Gallery by Karen Akers
Shady Spring’s penultimate win of 2021 was a 56-43 victory over Cabell Midland inside the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
After adverse weather conditions canceled their Friday night contest, but the Tigers opened 2022 with a rematch against the Knights in the New River CTC Invitational in the same building.
Different year, same result.
Outscoring Midland 17-7 in the third quarter, Shady Spring made it two in a row over the Knights with a 73-61 win.
“It was a tough game to get up for I felt personally. I think you could kinda see it the way we came out,” Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson said. “That is a good team and if you don’t come to play, they will beat you. Playing the same team twice in one week and not getting to play yesterday to break up the monotony hurt us a little bit, but we challenged them at halftime.”
The visitors gave Shady all it wanted in the opening half behind 19 points from all-stater Chandler Schmidt.
“Schmidt a good player and he looked like an NBA player out there. Those were some tough shots,” Olson said. “I felt like we weren’t making him uncomfortable though. Just because were guarding him up top didn’t mean we were getting in him. I know he is a great football player, but he sure can play basketball too. He made it tough on us.”
A big reason that the Knights hung tough with Shady early on was the ability of Midland’s supporting cast to compliment its star player.
That all changed in the third quarter.
“The second half was a great defensive effort. We changed the defenses and some different things, plus we did a good job of executing,” Olson said. “We mixed in some 1-3-1 that seemed to confuse them a little bit and made it tough on them scoring. The game was won in the third quarter.”
Leading by two at the break, Shady opened the third quarter on a 13-3 run over the first five minutes.
A fast-break bucket by Cole Chapman off an assist from Braden Chapman was followed by a bucket from Ammar Maxwell to ignite the run.
A key stick back from junior big man Jaedan Holstein energized the Tigers after a couple of missed opportunities to score.
“How many big buckets did he make with tip-ins and follow-ups? He just has a knack for the ball,” Olson said. “That is why you never see me take him out of the ball game unless he is in foul trouble. He means that much to the team. Jaedan is just so active and active players in any sport are going to make good plays. Jaedan is always moving.”
Sam Jordan dropped in a deuce on the next possession before Braden Chapman drilled a 3-ball in transition to cap the run.
“I thought we did good in the first half executing the stuff that we worked on and then coming out in the third quarter we were like 2-for-13,” Midland head coach J.J. Martin said. “We started playing one-on-one. I didn’t think we did the things that we were doing well in the first half and (Shady) played well.”
Shady’s biggest lead of the game was 18 points in the final quarter.
Holstein and the Chapman brothers combined for 36 points, but even more important for the Tigers was the 32 points combined from Maxwell, Jordan and Cam Manns, the latter of whom buried three triples.
“Sam is another one that we looked at stepping up for us with Jack (Williams) going down. Ammar didn’t have a huge night, but has played well the last two games. We can do it all by committee along with Cam as well,” Olson said. “We know what we will get from Braden, Cole and Jaedan, If the other three can play that role and we defend at a high rate, we will be hard to beat.”
Schmidt was the bright spot for the Cabell Midland scoring 43 points to keep the Knights at arms reach.
“We just wanted to get a win. I thought Shady did a good job of putting us away there in the third quarter. We kinda dulled out,” Martin said. “He can’t be the only guy carrying the load. I thought in the first half we played well and everybody was sharing the ball. We just had a terrible third quarter and wasn’t running the offense.”
SS: 14 20 17 22 – 73
CM: 15 18 7 21 – 61
Shady Spring
Braden Chapman 10, Cole Chapman 15, Jaedan Holstein 11, Cameron Manns 15, Ammar Maxwell 9, Sam Jordan 8, Gavin Davis 2, Khi Olsen 3. Totals: 31 2-4 73.
Cabell Midland
Chandler Schmidt 43, Dominic Schmidt 5, Kyle Frost 9, Tevin Taylor 2, Jack Eastone 2. Totals: 24 5-6 61
3-pointers – SS: 9 (B. Chapman 2, C. Chapman3, Manns 3); CM: 8 (C. Schmidt 6, D. Schmidt, Frost).
