MORGANTOWN – The Morgantown High boys basketball team defeated Musselman (10-9) 74-43 to cap off their regular season on Thursday inside the Rowdie Center. The Mohigans finish the season with a record of 17-4, with none of those losses coming to a team that resides in West Virginia. MHS senior Alec Poland had yet another 20-point performance as he led all scorers with 22 points while shooting 8 for 13 from the field. Jordan Holmes led MuHS with 16 points.
Coming off of one of their closest games of the season just 24 hours earlier on the road against Wheeling Park, Mohigan head coach Dave Tallman and his team found themselves facing a quick turnaround against another tough matchup in the Applemen of Musselman High.
Jordan Holmes opened the game by going 4 for 4 from the field, three of those baskets being from deep, and scoring 11 points in the first four minutes of the game. At the same time, MuHS were playing tough defense and making it hard for MHS to find open shots as it began the game 3/9 from the field and trailed early, 15-9. Poland would then score five quick points for MHS, sparking an 8-2 run to end the first quarter and tie the game at 19 all. Tallman would have a simple message for his team in the huddle.
“We gotta suck it up, we practiced really hard Monday, practiced hard Tuesday, then play a tough one last night, I wanted to duplicate what a tournament run would be like,” Tallman said of his comments in the huddle after the opening quarter. “If you want a championship you gotta win three in three days. We always want to challenge our guys to get better.”
His team seemed to have picked up on Tallman’s advice as they would clamp down on the defensive end and begin to take control of the game. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Mohigans had forced four turnovers out of MuHS and were on a 9-0 run halfway through the quarter as they led 28-19 with four minutes before the break. Senior Brooks Gage scored six quick points to spark the run for his team.
“If the shots are coming to me I am always going to take it,” Gage said. “But if I do see that the team is getting a little out of flow or something I’ll try to get a quick shot or two, just try and see the ball go in.”
The Applemen would get their first points of the second on a Cal Kleppner triple but would only go on to score seven total to add to their 19 from the first quarter. MHS would lead by 11 at halftime, 37-26 on a Poland triple at the buzzer.
The second half would see MHS slowly extend its lead, beginning with a quick 7-0 run in the third. The Applemen wouldn’t bring their deficit back to within 20 after halfway through the third. The combination of Poland and Gage proved too much for MuHS, as they combined for 35 of the Mohigans 74 points on 13 for 21 shooting as a pair. MHS also shot a perfect 11 for 11 from the free throw line.
MHS will now begin postseason play by hosting the first round of sectionals in region 1 section 1 as they host Brooke on Tuesday. Tip is set for 7:00pm at MHS.
Morgantown (17-4)
Alec Poland 13 4-4 22 Brooks Gage 8 4-4 17 Sharron Young 13 0-0 15 Jalen Goins 4 0-0 6 Ethan Marra 3 1-1 6 Koma Neal 4 2-2 6 Brody Davis 4 0-0 2 Cam Danser 2 0-0 0
Musselman (10-9)
Jordan Holmes 11 3-4 16 Conner Long 3 2-2 6 Jayson Gordon 8 0-4 6 Cal Kleppner 3 0-0 5 Addi Branson 2 0-2 4 Gavin McClain 2 0-1 4 Matt Mahood 1 1-2 1 Troy Woolaston 0 1-2 1
MORGANTOWN 19 18 16 21 – 74
MUSSELMAN 19 7 9 8 – 43
Three-pointers: Morgantown 7 (Gage 3, Poland 2, Young 1, Marra 1); Musselman 4 (Holmes 3, Kleppner 1)
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