MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It might finally be looking a little bit like Christmas outside, but inside the Morgantown High gym Friday night, the Mohigans boys basketball team made it seem like spring, as they made the 3-pointers rain down early and often against Hurricane on their way to a 68-41 victory in Game 2 of the G Force Lock & Safe Holiday Classic.
But MHS wasn’t the only team shooting the lights out from behind the arc, as University overcame two late deficits and a whopping 13 treys from Woodrow Wilson to pull away late for an exciting 73-67 win in Game 1.
Woodrow Wilson came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter, while the Hawks couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a canoe. The Eagles took a quick 7-0 lead and stretched it to 13-4 halfway through the quarter until UHS coach Joe Schmidle decided to jump-start his team with a frenetic full-court press. And it worked like a charm, producing several turnovers and lay-ups. A big three from John Mazza at the buzzer snuck the Hawks to within four at 21-17, and two quick triples from mercurial guard Kaden Metheny vaulted UHS into its first lead early in the second quarter.
In the third, the Eagles (1-2) and the Hawks (4-0) traded mini-runs until UHS’s Metheny calmly drilled a three at the buzzer to extend the advantage to 54-48 after three. But four straight bombs, two each by Richard Law and Bryant Jones sent Woodrow Wilson flying out to a 60-56 lead, and the Eagles were up by five at 67-62 with just over 3 minutes left.
But Hawks senior Mike Maumbe, on the bench for most of the game with four fouls, came in and provided a clutch burst of energy. After a string of clutch plays, he nabbed a huge rebound and canned both ends of a 1-and-1 with 35 seconds left to make it 70-67. K.J. McClurg finally hit 3 of 4 foul shots late to ice it for the Hawks.
“We came out pretty sluggish, while they were very crisp on offense, both from the outside and in the paint,” Schmidle said after the game. “We felt we had to do something to change the momentum, so inserting Aaron Forbes down low and going with the press really got us back into it.”
Mohigans chop Hurricane
In Game 2, the host Mohigans (4-0) didn’t have such difficulties out of the gate, as they forced nine first quarter Hurricane turnovers on their way to an 18-6 lead after one, then drilled five treys in the second quarter to forge a commanding 39-20 bulge at the break.
Morgantown continued to utilize their superior length and athleticism to disrupt the Redskins (1-2) offense, although burly HHS senior guard Austin Dearing did manage to score a game-high 17 points. The lead grew to 61-29 midway through the fourth quarter as the Mohigans cruised to the 68-41 win.
“We’ve been working very hard on our shooting, and it paid off early for us tonight,” MHS coach Dave Tallman said. “We hit a lot of open shots, and those are confidence builders. I thought Carson Poffenberger was very smooth, very effective, and Mac McMillen was out MVP of the game.”
The Classic concludes today with three games at MHS. The Mohigans girls face Martinsburg at 2:30 p.m., followed by the UHS boys against Hurricane at 4:15 p.m., and concluding with the Morgantown boys hosting Woodrow Wilson at 6:00 p.m.
BOX SCORES
UHS-WWHS
WOODROW WILSON (1-2)
Richard Law 8 3-4 25 Maddex McMillion 4 0-0 9 Ayden Ince 4 0-0 10 Ben Gilliam 4 1-1 9 Keenan Cook 2 0-0 5 Bryant Jones 3 0-0 9 Totals 25 4-5 67.
UNIVERSITY (4-0)
John Ross Mazza 4 0-0 9 Kaden Metheny 10 4-4 27 Blake Barkley 1 0-0 3 Ryan Niceler 2 1-3 5 Mike Maumbe 1 2-2 4 KJ McClurg 11 7-12 29 Totals 27 14-21 73.
3-POINTERS: WW – 13 (Law 6, Jones 3, Ince 2, McMillion, Cook), UHS – 5 (Metheny 3, Mazza, Barkley).
MHS-HHS
HURRICANE (1-2)
JT James 0 5-8 5 Austin Womack 2 2-4 6 Ethan Spolarich 2 0-1 4 Austin Dearing 8 0-0 17 Curtis Cooley 0 2-4 2 Nick Kennedy 1 0-1 3 Preston Dewitt 0 1-2 1 Zion McCaley 1 0-0 3 Totals 14 10-20 41.
MORGANTOWN (4-0)
Alec Poland 3 3-3 11 Troy Battle 3 1-2 8 Brooks Gage 4 0-0 11 Mac McMillen 3 1-2 9 Xavier Pryor 3 0-2 6 Alex Rudy 3 1-4 8 Carson Poffenberger 5 2-2 12 Lonnie Borom 1 0-2 2 Antonio Rollo 0 1-2 1 Jaheim Felton 0 0-2 0 Totals 25 9-21 68.
Hurricane 6 14 7 14 – 41
Morgantown 18 21 10 19 – 68
3-POINTERS: HHS – 3 (Dearing, Kennedy, McCaley), MHS – 9 (Gage 3, McMillen 2, Poland 2, Battle, Rudy).
