MORGANTOWN – For the first time since 2021, the University High School boys basketball team will travel to Charleston for the state tournament.
The Hawks defeated Buckhannon-Upshur 65-54 on Tuesday night to advance to next week’s state tournament, set for March 18-22 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
UHS led wire-to-wire in the victory over the Buccaneers, never trailing in the contest, and forced 20 turnovers.
Hawks’ sophomore KK Lewis led the way for his team with 20 points, eight rebounds, and four steals. Sophomore Luke Byrer and senior Chayce Adams added 14 points each, with Adams nailing four triples.
Head coach Joe Schmidle and his club will return to Charleston for the first time in three seasons.
“After last year, we weren’t real happy with where the program was, and I felt that I needed to get back to how things were before,” Schmidle said. “We bought in on this group of kids, and they’ve done what we’ve wanted them to do all season. They love each other and play so well together. They have a great group of parents, and I just couldn’t be more proud of them right now.”
UHS began the game with pressure defense that disrupted B-U’s offensive flow and built an early 6-0 advantage.
The visitors eventually got their offense going behind leading scorer Jarin Westfall, who scored 25 points on 9 of 13 shooting and cut the UHS lead to four after one quarter, 17-13.
Adams got going in the second quarter with his second triple of the game 90 seconds in, giving UHS a six-point advantage, 24-18.
The Buccaneers kept the deficit within reach throughout the majority of the quarter until Adams made his presence felt again with two more from long-range (his third and fourth of the game) on consecutive trips down the floor for UHS.
The Hawks entered the halftime break leading 36-26.
“I thought we did well to speed up the pace of the game with our pressure,” Schmidle said. “We executed well, especially at the beginning of the game. It did cause some foul trouble for us, but I didn’t want another grind-it-out game in the 30s and 40s like we had last time against Buckhannon. I told our guys if we could score in the 60s i think we could put it away.”
UHS won the third quarter 15-10 to enter the final frame with a 15-point advantage, 51-36.
But the visitors had one more fight left in them in the fourth, opening the final eight minutes with a quick 6-0 run that cut the lead to nine.
Two B-U free throws cut the lead to eight with four minutes to play, but Adams went coast-to-coast on the ensuing possession and dished a nice assist to Byrer for an answer.
Lewis put the nail in the coffin with a thunderous slam dunk, putting the Hawks ahead 62-49 with 90 seconds to go.
“KK is finally embracing his role on this team,” Schmidle said. “He is a great athlete and has realized how much of a force he can be inside, and when he takes advantage of the ability God gave him, he’s going to find out how good he can be and how much of an impact he truly can have.”
University earned the 6-seed in next week’s Class AAAA state tournament and will square off with No. 3 George Washington on Wednesday, March 19, at 9:30 a.m.
BOX SCORE
University 65, Buckhannon-Upshur 54
B-U 13 13 10 18 – 54
UHS 17 19 15 14 – 65
Buckhannon-Upshur – Jarin Westfall 9 7-11 25 Robinette 5 2-2 16 McDaniels 1 2-2 4 Jeran 2 0-0 4 Jevon Westfall 2 1-2 5
University – Lewis 9 2-3 20 Byrer 6 2-6 14 Adams 5 0-1 14 Brown 3 0-0 6 Demidovich 1 2-2 4 Weaver 1 2-2 4 Karpinski 1 0-0 3
3pt goals made: University 5 (Adams 4 Karpinski 1); Buckhannon-Upshur 4 (Robinette 4
)
