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Chad Clutter Earns 1st Win at John Marshall

Grimm, Thompson combine for 36 points

Photo by Shawn Rine John Marshall’s Gunner Thompson takes a jumper against Oak Glen.

MOUNDSVILLE — When Chad Clutter took over the John Marshall boys’ basketball program, he did so knowing work was ahead. An opening loss to East Fairmont confirmed as much.

For three quarters of Thursday night’s home opener at the John Marshall Field House against Oak Glen, the Monarchs showed promise. Yet as the fourth quarter began, JM turned it up.

Logan Grimm scored 19 points and Gunner Thompson backed him with 17 as John Marshall (1-1) used tenacious pressure defense to rally past Oak Glen (1-1) by a 61-55 count. It’s the first win as coach for Clutter, who once starred at the school.

”Now that it’s over with I can breathe,” Clutter said with a laugh. ”It feels great.

”We were very good on defense in the fourth quarter and I asked them where that was the rest of the game. There was no answer.”

The Monarchs shot out to a 10-3 lead only to see the Golden Bears take an 18-15 upperhand after a quarter. Oak Glen was all over the passing lanes, forcing 10 first-half turnovers to help it to a 34-30 halftime advantage.

Thanks to six points apiece from Logan Taylor and Ethan Travis, the lead ballooned to 48-38 after three quarters.

”We competed well but we always struggle down here,” Oak Glen coach Jerry Everly said. ”We played hard but we just couldn’t finish.

”When they start getting the momentum and the crowd gets loud, you start speeding up.”

That played right into John Marshall’s favor. The Golden Bears turned the ball over five times during the first three quarters but were guilty of six in the fourth.

The Monarchs opened the final quarter with back-to-back buckets from Brendon Dougherty and Tyler Sadoski, but Taylor, who scored a game-high 26 points, swished a clutch 3-pointer and hit 1 of 2 at the line to get it back to 10 at 52-42.

”He’s tough,” Everly said of Taylor. ”I hope people are taking notice of his play.

”I am real proud of the job he did. He can score just about any way.”

Grimm answered with a bucket and then a 3-pointer to cut the margin to five with 4:34 to go, but Taylor wasn’t finished. He spun around a defender and kissed the ball off the glass from about 10 feet away for what at the time looked like a dagger.

However, Tanner McLaughlin cut to the lane for a pretty reverse and Thompson scored off a steal. Thompson then stole the inbound pass and got the ball to Grimm, who drilled a 3 from the left wing to reduce the deficit to 55-54.

”They’re going to get better at the press and we do have the quickness,” Clutter said. ”We will see if we can play smart defense with five quick guys.

”We let them walk the ball up the floor in the first half. After we got a nice steal and a layup and the crowd got behind us, we sped them up.”

John Marshall turned Oak Glen again and when Krsna Naithani put home two of his eight points, the home team went ahead for good. Bryce Yoho’s block led to a Thompson bucket, Grimm hit 1 of 2 and Thompson finished things off with another steal and a layup.

Yoho was big — literally and physically. The active sophomore scored six points and had 13 rebounds.

”He missed a few bunnies that he normally doesn’t, but we charted him with 14 deflections and 13 rebounds,” Clutter said. ”He’s good help-side and seems to be in the right place at the right time as a big man.

”I would say he was the MVP of the day.”

Noah Feicht added 11 points for the Golden Bears.

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