off to a furious start, outsourcing their visitors 23-2 to start the game and 31-7 in the first quarter overall.
“I told the guys it was important starting the first tournament game to come out and play extremely hard and get used to playing hard right out of the gate,” MHS coach Dave Tallman said. “I think we definitely did that and I thought our defense was really good.”
MHS’s defense turned John Marshall (12-11) over seven times in the first half and held the Monarchs to just three field goals in the period of the Region I, Section 1 semifinal.
“We’ve been working the last two and a half, three weeks exclusively on our defense,” Tallman said. “I didn’t like some things we were seeing on film down the stretch and I think we’ve fixed those things. It just comes down to effort and if we play hard for 32 minutes, we’re going to give people a lot of problems.”
The second quarter was just as domineering as Morgantown went up 52-15 at halftime.
Powering the Mohigan offense was deadly three-point shooting. MHS hit 13 times in total from range in the game, led by five from senior Brody Davis, who finished with a game-high 19 points. Right behind Davis was classmate Cam Danser, who hit twice from deep and finished with 12.
“My mindset is that we’re going to refuse to lose,” Davis said. “Nobody in the state is going to beat us, that’s our mindset. We’re going to come out, we’re going to pressure you, we’re going to be the hardest working team and nobody’s going to out-effort us.”
Izzy Everett and Brady Savage were next on the team with eight points each. In total, 12 Morgantown players scored on Tuesday.
John Marshall played better after the break, scoring 16 points in the third quarter and 13 in the fourth, but it was too little, too late to make it a game.
Brennan Sobutka led JM with 14 points, followed by Cody Hartman with 10.
Morgantown will host Wheeling Park, 92-60 winners over Brooke Tuesday, in the Class AAAA Region I, Section 1 final on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Morgantown 85, John Marshall 44
JM 7 8 16 13 — 44
MHS 31 21 18 15 — 85
John Marshall — Muldrew 2 0-0 6; Bre. Sobutka 5 2-2 14; Gray 3 0-0 7; Hartman 4 0-0 10; Fitzpatrick 1 0-0 3; Williams 1 2-2 4.
Morgantown — Danser 5 0-0 12; Everett 3 0-0 8; King 2 0-0 4; Davis 7 0-0 19; Kisner 3 0-0 7; Johnson 3 0-0 7; Neal 0 2-2 2; Savage 3 2-2 8; Shrewsberry 1 2-2 5; Hill 1 2-2 4; Murray 1 0-0 3; Colistra 3 0-0 6.
3 Pt. Goals — John Marshall 8 (Muldrew 2, Bre. Sobutka 2, Hartman 2, Gray 1, Fitzpatrick 1). Morgantown 13 (Davis 5, Danser 2, Everett 2, Kisner 1, Johnson 1, Shrewsberry 1, Murray 1).
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