CADIZ, Ohio – The third time may not have been a charm, but the fourth was for Morgantown.
The top-seeded Mohigans (18-1) placed all five starters in double figures in racing to an 84-44 victory over No. 2 Wheeling Park Saturday afternoon in the OVAC WVU Medicine Class 5A boys basketball champion inside Harrison Central High School.
Playing in the title tilt for the fourth time in the last five years – there was no tournament in 2021 due to COVID – MHS head coach Dave Tallman wasn’t going to go home empty-handed this season. The Mohicans had lost to Dover the past two seasons and cross-town rival University in 2020.
“We’ve never won here,” Tallman said of playing at Harrison Central. “Rumor is they are moving it out of here, so I wanted to get a win here before it left.”
Leading by a point, 13-12, after the Patriots’ Aiden Davis beat the first-quarter buzzer with a three, Morgantown exploded for 29 second-quarter points to pull away and never look back.
All-state point guard Sharron Young did most of the damage with 12 of his team-high 19 points during the stretch when the Mohigans shot a lights-out 75 percent (12-for-16) from the floor.
“We’re starting to click on offense. We made a lot of shots and they (Park) missed a lot of shots,” Young added. “That’s why the score was what it was tonight.”
The hot shooting didn’t surprise Tallman, though.
“We’ve got a few kids shooting around 40 percent from three, so to come up here to a new gym and shoot like we did, I’m pleased,” Tallman said.
“Our playing poorly had a lot to do with them,” Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia said of Morgantown. “They hit some open shots. We were close there about halfway through the second quarter, but then they took off.”
He was referring to Morgantown’s 17-6 run to end the first half.
“When Morgantown plays to that level, they are going to be hard to beat,” Jebbia said.
While the Mohigans were filling up the basket, Wheeling Park couldn’t buy a bucket as it went 5-for-11.
“I just told the kids to flush this game from their minds,” Jebbia said. “We’ve got three games next week, and we’ll see them next Saturday at their place.”
Wheeling Park’s Aiden Davis led all scorers in the game with 23 points. He was the only Patriot to reach twin digits. Amare Johnson added nine.
In addition to Young, other Morgantown players with 10-plus points were Jacob King with 14, Izzy Everett and Brady Savage with 13 each and J. Shrewsberry added 10.
King had seven of the Mohigans’ 32 rebounds as they held a whopping 32-10 advantage. Young had six. Mykel Davis had four to lead Wheeling Park.
Morgantown only turned the ball over seven times. Wheeling Park charted 11.
By KIM NORTH/The Intelligencer
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 84, Wheeling Park 44
WHEELING PARK (44) – A. Davis 10 0-1 23; M. Davis 3 0-0 6; Johnson 4 1-1 9; K. Davis 0 2-2 2; Lewis 2 0-0 4; Williams 0 0-0 0; Huffman 0 0-0 0; Strothers 0 0-0 0; Galberth 0 0-0 0; Hays 0 0-0 0; Linder 0 0-0 0; Whitmire 0 0-0 0; Totals: 19-40 3-4 44.
MORGANTOWN (84) – Everett 5 0-1 13; King 7 0-0 14; Young 8 0-0 19; Shrewsberry 4 0-0 10; Savage 4 5-5 13; Colista 3 0-0 7; Johnson 2 2-2 6; Frey 0 0-0 0; Hill 0 0-0 0; Goins 1 0-0 2; Johnson 0 0-0 0; Totals: 34-55 7-8 84.
Three-point goals: Wheeling Park 3 (A. Davis 3). Morgantown 9 (Everett 3, Young 3, Shrewsberry 2, Colista)
