Gallery by Tina Laney
Charleston – Shady Spring boys basketball coach Ronnie Olson stated his 2023-24 squad was on a mission to forge its own history at the state tournament.
The Tigers took step one on Thursday afternoon.
Fighting off a sluggish start, Class AAA No. 2 Shady Spring pulled away in the second half to knockout No. 7 North Marion 52-30 in the Class AAA quarterfinals at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The Tigers will play No. 3 Nitro Thursday morning at 11:15 a.m. in the semifinals.
“What a great win by these guys. They are forging their own path in the history of Shady Spring (basketball),” Olson said. “I am very proud of them because that state tournament win is very elusive, anytime, let alone your first round game. They were laser-sharp focused from beginning to the end. I don’t care if it is one (point) or 20, I am proud of them.”
After graduating a decorated group of seniors last year that had played in three straight championship games, the lone returner which played multiple minutes in those games was senior Ammar Maxwell.
Maxwell was in full-out beast mode Tuesday, especially in the second half.
Limited with a pair of first-half fouls, the senior all-stater immediately made his presence known with two buckets to open the third period.
The 19-14 advantage at the break quickly ballooned to nine before a quick timeout by Huskies head coach Steven Harbert.
Caden Morris nailed a 3-ball out of the timeout for North Marion only to see Jack Williams and Maxwell score on back-to-back buckets.
Before the third quarter ended, Maxwell had scored five more points, Jalon Bailey had added a pair of buckets and Braedy Johnston cashed in on a layup to build a 36-21 lead.
“I thought we played pretty well in the first half. It was the same book, second chapter. We did that two years ago against them,” Harbert said. “We knew they were going to come out and turn it up in the second half. I thought our physicality was pretty good. I thought we guarded and rebounded exceptionally well in the first half.”
Seven of the 17 points scored by the Tigers in the third came off of turnovers. For the game, the Raleigh County lads forced 22 turnovers that turned into 22 points.
“We played a lot of guys, just to try and stay fresh. Second half we had some unforced turnovers. Now, credit to them, they took us out of some of our half court stuff, but we had some travels and some unforced stuff,” Harbert said. “Good defensive teams not only wear you down mentally, they wear you down physically. Some of that stuff took place. We didn’t rebound the ball as well in the second half, but they also made some shots.”
After the first two quarters, the Huskies held a 16-9 edge in rebounding. By the end of the day, Shady had a 25-22 edge on the boards.
Olson stated he made no big changes at halftime in regards to the rebounding deficit.
“We just felt like we didn’t do a good job of hitting the offensive glass in the first half,” Olson said. “We just reiterated it. Hit the glass guys, we are a good offensive rebounding team.”
Dylan Higgins scored the first basket of the final quarter for North Marion before Maxwell drilled a 3-pointer, followed by five straight points from Bailey to push the lead over 20 points.
Maxwell ended the night making 10 of his 14 shots, while canning all three long ball attempts.
“If you noticed when he made those (3-point) shots, I smiled,” Harbert said. “The scouting report is let him shoot it from outside. His danger is when he gets downhill. We knew they were going to run that weave to get him and Jack downhill. I thought we did a good job on that stuff.”
“We were willing to give up that 3-point shot to him,” Harbert continued. “He knocked them down. In a big game that is what your supposed to do. Credit to him. Credit our guys, for the first half in particular, we did a good job. In the second half, he did a good job of getting downhill, creating for his team and forcing us to foul. He did a good job.”
Olson was not surprised to see the ball go in from behind the arc Tuesday.
“Ammar is a selfless (young man),” Olson said. “He has played a lot inside for us this year. If anybody has followed our program over the last four years, Ammar was exclusively a 3-point shooter. I would try to get him off the line and try to get him to drive and try to get him to post up. Ammar had big numbers his freshman and sophomore years. He spaced the floor for us down here in the state championship game.”
“He takes what the defense gives him” Olson went on to say. “He forced nothing tonight. There was not one shot that he forced. When (we) need a big shot, what does your best players do? They step-up. That is what he did. I am proud of his maturation. I am proud that he came to play on both ends of the floor. We knew we needed every single bucket from him because of the type of game that it was.”
For the senior standout, it was about helping the team get to the next round.
“Honestly, I just go out there and do me. I do what I need to do for my team,” Maxwell said. “I know what our goal is and I know what we need to do. I just go out their and play my own game and contribute to my team.”
While the offense was finding its rhythm, Shady was grinding the Huskies defensively, not allowing them to score in double-digits in any quarter.
“They were taking everything away. We were trying to run sets to get the ball inside. We want the ball inside. They did a good job of fronting the post and helping backside,” Harbert said. “We wanted to get into their bench a little bit and really wanted to get Maxwell off the floor. He is susceptible to foul trouble, but they were able to keep him on the floor. They are just really good defensively. They help well and recover. That is what a good defensive team does.”
Olson has made defense the foundation of his Shady Spring teams and was pleased with the effort in the opening round game.
“You come down here and you know it is going to be like that,” Olson said. “You just have to keep playing because you know you are not shoot bad for four quarters. I was proud of their mental focus.”