CHARLESTON — The Morgantown High boys’ basketball team will continue its quest to capture its third straight Class AAAA state championship after defeating the Wheeling Park Patriots 66-47 on Wednesday evening inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The Mohigans only held a one-point lead at halftime and a five-point lead after the third quarter but won the final frame 23-8. WP leading scorer Aiden Davis, who entered the contest averaging 26 points a game, was held to just five points and one field goal.
With the victory, the Mohigans advance to play on Semifinal Friday against No. 3 Huntington at 9:30 a.m. MHS defeated the Highlanders 98-57 on Feb. 3 in the Battle for the Springhouse at the Greenbrier.
Morgantown was led in scoring by senior Sharron Young with 17 points. The Akron signee also dished eight assists and grabbed four rebounds. He was joined in double figures by senior Jacob King with 14 and junior Brady Savage who finished with 12. The trio combined to shoot 18 for 28 from the floor with Young netting three triples.
“I love coaching down here and rarely get nervous but when I saw we had to prepare for Michael Jebbia and Wheeling Park I was pretty sick to my stomach all week,” MHS head coach Dave Tallman said. “They do what they do and spread you and move the ball with good patience. They’re a great program with some great athletes. On our end, only four turnovers the entire game and 16 assists. We knew it might be a grind-it-out win but that shows our maturity and experience and we got it done.”
The Patriots were the team to jump out to an early lead after a quarter, 9-6, as the pace of the game was set by their offense.
The Mohigans responded well however, and fought back in the second quarter to take a two-possession lead, but a Mykel Davis jumper at the buzzer cut the deficit to 27-25 for the Patriots going into the locker room. The senior WVU football signee led Wheeling Park with a game-high 22 points. Both sides shot over 50% from the floor in the second quarter.
The third quarter held true to the story of the first half as MHS held onto a slight lead that the Patriots refused to let get away from them.
A 43-38 lead after three quarters for MHS had WP with its hopes high for the fourth. But those would quickly be denied by Young and the Mohigans to open the final eight minutes.
A 12-3 scoring run spanning five minutes into the fourth created some distance between the two teams as MHS took a 55-41 lead with just over three minutes to go.
The Mohigans would continue to grow the lead and finish the game with a 19-point quarterfinal win over the Wheeling Park Patriots 66-47.
“We changed our looks against Aiden (Davis) today,” Tallman said of the defensive effort. “When they ball screened and got the switch they wanted we just decided to blitz the screen every time today and it worked for us. We tried to trap him and force the ball out of his hands. Some of their players stepped up but I thought getting the ball out of Aiden’s hands was crucial.”
Morgantown will tip-off against Huntington in the opening game on Semifinal Friday at 9:30 a.m. in the first of two Class AAAA semifinals. The other semifinal will be between No. 1 Spring Mills and No. 5 South Charleston.
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 66, Wheeling Park 47
WP 9 16 13 9 – 47
MHS 6 21 16 23 – 66
Wheeling Park — A. Davis 1 3-4 5; M. Davis 9 1-1 22; Johnson 6 4-4 16; K Davis 1 0-0 2; Galberth 0 2-2 2.
Morgantown — Young 7 0-0 17; King 6 4-5 16; Savage 6 0-0 12; Johnson 3 2-2 8; Everett 1 1-2 3; Shrewsberry 1 0-0 2; Frey 0 2-4 2; Himes 1 0-0 2; Colistra 2 0-0 4.
3-Pt. Goals — Wheeling Park 3 (M. Davis 3). Morgantown 4 (Young 3, Everett 1).
