Trending
By KYLE LUTZ
CHARLESTON --When Wheeling Central made the transition to Class AAA in basketball, the goals remained the same.
The Maroon Knights also made it to the final day of the season. Unfortunately, they came just short of cutting down the nets. Shady Spring ended the first half on a 10-3 run and scored the first six points of the second half to secure a 55-43 victory over Central in the West Virginia Class AAA state championship Saturday at the Charleston Coliseum.
"We knew coming in Shady Spring was very good," Wheeling Central coach Mel Stephens said. "I thought we had a pretty good game plan, and it was pretty effective in the first half. I thought we kind of slowed them down a little bit. They made that little run at the end of the first half to cut it to one. Then they came out of the gate in the third quarter and ripped off six straight to take the lead and we never seemed to recover from that."
The Maroon Knights boasted a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, after a Todd Duncan tip-in to put the score at 12-11, Wheeling Central went on a 7-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the game.
Leyton Toepfer's 3-pointer with 4:31 to go in the first half put the score at 19-11.
That's when the Tigers made their run. Braden Chapman started and ended the spurt with a 3-pointer. His long-range ball with 45 seconds remaining put the score at 22-21 in favor of Wheeling Central at the half.
"They are very efficient at shooting the ball and very efficient at driving the ball to the basket," Stephens said. "Our feeling was we couldn't help out too many guys to try and stop the dribblers. It was imperative that the guy guarding the ball had to try and control that dribbler. When we weren't able to do that, they were able to get some easy buckets and once that starts, you are concerned with trying to control that guy and then they start knocking down some long ones."
Cameron Manns started the second half for the Tigers with a conventional 3-point play. The foul was called on J.C. Maxwell, his third of the game. He then picked up his fourth with 2:19 remaining in the third.
However, even with Central's senior leader on the bench, the Maroon Knights kept it tight for the remainder of the quarter.
A pair of free throws by Ryan Reasbeck tied the game at 34-34 after Central was down by six earlier in the quarter (28-22 with 5:07 remaining). However, Central couldn't get over the hump.
Cole Chapman's conventional 3-point play with a second left in the third gave Shady Spring the lead for good.
"It was frustrating," Maxwell said about picking up his fourth foul. "But I have confidence in these guys. I tried to do my part and keep the energy on the bench high. I thought they played pretty well while I was out, and I was just eager to get back in. Thankfully the coaches trusted me to go in early fourth."
Unfortunately, Wheeling Central only scored nine points in the fourth quarter.
Reasbeck's 3-pointer with 6:37 to go made it 39-37, but that was as close as the Maroon Knights would get the rest of the way.
The Tigers went on a 10-2 run to take the first double digit lead of the game.
Braden Chapman led the way for the Tigers with 14 points while Cole Chapman and Todd Duncan each had 12 points.
For the Maroon Knights, Reasbeck led the way with 17 points while Maxwell netted 14.
All five players made the All-Tournament Team.
Drew Keckley (Hampshire), Seth Shilot (Winfield) and Bryson Lucas (Robert C. Byrd) also made the team.,
"That right there was a true reflection of our season," Shady Spring coach Ronnie Olson said. "We can do it either way. We can grind you out or we can get it up and down the floor shoot 3s. To end the game like that, to win it on the defensive end like that and with Todd (Duncan) going down was just amazing. I think it's a true reflection of us."