MORGANTOWN — Every so often, an intriguing and potentially defining matchup emerges smack dab in the middle of a season’s schedule, and Tuesday’s home game for No. 2 Morgantown against No. 4 Martinsburg certainly fit the bill.
Both teams have lost to No. 1 Spring Mills — the Mohigans by four and the Bulldogs in a blowout — so the battle would go a long way in further defining the balance of power in the state’s boys Class AAAA rankings.
The question of who’s No. 2 was answered – quite definitively – as Morgantown completely overwhelmed Martinsburg with a remarkable second-quarter display of complete basketball, outscoring the Bulldogs 35-7 on their way to a masterfully dominant 89-45 victory.
In the first quarter, the Mohigans (11-1) began efficiently on offense, getting points from five different players, and were disruptive defensively, limiting Martinsburg (5-3) to just four field goals. However, three of those were from downtown, enabling the Bulldogs to stay within reach at 17-11.
After the visitors scored an early bucket in the second to sneak within four, the Bulldogs’ bench was up and energized, ready to challenge for the lead.
Not so fast.
Morgantown senior and newly nominated McDonald’s high school All-American Sharron Young and the rest of his teammates simply cranked up their game to another level on both sides of the court. Young scored 11 in the quarter (on his way to a 25-point, 10-rebound, 8-assist night), and the Mohigans’ ball-hawking man pressure forced nine turnovers, most of which were converted into points. J. Shrewsberry got hot, canning a pair of triples and two other buckets to help propel the home MHS on a 20-0 run.
The signature moment came late in the half when senior Jacob King stole a ball on the wing, drove hard to the rack, soared, and threw down a monster right-handed dunk over a Bulldog defender sending the Rowdie Center into a roaring frenzy. All in all, the nearly flawless second-quarter performance led to a 52-18 Mohigans advantage over a shell-shocked Martinsburg team.
“I usually have a lot to say at halftime,” Morgantown coach Dave Tallman quipped, “but I didn’t keep them in there too long – I didn’t want to mess them up. I just told them not to let up, because it often happens in games like this, but they came out strong and put the game away.”
Any notion of a Bulldog miracle was quickly dashed by guard Izzy Everett, who hit a three and followed that up with a four-point play as the Mohigans won the third quarter 24-10, flirting with a 50-point lead before sitting the starters for the final quarter in the superb win.
When asked about his signature stuff, the self-effacing King admitted he hadn’t dunked like that before, at least not in the Mohigans’ blue and red.
“Nah, not even in practice,” he smiled, “although I did have one similar in Fall league. I just picked up a steal and felt like I wanted to go up and get one for my family and friends, to give my team some energy. It’s a confidence booster for sure.”
Tallman, not an easy man to impress, was pretty excited about that second quarter, especially King’s super athletic flush.
“We’ve been on Jacob pretty hard,” he admitted, “simply because he has the talent, and just needs to go out and do it. I feel he’s really turned the corner, and while that dunk came out of nowhere, it’s clear he’s capable of that kind of play all the time.
“It’s the same story with our team,” he continued. “We’ve not been playing especially well defensively, and we’ve been leaning too much on Sharron on offense. So we worked on playing harder and more active defense, and challenging guys to step up and contribute. Sharron did a great job of distributing and getting everyone involved tonight, and you see that with our balance (Everett finished with 18, Shrewsberry with 12, and a total of 10 players scored). When we play hard, we’re hard to beat, and when you have an opportunity to make a statement, you need to make it. We did that tonight, and I’m real proud of everyone.”
In the very well-played JV game, Morgantown repelled several strong second-half comeback efforts from Martinsburg to prevail, 57-43. Jeremiah White paced all scorers with 18 for the visitors, while the Mohigans’ balanced attack featured Marcus Goins with 15, Camden Kellogg’s 12, and Jayden Smalls with 11.
The Mohigans are on the road this Friday at John Marshall and Saturday afternoon at Ripley, then host rival University Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
BY MARK SCHRAF
BOX SCORE
Martinsburg (5-3) 11 7 10 17 – 45
Morgantown (11-1) 17 35 24 13 – 89
MARTINSBURG — Jasiah King 2 1-3 5 Jackson Steen 5 1-1 15 Chayse Shipley 4 1-2 10 Kyree Bunny 1 0-0 2 Anthony Owunna 3 0-0 6 Jeremiah White 0 1-2 1 Zion Agyeman-Duah 0 0-2 0 Garrett Hite 1 0-0 2 Koi Fagen 2 0-0 4 Totals 18 4-10 45
MORGANTOWN — Akir Johnson 2 0-0 4 Max Frey 2 0-0 4 Izzy Everett 7 1-1 18 Jacob King 3 2-2 8 Marcus Goins 0 2-2 2 Sharron Young 9 4-4 25 Johnathon Shrewsberry 5 0-0 12 Marty Johnson 1 2-3 4 Waylon Colistra 2 1-2 5 Brady Savage 3 1-2 7 Totals 34 13-16 89
Three-pointers – Martinsburg 5 (Steen 4, Shipley), Morgantown 8 (Young 3, Shrewsberry 2, Everett 3)
Fouled Out – Martinsburg (Shipley)
