Charleston – Two weeks ago South Charleston knocked off longtime rival George Washington for the sectional championship. Thursday night the Black Eagles doubled down on the Patriots in the quarterfinals round of the state tournament. Getting 25 points from Duane Harris and 17 from Bryson Smith, South Charleston defeated George Washington 53-49.
“That was a typical South Charleston and GW game. I figured they weren’t going to go away,” South Charleston head coach Josh Daniel said. “I thought our kids competed their tails off tonight. They made some plays down the stretch to keep it close and I thought we responded well by making just enough free-throws down the stretch. Super proud of our kids. Our defense was really, really good tonight.”
After an even first quarter, the Black Eagles held a 27-22 lead at halftime. With South Charleston leading by five with 3:49 to play, the scoring dried up for both teams for the next 2:39.
Free throws broke the drought as the Black Eagles pushed the lead out to nine with 54 seconds to play.
A Zane McCarty 3-pointer snapped a three minute drought for GW before triples from Hunter Castleberry and Ben Nicol trimmed the lead to three points with nine seconds to play.
A free throw from Harris sealed the game, sending South Charleston to Friday’s semifinal matchup with top-seeded Morgantown at 5:30 p.m.
Mondrell Dean added seven points and had nine rebounds for the Black Eagles. Hunter Castleberry led the Patriots with 17.
“Congratulations to South Charleston. I thought Josh and his staff had the kids ready to go. I thought they played really well,” George Washington head coach Rick Greene said. “Smith had a great night hitting those 3’s. I thought Smith hitting the big shots and South Charleston’s defense was the difference.”
