MORGANTOWN — The middle quarters got away from the University boys’ basketball team as rival Morgantown picked up a 92-55 win on the Hawks’ home court on Baker’s Ridge Friday night.
A capacity crowd helped fuel an exciting start to the game in which both teams were playing pedal-to-the-metal basketball. University’s (4-6) motion offense against Morgantown’s (8-1) havoc defense led to bodies flying all over the court in a frenetic first quarter.
“That’s what we want,” Morgantown coach Dave Tallman said. “We’ve got great athletes, fast-twitch guys that are really solid on the ball. Now we’re maybe playing a little too aggressive and letting guys by us.”
The game was tied 9-9 midway through the opening frame and MHS just pulled ahead to lead 16-12 at the first break. Four of the Mohigans’ first five field goals were three-pointers as MHS worked to beat the Hawks’ zone defense.
UHS junior Zach Demidovich scored eight points in the first quarter but was stuck on the bench with foul trouble as the Mohigans started to pull away in the second.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy, and that wears off after a while,” UHS coach Joe Schmidle said. “They’re better than we are right now, there’s no doubt about that. They’ve got a lot of weapons and they shot the heck out of the basketball (Friday) too.”
An 8-2 run provided the first real separation of the night as MHS went ahead 24-14 in the early stages of the second quarter.
It was still just a nine-point lead until MHS closed the first half on a six-point run to lead 42-27 at halftime.
Despite leading by 15, two of Morgantown’s top weapons, Izzy Everett and Jacob King, had combined for just two points before the break. Senior Sharron Young carried the scoring load with 15 first-half points, but Everett and King came alive in the third quarter.
“They were a little frustrated because shots weren’t falling and they weren’t really getting a lot of touches,” Tallman said. “Second half, we made it a point to run some sets for them off the jump. We’ve got to make sure we do a better job of finding those guys and getting them going.”
Everett scored 10 points in the frame with a pair of three-pointers while King had nine points.
“I think when we got the ball in their hands more, the shots started falling and they started playing with more confidence,” Young said.
MHS scored 30 points in the third and led 72-42 entering the final frame. The Mohigans had made eight three-pointers up to that point.
“It’s pick your poison,” Schmidle said of Morgantown’s offense. “You hope that they have an off night from beyond the arch, which they did not. And then once you get a lead, it’s real easy to make those threes because there’s no pressure.”
MHS made a couple more treys in the fourth to finish with 10 as a team.
“We’re going to make them,” Tallman said. “Our guys are in the guy an hour, two hours after practice every day and on the weekends. We’ve got great shooters, I trust them and I knew we’re going to knock them down.”
Young led all scorers with 20 points while King ended with 15 and Everett had 12. J. Shrewsberry and Waylon Kolistra each had nine.
Demidovich led University with 15 points, returning to score seven in the fourth quarter. Ethan Jackson was next with 11 and Glenn Brown, returning from injury, added 10.
“We’ve got to put the ball in the basket, we’ve got to get some kind of perimeter game,” said Schmidle, lamenting his team’s struggles from range. “Winners find ways to win and we’re not finding ways to win. We’ve got to get over that hump, it truly is a mental thing.”
University takes to the road to play at Musselman on Tuesday.
Morgantown hosts Brooke today at 1:30 p.m.
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 92, University 55
MHS 16 26 30 20 — 92
UHS 12 15 15 13 — 55
MORGANTOWN (8-1) — Everett 4 2-2 13; King 6 3-5 15; Young 7 4-5 20; Shrewsberry 3 0-0 9; Savage 3 2-2 8; M. Johnson 3 1-1 7; Colistra 3 3-3 9; Frey 3 1-1 8; Hill 0 0-0 0; Goins 1 0-0 3; A. Johnson 0 0-0 0.
UNIVERSITY (4-6) — Jackson 4 1-4 11; Coleman 0 0-0 0; Hudson 0 0-0 0; Demidovich 7 1-1 15; Fortney-Garbart 4 0-0 8; Byrer 1 0-0 2; Lewis 1 2-4 4; Ford 1 0-0 3; Henderson 1 0-0 2; Brown 3 2-4 10; Kleeh 0 0-0 0; Krapinsky 0 0-0 0.
3-Pt. Goals — Morgantown 10 (Everett 3, Shrewsberry 3, Young 2, Frey 1, Goins 1). University 5 (Jackson 2, Brown 2, Ford 1).
