MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — University guard K.J. McClurg didn’t score until the final seconds of the first half Saturday against Poca in the final game of the Big Shots Country Roads Tip-Off, but despite is lack of offense, McClurg showed out in another way in front of college scouts.
The Hawks’ senior wound up scoring 18 points — 16 coming in the fourth quarter — in UHS’s 74-49 win, but his defensive effort is what caught the attention of coach Joe Schmidle. By his own choice, McClurg wanted to guard the Dots’ (1-1) best player, Isaac McKneely, who also has Division I interest from schools like Marshall, as a sophomore.
By the end of the game, McKneely finished with 17 points, but they were a tough 17.
“McClurg is an excellent defender when he puts his mind to it,” Schmidle said. “He takes pride in wanted to guard the other team’s best player.”
McClurg’s defensive effort was put on display in front of coaches from UMBC, James Madison and Navy, but just a couple months ago, he didn’t think he would be in this position. McClurg committed to Niagara in October, but just a couple weeks later, coach Patrick Beilein resigned, which reopened McClurg’s recruitment.
While disappointing, McClurg is going through the motions and truly believes it could be for the best.
“A few schools have been contacting me a lot recently, and everything happens for a reason,” he said. “Obviously, something wasn’t right at Niagara and God said this isn’t right, so let’s find a new situation.”
Kaden Metheny led UHS with 25 points, while teammates Ryan Niceler (15) and Mike Maumbe (10) also scored double digits.
The Hawks (2-0) will host Wheeling Park at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
BOX SCORE
Poca (1-1)
Vance 5 2-3 12; Rittinger 1 0-0 2; Barr 0 0-0 0; McKneely 5 7-9 17; E. Payne 1 2-2 4; Toney 3 0-0 8; T. Payne 2 0-0 4; Blizzard 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 11-14 49.
University (2-0)
Metheny 11 0-0 25; McClurg 6 4-6 18; Maumbe 3 3-6 10; Niceler 6 2-2 15; Smith 2 0-0 4; Barkley 0 0-0 0; Mazza 0 0-0 0; Forbes 1 0-0 2; Hammack 0 0-0 0; Braham 0 0-0 0; Brooks 0 0-0 0; Reyes 0 0-0 o. Totals: 29 9-14 74.
PHS 6 18 15 10 – 49
UHS 21 18 14 21 – 74
3-pointers: PHS 4 (McKneely 2, Toney 2); UHS 7 (Metheny 3, McClurg 2, Niceler, Maumbe).
