MORGANTOWN – The Rowdie Center hosted a rematch of last season’s Class AAAA boys state title matchup as the No. 2 Morgantown Mohigans welcomed the top-ranked Spring Mills Cardinals on a snowy Tuesday night.
MHS (5-1) entered the contest with a 50-game winning streak on its home floor but couldn’t find the 51st victory as Spring Mills (8-0) headed back to the eastern panhandle with a 57-40 win.
Spring Mills junior Akwasi Opoku-Achampong led all scorers with 18 points on six three-pointers. The Cardinals made ten shots in 18 attempts from beyond the arc. Lokkhae Uth-Smith added the other four triples for Spring Mills.
Senior Marty Johnson led the Mohigans with 11 points and sophomore Max Frey with 10.
“They kicked our butts tonight,” MHS head coach Dave Tallman said. “They’re a really good team and really athletic. They came in here and beat us on our home court, which hasn’t been done in a long time. They played hard and made shots. That’s going to be a hard team to beat this season.”
The game started with the two teams trading three-pointers as Frey and Opoku-Achampong got their teams on the board early.
The Mohigans led 6-3 early on, but a 10-0 run late in the opening quarter saw the Cardinals ahead 15-8 after the first eight minutes.
MHS fired back with a 7-2 run in the second quarter, cutting the lead to two points. However, Spring Mills pushed the lead back to multiple possessions late in the first half.
Uth-Smith scored two of his 14 points with a steal and a slam in the open court. He was followed by Opoku-Achampong, who hit a triple from long range as the halftime buzzer sounded, swelling the lead to 27-20 at the break.
“I didn’t think our defense was terrible; they just made shots,” Tallman said. “A few times we got caught not putting our hands up, but they (Spring Mills) were a little hungrier than we were tonight. I told our guys all we can do is keep chipping away and getting better.”
Opoku-Achampong opened the second half the way he had closed the first, nailing a deep three-pointer, extending the lead to 10.
The Mohigans got within eight at 30-22 but could not pair defensive stops with made baskets, as the Cardinals answered any success MHS found on offense.
Spring Mills outscored the Mohigans by 10 in the second half, holding them to eight points in the final quarter.
“We know what we can do, and we haven’t really done it this year,” Spring Mills coach Luke Samples said. “I’m proud of the selflessness of our team and being able to control the tempo in the fourth quarter. We knew coming here and winning at all would be tough, and we are happy to get the win.”
Morgantown will return home to host University for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off on Friday as the Mohawk Bowl hits the hardwood.
“We know Spring Mills isn’t the only team we have to beat this season; there are a lot of good teams,” Tallman said. “We play University Friday night, who is pretty good too. I’m not frustrated or upset. We will break down the film and continue to work. March is about nine weeks away.”
BOX SCORE
Spring Mills 57, Morgantown 40
SM 15 12 16 14 – 57
MHS 8 12 12 8 – 40
Spring Mills (8-0) – Opoku-Achampong 6 0-0 18 Uth-Smith 5 0-0 14 Shipley 3 1-2 7 Thomas 3 1-3 7 M Anderson 0 8-11 8 X Anderson 1 1-2 3
Morgantown (5-1) – Johnson 4 0-0 11 Frey 3 2-3 10 Bandy 1 3-4 5 Colistra 4 0-1 9 Savage 1 0-0 2 Ridgeway 1 0-0 2 Kellogg 0 1-2 2
3pt goals made – Spring Mills 10 (Opoku-Achampong 6 Uth-Smith 4); Morgantown 6 (Johnson 3 Frey 2 Colistra 1)
