Charleston – After falling in last year’s championship game to George Washington, top-seeded Morgantown wanted to dodge the same fate against No. 3 seed Parkersburg South.
Although Morgantown struggled shooting the basketball, its defense was up to the task in a 56-53 win over the Patriots Saturday night in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
“Lets give Parkersburg South a ton of credit. Those kids played their guts out. They are a heck of a team and heck of a program,” Morgantown head coach Dave Tallman said. I have all the respect in the world for them, but (my) guys refused to lose. I can’t be more proud of group of men than (the ones) sitting right here in front of me.”
Morgantown raced out to a 28-16 lead at halftime with strong play inside the arc. While the Mohigans were shooting 52 percent in the first half, South could only make five baskets over the first 16 minutes.
The Patriots also struggled from deep, missing all 10 first half attempts, but were able cut the lead to nine after three quarters.
The Mohigans were also 0-10 from deep before Sha’Ron Young drilled a long ball to put the Mohigans back up 10 with just over five minutes to play in the game.
It was the only triple made by Morgantown all night.
South refused to go away and trimmed the lead back to five points with 2:29 to play on an Alex Mooney 3-pointer.
Young’s floater pushed the lead back to seven points, but a pair of free throws by South restored the five-point deficit.
Forced to extend the game, South sent Morgantown to the line for the 1-plus-1 with 45.6 seconds to play.
Senior Alec Poland rolled in both attempts before a tip-in from Caleb Schaffer made it 54-49 with 37.9 seconds on the game clock.
South’s Devin Hershberger intercepted the ensuing in-bounds pass and hit Mooney for a lay-up with 30.8. left
After surviving a miss off another turnover, Morgantown missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Mooney was then fouled on his drive to the basket and made both free-throws with just over 10 seconds to play.
A pair of free-throws from Brody Davis with 11.3 seconds remaining put Morgantown up 56-53, but South had one more chance to send the game to overtime.
Young secured the win for the Mohigans with a steal before South could get off an attempt for the tying shot.
“We have been working on our defense all year. We didn’t execute much of anything on offense,” Tallman said. We didn’t execute down the stretch very well and we didn’t make shots. Sha-Ron was in foul trouble and hardly played in the first half, but our defense won this game.”
Young finished with 16, while Davis and Brooks Gage scored 12 each. Mooney led South with 23 points.
“This one stings bad. When your kids hurt, you hurt,” Parkersburg South head coach Mike Fallon said. “What an effort to come back the way we did. We could have rolled over, but the ball didn’t bounce our way tonight. When it’s not your night, it’s not your night. I think the first quarter bit us. We were 1-for-9 from the floor and had some looks. In a one possession game, if one of those 3’s goes down or a ball bounces our way, just anything.”
South Charleston was awarded the school spirit award.
The All-Tournament team included Jamari Jenkins (Jefferson), Duane Harris (South Charleston), Cyrus Traugh (Parkersburg South), Alec Poland (Morgantown), Dominic Schmidt (Cabell Midland), Brooks Gage (Morgantown), Ashton Mooney (Parkersburg South), Sha-Ron Young (Morgantown).
Class AAAA All Tournament
Jamari Jenkins, Jefferson
Wayne Harris, South Charleston
Cyrus Traugh, Parkersburg South
Alec Poland, Morgantown
Dominic Schmidt, Cabell Midland
Brooks Gage, Morgantown
Ashton Mooney, Parkersburg South
Sha-Ron Young, Morgantown #wvprepbb pic.twitter.com/CGbEOKJfBf— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) March 20, 2022
