Photo by Jay W. Bennett Magnolia’s Brayden Vargo (2) celebrates with teammate Kaden Johnson following Thursday’s Region 1 Co-Final win over Williamstown.

WILLIAMSTOWN — The Magnolia starting five played 32 minutes apiece and executed veteran head coach Dave Tallman’s game plan to near perfection Thursday evening as the Blue Eagles stunned Class AA defending state champion Williamstown, 40-32, in a Region I co-final.

Facing an 11-point deficit early in the second quarter, it was looking like the Blue Eagles might fall to the Yellowjackets like they did early in the season during an 88-53 road blowout. However, Hayden Pyles helped turn a 17-6 deficit into a 22-19 halftime lead by scoring 11 of his game-high 13 points in the period.

Brady Kocher, who went for eight points and six rebounds, gave the visitors the first bucket of the game, but Williamstown scored nine straight behind deuces from Dylan Ashley and Parker Schramm along with two Gavin Bosgraf foul shots and the first of three Payton Bunch 3s.

Things went from bad to worse in the third quarter for WHS head coach Scott Sauro’s club. The hosts missed all seven field goal attempts, which included six missed 3s. Bosgraf, the only senior aside from Seth Hammer, actually made it 24-21 at 4:48 of the second, but Kocher scored twice inside to help MHS forge a 28-21 lead entering the fourth.

An 11-2 run by the Yellowjackets (17-7) turned the momentum. Bunch opened the fourth with a trifecta. After a Schramm floater swished in, the ‘Jacket pressure forced consecutive turnovers which led to steals and layups by Alex Irvin and Hammer. Irvin’s driving high-kiss lay-in put the Blue Eagles in a 32-30 hole with 3:23 remaining.

The 10-14 Blue Eagles, who earned the No. 8 seed and will take on top-seeded Poca at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday in the state quarterfinals at the Charleston Coliseum, didn’t flinch. Johnson, who finished with eight points and a game-high eight rebounds while going 6 of 6 from the line, canned two freebies to tie it 10 seconds later.

Following a missed shot by WHS, the Blue Eagles were able to hold the ball until Johnson was fouled and put the visitors ahead for good after draining two more from the foul line. Bunch had a chance to tie it, but his shot was off the mark. After Williamson, who added 11 points, converted both ends of the 1-and-1 with 25.4 to go, the ‘Jackets proceeded to turn it over. That immediately led to a long Johnson to Williamson inbound pass for an easy layup. Pyles capped the scoring when he missed a 1-and-1, but got his own rebound and converted.

“We played pretty good out there,” said a smiling Pyles. “We had to slow them down a little bit and get better shot selections.” He added the key to the season was just “hard work. We were all excited, focused and ready to win the game.”

Despite just nine wins in the regular season, Johnson felt the Blue Eagles always had a shot to make the big dance.

“This means everything,” he said. “It means a lot. That’s what our plan was at the start of the year, to go to Charleston.

“I’m still shaken up that we won. It’s unbelievable, but we’re going to Charleston.”

Bunch led the hosts with nine points, Schramm had six while Ashley, Irvin and Bosgraf tallied four apiece.

“This is going to sting for a bit,” admitted coach Sauro. “I hate it for our two seniors who have been so great for us from a leadership standpoint and they are good basketball players for us.

“We are really going to miss Seth Hammer and Gavin Bosgraf. Those kids are awesome kids and I just hate that we couldn’t get down to the state tournament and finish their career on the Civic Center floor.”

In the regular season setback, Williamson led all scorers with 22 points, but all he cared about Thursday was cutting down the nets.

“We had to come in with a great mentality and we all did,” he said. “We all knew we could take them. The first game we played they hit every shot and we knew it couldn’t go the same way. We had a mission.

“Everyone stepped up and did what they were supposed to do to win the game. It’s amazing because my sophomore year when COVID hit they canceled it and we didn’t get to go. We knew we had to hold the ball and slow them down. They are a fast-paced team and we did the right thing.”

MHS shot 46.9% (15 of 32) while the hosts shot 35.3% (12 of 34). The Blue Eagles also held a commanding 26-14 edge on the glass as the ‘Jackets were limited to one shot nearly the entire game.

Even though the Blue Eagles have to play Poca next week, coach Tallman is just glad to have the opportunity and credited point guard Brayden Vargo, who didn’t score but had five boards and a game-high five assists.

“First of all, Scott Sauro and Williamstown, that’s a great basketball team,” Tallman stated. “You know, and we’ve just been working, I call it chipping away. That’s that golf term. Chipping away to try to get to their level and I’m so proud of my young team. We had three sophomores out there and Trevor Williamson has been fighting that Type 1 diabetes all year and he found some energy to do it. It’s just incredible what they did and Brayden Vargo had to play the smaller lineup and he did a nice job.”

Tallman used his final timeout with 3:13 left in the fourth after Johnson’s foul shots tied it.

“We didn’t sub at Ritchie either,” added the coach. “That’s only the third time in my career. I just didn’t feel like there was a time in the game to sub. We use our timeouts to sub. You just can’t give enough credit to Trevor Williamson. He’s had a really tough time and he hit the big shot two years ago (against St. Marys) to get us to Charleston. I think the basketball Gods might have shined down on this team for that reason.”