Gallery by Heather Belcher
Oak Hill and Wyoming East waged some classic battles over the years when both schools were in Class AA.
The Red Devils have since moved to AAAA, but Saturday at the New River CTC Tournament, the two old rivals woke up the echoes inside the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
While the game did not fall in the classic category, the Red Devils were able to pull away in the third quarter for a 42-36 win over the Warriors.
A week removed from a disappointing performance against Beckley, Oak Hill head coach Benitez Jackson has been pleased with his team’s play since that loss.
“I think it may have been a wake-up call for them as far as doing things right. It may not be pretty all of the time and we may not run up the score, but we have to do things right for us to be competitive,” Jackson said. “I think we are getting better at that and our communication is getting better. We are stepping in front and keeping the ball out of the lane much better.”
Oak Hill led Wyoming East 21-20 at the break, but over the first 16 minutes of action, it was more about the Warriors struggling to make shots than the Oak Hill defense.
“In the first half we gave up a lot of shots, but we got lucky and they missed some of them,” Jackson said. “I thought Wyoming East ran really good offense in the first half.”
Shooting 40 percent from the field, East had several shots rattle in and out keeping it from building any type of advantage.
“We had a ton of good looks, but when those looks don’t go in, you have to stop shooting them and go to the bucket,” Brooks said. “I felt we forced several shots tonight. It was not a good performance tonight.”
Oak Hill made the necessary defensive adjustment at halftime and held the Warriors to nine points over the first 15 minutes of the second half.
“In the second half we made some adjustments. One of the adjustments we made was to take Lambert out of the game,” Jackson said. “We felt like everything they did went through him. We wanted to limit his touches and see if they could score without them.”
The Red Devils entered the contest limited somewhat on offense missing senior standout Ethan Vargo-Thomas who was nursing an injury.
“I think offensively we couldn’t run some of the things we wanted to run because he is a big part of our offense as far as creating shots,” Jackson said. “We had to rely more on Malachi (Lewis) and Omar (Lewis). I thought they did a good job taking care of the ball. Malachi hit some timely shots and Trevor (Kelly) played good.”
Kelly led Oak Hill with a double-double scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Malachi Lewis dropped in 15 points and had seven rebounds.
“Cole Legg did a really good job filling in for Ethan today. He did a really good job on Lambert in the second half,” Jackson said. “Then our other four guys really made their other guys work to get shots.”
Wyoming East scored the first two points of the second half to take its final lead of the night, but then the well ran dry for the Warriors.
The Warriors did not score again until the 5:32 mark of the fourth quarter on a transition bucket for Jackson Danielson.
During the scoring drought, Oak Hill scored 11 straight points to take a 32-22 lead that seemed much bigger with the limited scoring in the contest.
“We didn’t play good at all. We can’t guard anybody. We were giving up straight-line drives and then getting no help. That makes it easy for them to score,” Brooks said. “They didn’t score a lot of points, but it was key possessions down the stretch that we allowed easy buckets.”
The Red Devils defensive strategy in the second half was good enough to hold Lambert scoreless after he netted seven points in the opening.
“It hurt us a little bit here and there, but we have other players that can handle it, score and facilitate it. They just have to do it,” Brooks said. “(Defenses) look to find him, but we have preached that Cole is not the only one that can bring it up the floor. Cole is going to get harassed. They want to get it out of his hands.”
Garrett Mitchell led the Warriors with nine and Danielson had eight.
“I thought all of the guys that we played came in and did a good job. Jeremiah (Jackson) took some key charges and got some rebounds,” coach Jackson said. “He also helped on defense. We will take 36 points. I feel like our defense is getting better and hopefully that will continue.”
