MORGANTOWN — The University High School boys basketball team fell to Woodrow Wilson 71-46 in the second game of the Little General Holiday Classic hosted by Morgantown High School Friday night.
UHS (1-2) held a slight lead after the first quarter, 15-12, but Woodrow (2-0) outscored their opponent 59-31 over the remaining three quarters. WW senior guard Elijah Redfern led the game in scoring with 32 points. The Flying Eagles made eight triples in the contest and shot a perfect 15 for 15 from the free-throw line as well.
“We quit playing help defense and shots didn’t fall for us,” UHS head coach Joe Schmidle said. “That’s kind of been our problem through the first three games, we don’t have anyone putting the ball in the basket consistently. We haven’t been good at taking the ball to the basket either.”
UHS junior Zach Demidovich led the way for the Hawks with 11 points for his team.
Both teams will return to MHS tomorrow for day two of the Little General Holiday Classic with UHS taking on Shady Spring and Woodrow Wilson facing off against Morgantown.
The opening quarter saw UHS establish the tempo of the game early. The Hawks found some good looks and played strong on the defensive end. A triple by Ethan Jackson to end the first gave his team a 15-12 advantage after one quarter played.
However, the second quarter would be all Woodrow from the beginning to end. The Flying Eagles outscored the Hawks 21-9 in the frame to snatch a nine-point halftime lead, 33-24.
The beginning of the second half saw the Flying Eagles carry their momentum from the first. The nine-point lead was stretched to 14, 43-29, but UHS responded with a quick 6-0 run to bring itself within 10 points again, forcing a timeout from WW.
The Flying Eagles responded well out of the huddle though, and once again took a double-digit lead after the third quarter, 51-41.
UHS needed to start fast in the fourth to give itself a chance, but five quick points for Woodrow swelled the lead to 15 points. The Flying Eagles outscored the Hawks 20-5 in the fourth quarter on their way to a decisive victory on day one of the LG Holiday Classic.
“When you don’t rebound well, you don’t shoot well, and you don’t play good help-defense you can’t win a basketball game against a good team,” Schmidle said. “We haven’t quite found our identity yet but I know that we will have guys that want to play hard and do things the right way. We are going to see another good team (Saturday) with some good players in Shady Spring and we need to be ready to go.”
BOX SCORE
Woodrow Wilson 71, University 46
WW 12 21 18 20 – 71
UHS 15 9 17 5 – 46
Woodrow Wilson – Redfern 11 9-9 32, Dillon 5 0-0 14, Hawthorne 3 2-2 10, Fitzwater 2 2-2 6, Walton 2 0-0 4, Clary 1 2-2 5.
University – Jackson 3 1-2 10, Coleman 3 1-2 7, Hudson 3 0-0 9, Fortney-Garbart 3 1-2 7, Demidovich 4 3-3 11, Byrer 1 0-0 2.
3pt-Goals: Woodrow 8 (Dillon 4, Hawthorne 2, Redfern 1, Clary 1); University 6 (Jackson 3, Hudson 3).
