Despite their teams winning in holiday classic, Dave Tallman, Joe Schmidle both not satisfied

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Despite both Morgantown and University High boys’ basketball teams securing impressive wins in the G Force Lock & Safe Holiday Classic, coaches Dave Tallman and Joe Schmidle sure didn’t seem especially satisfied. Although, that shouldn’t be surprising.

Because they never are.

And interestingly enough, their individual angst over the state of their undefeated teams is rooted on the opposite sides of the floor.

In Game 2 yesterday afternoon at Morgantown High, the defending state champion University overpowered Hurricane 101-70, but all Schmidle could talk about was his defense, or lack thereof.

“All we want to do is go out there and outscore everybody,” he grumbled. “We’re doing a pretty good job on that part of the game. K.J. (McClurg) and Kaden (Metheny) have been very consistent scorers for us, and we got some very good, very aggressive play out of Ryan Niceler today as well. We’ve been after him to look for his shot and to create more for himself, and he did a nice job today.”

McClurg and game MVP Metheny both hit for 25, while Niceler scored 18 for UHS (5-0).

“But the idea that we’re going to outscore everyone all year is not sustainable. Not if you want to win in Charleston,” he continued. “We have two or three guys on the court who want to play ‘D,’ but we need all five all the time. Because there will be plenty of times this year when we are going to struggle with our shots, and we will need stops down the stretch. Besides, when other teams score, they gain confidence and that momentum can be hard to stop once it starts rolling.

“In the end, he concluded, “we need to play defense with a lot more pride than we have so far, and I hope we start to do that, sooner rather than later.”

On the other hand, the last game of the Classic pitted two historically strong programs, as Morgantown hosted Woodrow Wilson.

Right from the start, the defensive intensity, especially when compared to the University-Hurricane game, was several notches higher for both teams.

That has been the case all year, the Mohigans defense shined through, controlling the pace, keeping offensive talents like the Eagles’ Richard Law and Ben Gilliam from going off and the offense did enough to scratch out a gritty 70-58 victory.

In the first half, Woodrow Wilson’s Gilliam utilized his strength and slick post moves in the paint, but his 12 points were countered by six 3-pointers, the last from sophomore Alec Poland at the buzzer. That helped stretch the Morgantown lead to five points at the break 30-25.

Morgantown (5-0) pushed the advantage to 11 midway through the third quarter with a huge conventional 3-point bucket and free throw from Caden Poffenberger — who was named the game’s MVP and led MHS with 19 points. The foul was Gilliam’s fourth, which sent him to the bench for most of the rest of the game.

Woodrow Wilson (1-3) would not go away, as it went on an 8-2 run to keep it close. However, Antinio Rollo’s third triple of the game, and a series of free throws from Poffenberger, restored the Mohigans’ double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Eagles were never able to get closer than eight the rest of the way.

“Once again, it was the defense that bailed us out,” Tallman said, a bit of frustration leaking from his voice when asked if the offense was improving. “I know I should maybe be happier to see 70 on the scoreboard against a team as good as (Woodrow Wilson), but there are just so many little mistakes that keep creeping into our game, and it costs us. Too many passive possessions, too many little mental errors. We aren’t as good as we need to be yet.

“But, I know we can and will get better, because just about everything we are struggling with is both minor and correctable. We are more than capable of becoming a really solid team offensively, and if we can improve on that end while still maintaining our defensive play, I like our chances.”

With the win, Tallman picked up coaching career win No. 200.

The Mohigans travel to Preston on Saturday. The Hawks will travel to Myrtle Beach between Christmas and New Years to play in the Beach Ball Classic.