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Linsly Boys Fall in Season Finale to Martinsburg

Photo by Seth Staskey Linsly’s Raef Wykes attacks the bucket as Martinsburg’s Tre Segar defends during the first half of Friday’s game.

WHEELING — Linsly’s boys basketball team gave itself a chance to win the coveted Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 3A title.

Despite the delayed start in West Virginia, two, 10-day pauses due to COVID-19 and numerous schedule changes, the Cadets came into Friday’s season finale in need of a victory against West Virginia Class AAA foe Martinsburg in need of a victory to snatch the OVAC title from Fort Frye, which has been in the OVAC clubhouse basically since February.

The Bulldogs, however, were simply too much. Using a late spurt in the first half and then a more decisive second half, Martinsburg opened its weekend in the Friendly City with a 72-57 win against the Cadets, who finish at 8-3.

“I am really proud of my guys because we competed and battled,” Linsly coach Dave Wojcik said. “It is what it is. It’s a COVID season, but these guys stuck with it and I give them credit for that. We had some kids going to baseball, lacrosse and track, but then coming to basketball, and I really appreciated that. We battled and had a heck of a year. It’s amazing we only got 11 games in, but that’s kind of the number for many teams.”

Before the Cadets closed the book on the 2020-21 season, they gave Martinsburg, which will play Wheeling Park today, all it wanted for a quarter-and-a-half. However, the Bulldogs turned up the heat defensively in the second quarter to close the half with a flurry and stretched to a 28-21 lead.

“A big key is you have to take care of the ball and they turned us over too much,” Wojcik said. “You can’t have live-ball turnovers and they forced us into some. We missed a couple of free throws, too, which was a big swing.”

Linsly scored the first four points of the second half to get within three, but here came the Bulldogs with the pressure again. They outscored Linsly, 22-20 in the third to make it a 50-41 reading at the final stop.

Martinsburg scored 11 of the first 17 to begin the fourth to make it a 61-47 reading. The margin grew to as many as 19 twice in the final quarter.

“We had open shots, but give Martinsburg credit because they wore us down and got to us a little bit,” Wojcik pointed out. “We didn’t play smart in the second quarter and it got away from us. We took some quick shots, which led to run outs and the next thing you know, you’re down 10, having to scratch and fight back into the game.”

The Cadets were led in the scoring column by senior Max Washington, who went for 18 points and added 11 rebounds. Junior Raef Wykes finished with 17 points. Caleb Murray added eight.

Martinsburg was paced by Anthony Smith, who went for 21. Luke Fowler added 15 and Doryn Smith finished with 11.

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