Magnolia Stuns Paden City
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PADEN CITY -- Trevor Williamson is not known for his size, but Saturday night the Magnolia freshman stood tall.
The 5-foot-8 guard netted all 19 of his points in the fourth quarter, which included four 3-pointers that helped Magnolia rally from an eight-point deficit and emerge with a 69-60 victory over host Paden City.
The Blue Eagles trailed 43-35 heading into the final quarter when Williamson caught fire, draining four 3s in three minutes to give his team its first lead since 7-4 early in the contest.
"Trevor Williamson was struggling but he finally hit some crucial shots for us," Magnolia coach Dave Tallman said. "As a freshman, his confidence has to be up right now."
Magnolia's size in the paint and depth off of the bench made the lead stand up the rest of the way as it outscored Paden City, 34-17, in the final eight minutes.
"I told our guys all week that we have good strength," Tallman said. "Paden City has five good players and three double- digit scorers coming back, but I didn't know if they had as much depth and size as we did.
"We just kept pounding inside and used our depth and I think they got a little tired at the end.
"I can't say enough about Gavin Postlethwait. He came in there and did a good job on the boards."
Postlethwait finished with six points, as well, all coming in the fourth quarter.
Jake Gamble was also hard to defend inside as he finished with 16 points and Paden City coach Jeff Hohn agreed that the size under the boards made a key impact on the outcome.
"Their size made a big difference," Hohn said. "I told the kids that we had to stop the second-chance points. It got to the point where they went to the full- court press and all of their guys were just a little bit taller than our guys and it made it harder for our guys to get the ball down the floor."
The Wildcats looked strong early as they used a 12-0 spurt to secure an 18-12 upper hand at the end of the first.
Both offenses went cold in the second as the Eagles outscored the Wildcats, 8-5. Matt Saxon's 3 with 2:16 left in the half was the first bucket of the quarter for Paden City, which led 23-20 at halftime.
A 5-0 run to start the second half and a 7-0 run later in the third increased Paden City's cushion to 43-35 going to the fourth, before Williamson took over the game.
"We shot the ball better early," Hohn said. "Except for the second quarter, we came out and had a nice third quarter but they just turned up the intensity on us and we kind of lost focus I guess.
"Williamson killed us making four 3s in a row. That was the game."
Paden City had four players in double figures as Saxon led the way with 17, while Ethan Cross turned in 13, Ty Cain supplied 12 and Trey Slider added 10.
Magnolia's come-from-behind thriller was its first win of the season and Tallman was happy to see such great teammwork out of his squad.
"We've just been waiting for them to break out and have a good game," Tallman said. "It was a team effort. Defensively, everyone was going out for loose balls and playing hard.
"I am proud of all the kids. It was a great crowd and an enthusiastic game. It's great for high school basketball."