photo by: Kristin Mazgaj

Wheeling Central’s Eli Sancomb goes in for a shot attempt against the defense of Monroe Central during the two teams’ OVAC 3A championship game. Sancomb and the Knights will face Ritchie County on Tuesady at 1 p.m. in the WVSSAC Class AA boys basketball state quarterfinals.

CHARLESTON – The Wheeling Central Maroon Knights are back in the championship hunt.

After making it to the Class AA state semifinals last year, Wheeling Central is back in the WVSSAC boys basketball state tournament, the two-seeded Maroon Knights (21-2) taking on No. 7 Ritchie County (17-7) in a 1 p.m. standoff involving two of the top players in the tournament.

The Knights departed for Charleston on Monday, and hope that their stay in the capital city is a long one.

“They’re excited,” Wheeling head coach Mel Stephens said of his team Monday. “You have your returning guys but you always have guys who have never experienced it before. For all of them though, it’s an exciting time, one of those things that you remember the rest of your life.”

Wheeling Central and Ritchie County have not seen each other this year, their last matchup going back to last season’s postseason.

“We played them last year in the regional final and beat them by 12,” Stephens said. “They lost a couple guys but they have their main guys returning.

“They’re 17-7, they’ve won I think 10 of their last 11, they’re on a roll and they’re a good team.”

Wheeling Central is on a nine-game winning streak in their own right, and are led by standout wing Eli Sancomb, who has been dominant in his junior campaign with averages of 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game. He set a school record for points in a game this season with 47 points.

Last year, Sancomb hustled back from a wrist injury to play in the state tournament. This year, he’s injury-free heading into Tuesday.

“He did a heck of a job last year, just rehabbing so he could get back for those games down there,” Stephens said. “But this year- he’s had a couple bumps with a little bit of flu-type stuff, but he’s 100% right now and he’s excited about the chance to go down there at 100% and show people what he can do. That definitely makes our whole team excited.”

Across the Maroon roster, Max Olejasz is averaging close to 10 points and over six rebounds per game, while Tyler Dean is averaging nine and Luke Sancomb seven points per game.

Stephens thinks his team is operating at peak capacity going into the tourney.

“That’s always our goal, is to get a little bit better every day,” Stephens said. “At the beginning of the season, with Luke Sancomb on the shelf, that kind of set us back a little bit as far as him being able to play. Once he got back into the mix, we have a pretty rotation now of eight or nine guys. We feel pretty good, we feel like we’re playing our best basketball now and in March that’s what you want to be doing.”

Ritchie County has a stat-stuffer of their own in junior Isaac Hodges, who enters Tuesday averaging over 23 points and 11 rebounds per game. He’ll be a high priority for Wheeling Central in a field of Class AA teams that will each have their problems to pose to opponents.

“You look at it from top to bottom, [Class AA]’s probably going to be the most competitive class that’s down there,” Stephens said. “There’s some really good teams- obviously Williamstown, and there’s WestSide, Wyoming East, Logan, all of those teams are capable of winning the state championship. For us, when the seedings came out, you look at that and there’s really no easy games.

“I kind of like the position we’re in as far as game times- it’s tough when you’re playing those later games in the day where you have to wait around to go out and play. For us, I think the scheduling would line up pretty good- one o’clock tomorrow, then if we’re fortunate enough to win that one, we’d play 11:15 on Thursday, then if we’re fortunate enough to win that one you’re playing for the championship at 10 a.m. I don’t think time-wise, it could line up any better than what we’d potentially have.”

Tuesday will be the first sign of if it is the Knights’ time.