MORGANTOWN — Following Wednesday night’s surprisingly drama-free, 79-58 dismantling of strong, sixth-ranked Martinsburg, University boys’ basketball coach Joe Schmidle came out of his team’s locker room looking like a kid who’d gotten just what he hoped for Christmas morning.
“Wow!” he said through an ear-to-ear grin. “That was by far the best we’ve executed on offense all season. I felt like we had the potential to be a team that could count on five or six guys to score, and this was the first time all six of them had a good night on the same night. I can think of one or two other games when we had six in double figures, so this was a pretty special performance.”
Commented Schmidle: Eli Karpinski, in “his best game all year,” led the 16-5 Hawks with 14, Luke Byrer “solid as usual” and Glen Brown “he’s really gotten better at looking to score with the ball in his hands, playing harder, and that really helps everyone” each scored 13, and Zach Demidovich “finished strong all night” to put up a dozen. Chayce Adams’s 11 bodes well for UHS, since “he’s found his shot, and getting him going could mean a lot for us heading into tournament time,” and KK Lewis nearly pulled off a triple double with 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists, “which is an amazing number of assists for a big man. He stayed out of foul trouble – it was his only goal before the game – which was key.”
Immediately after the opening tip, the game essentially hinged on the Hawks’ ability to handle the 11-6 Bulldogs’ intense full-court press and half-court trap defenses – and Schmidle had his team prepared.
“We had seen the same system against Steubenville in the OVAC semis a few games ago,” he explained, “so we practiced hard on everybody’s role and responsibility, so we knew what to expect. And I told them not to be tentative, but to attack the press, and we did it all night. It was great to see.”
Time and again, UHS inbounded and broke the initial wall at the foul line, which set up transition number advantages, and the Hawks found the open man filling the lanes with regularity. In the first quarter, University (with zero turnovers) broke out on a 13-2 late run to forge a 21-11 lead, then posted another 21-point quarter in the second. Some inevitable UHS turnovers late in the half allowed Martinsburg to whittle a 17-point deficit down to 13 at the break, 42-29.
In the third, MHS stayed in their risky pressure defense, which the Hawks continued to handle and exploit, but explosive guard Keyshawn Cheek got hot, hitting two triples to pull the Bulldogs to within 10 points midway through the quarter. But the anticipated MHS run never materialized. Adams stroked an open three, Karpinski and Byrer attacked the rim in transition, and University closed with a 7-2 burst to bump the lead back up to 15. The Bulldogs never threatened again.
“This was a huge win over a quality opponent,” Schmidle said. “I’m very close friends with (MHS coach) Dave Rogers, and we both needed to add a game to our schedules, so we booked it – we’ll go to their place next season. It’s always a little risky to add a likely State tournament team to your schedule because it can affect your seeding whether you win or lose that game. A big win like this really prepares us for a tough Buckhannon game on Friday and the Regional tournament, and I’m really proud of how we played tonight.”
And, ever the coach, Schmidle added, “That was almost 32 minutes of solid basketball, the most we’ve had in a game this year. I think we can keep the momentum going – we’ll need to.”
University travels to Buckhannon-Upshur to close out their regular season this Friday.
Box score
MARTINSBURG (11-6)
Kyrie Bunny 4 0-2 8 Zion Agymuduah 2 0-0 4 Keyshawn Cheek 7 8-10 24 Garrett Hite 1 0-0 3 Anthony Owonna 2 0-0 4 Kevin Myers 4 0-2 8 Zyan Stanley 3 0-0 7 Totals 23 8-14 58.
UNIVERSITY (16-5)
Zachary Demidovich 5 2-4 12 Glen Brown 5 1-2 13 Eli Karpinski 5 4-5 14 KK Lewis 5 0-2 10 Luke Byrer 6 1-3 13 Jagger Barnes 3 0-0 6 Chayce Adams 5 0-0 11 Totals 34 8-16 79.
3-pointers: MHS 4 (Cheek 2, Hite, Stanley), UHS 3 (Brown 2, Adams).