All-State Basketball: Lambert, Hairston and Gore all earn first-team honors in Class AA

The Irish won a state title, set new records and earned accolades on top of each other.

Senior Jayallen Turner and sophomore Zaden Ranson were recognized as members of the Class AA all-state first team.

Turner was tabbed captain of the eight-member team, finishing his prep basketball career as a three-time Class AA first-team selection.

He becomes the fifth Charleston Catholic player since 2000 selected as a first-team all-state captain, joining Aiden Satterfield, Nick George, Sam Wood and Bo King.

Charleston Catholic coach Hunter Moles anticipated Turner’s standout season.

“Jay is going to have a big year,” Moles said in a November interview. “He’s worked on his game a lot in the offseason. He’s going to impress people with his shooting from the outside. It was hard for me, as a coach, to tell the guy to shoot from the outside when I felt no one could stop him from getting to the rim.”

Moles was looking into the crystal ball clearly.

Turner finished his final season in Kelly green and white as Charleston Catholic’s all-time leading scorer with 1,670 points.

He averaged 20 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals per game this past season.

“He was constantly trying to step out of his comfort zone and do whatever it took to win,” Moles said of Turner. “He guarded the other team’s best player a lot of nights. Luckily, we had some other guys that could defend at a high level too, but sometimes we needed him to score a lot. We needed him to just play and create. He constantly worked on his game.”

Turner has not decided what the next step in his basketball journey holds.

However, Moles knows that whoever gets the state champion guard will get a good one.

“Whoever gets him is going to get a guy that is going to work hard,” Moles said. “He’s going to be a guy that gets in the gym during his free time. He’s a guy that likes to defend and isn’t going to talk back or cause any issues. He’s going to be a team-first guy. Obviously, his athleticism and skill is good, but the other little things [are] what college coaches like from him. He’s been fun to coach.”

Ranson stepped up in a significant way for the Irish.

His play often mimicked that of Dennis Rodman during his tenure in the NBA.

Ranson finished his sophomore season averaging 11 points and nine rebounds, including four offensive rebounds per game.

His tenacious play was on display during Charleston Catholic’s three state tournament games, in which he averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds per contest.

“I’m glad he’s getting the credit he deserves, because he is a huge piece to our team,” Moles said. “His rebounding is amazing. He just has the stuff you cannot teach. He’s the type of kid, when you start coaching a little harder, then he really embraces it and tries to step it up to the next level. He’s amazing and fun to coach. He just goes out there and outworks people a lot of times.”

Ranson has become a coach’s dream.

“He’ll do whatever it takes,” Moles said. “We always tell the guy that you don’t need a title to be a leader. Sometimes you think, as a sophomore, you can’t be a leader. He was pretty vocal in practice this year. I was glad to see that. We’re excited to see that type of play, because it’s contagious.”

Bluefield also supplied two first-team players. Seniors R.J. Hairston and Kamron Gore were selected for the second consecutive season. The duo led the Beavers back to the state title game where they fell to Turner and the Irish. Gore averaged 19.4 point per game while Hairston pitched in 17.6.

Williamstown junior Parker Schramm is a repeat selection after averaging 18.6 points per game this past year. Wyoming East’s Cole Lambert earned his first all-state nod as a senior, averaging 17.4 points per contest. Chapmanville’s Zion Blevins is the final repeat section of the remaining first-teamers. He led the Tigers back to the state tournament after averaging 19.1 points per game. Rounding out the first team is Ravenswood’s Beau Bennett, a senior who averaged 13 points per game during the team’s semifinal run.

Wheeling Central’s Quinton Burlenski is the captain of the second team. His Maroon Knight teammate Eli Sancomb also earned second-team honors.

Trinity’s Chayce Adams, Magnolia’s Hayden Pyles, Williamstown’s Cruz Isaly, Chapmanville’s Joey Gollihue, Summers County’s Brandan Isaac and Ritchie County’s Isaac Hodge all earned second team all-state honors.