Gallery by Greg BarnettĀ
Princeton – Oak Hill fans were encouraged to come out last week for the final home game of the regular season against Nicholas County.
The main focus of the request was it would be the last game inside the Lilly Center before complete reconstruction of the gymnasium.
Friday night in the Class AAAA Region 3, Section 2 championship game, the Red Devils put those reconstruction plans on hold.
Three days removed from upsetting No. 1 seed Greenbrier East in Fairlea, No. 4 seed Oak Hill came to Mercer County and stunned No. 2 seed Princeton, 60-57.
By capturing the sectional title, Oak Hill will now host South Charleston Wednesday inside the Lilly Center in a Region 3 co-final.
The winner between the Red Devils and the Black Eagles will punch a ticket to the boys state tournament, March 13-18 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
“I am so happy for my kids and really proud of them. We played like crap in the third quarter, but I give (Princeton) all the credit. They made shots and they played hard,” Oak Hill head coach Benitez Jackson said. “They out-toughed us in the third quarter, but I thought my kids were resilient and hung in there. I think my kids really, really wanted to win.”
Although the two teams had split the two regular season match-ups, Princeton had beaten Oak Hill by 17 points at home.
That confidence seemed to show early when the Tigers jumped out to a 7-2 lead and led 20-14 early in the second quarter.
Then the combination of Oak Hill’s defense, missed shots and some untimely foul trouble for the Tigers turned the game in favor of the visitors.
Oak Hill scored 17 straight points, including two traditional 3-point plays, to take a 32-21 lead at the break.
As quick as the game turned in favor of Oak Hill, the momentum switched back to the Tigers just as quickly in the third quarter.
“I thought we got sped up a little bit and we just turned the ball over. We threw weak passes and we knew that was how they played. They go strong and come out after every pass,” Jackson said. “If you are not strong with the ball, they are going to take the ball from you. We just got away from what we talked about at practice and what we prepared for.”
Eleven points from Kris Joyce in the quarter and seven from Chase Hancock helped Princeton outscore Oak Hill 25-7 to take a 46-39 lead with just eight minutes to play.
“We came out after halftime, made an adjustment and obviously it worked pretty good,” Princeton head coach Robb Williams said. “They were killing us on the boards early, but overall they only beat us by four after we focused on it at halftime.”
Jackson admitted he expected Princeton to make a run, but he had hoped his team could weather it better than it did.
“We told our kids at halftime that good teams make runs. We knew the run was coming and what we had to do was shorten it,” Jackson said. “We didn’t do a very good job of shortening it, but when we had to make plays in the end, we hung in there, made shots and made plays.”
Still trailing by seven with just over six minutes to play, Malachi Lewis nailed a crucial basket before Cole Legg scored on a drive and was fouled.
Legg’s 3-point play and layup a minute later kept Oak Hill in the game and primed for the comeback.
“(Cole) is just a fighter and he made a couple of key layups. He plays like that everyday in practice,” Jackson said. “He knows what his abilities are and he does it really well.”
A pair of free-throws from Joyce moved the lead back to four with 1:55 to play, but Oak Hill refused to fold up.
A base-line jumper from Trevor Kelly, who returned after going down with an ankle injury early in the third quarter, cut the lead in half.
With the clock ticking inside one minute to play, Ethan Vargo-Thomas drilled a 3-ball to give Oak Hill a 56-55 lead.
A pair of free-throws from Joyce flipped the lead again, but when Lewis drove hard to the basket and was fouled, his two charity shots gave Oak Hill the lead for good.
“That is what (Malachi) does. We talk about it all the time that nothing seems to get him excited. He moves at the same pace a lot of times, but when we have won some big games during the year, he has been the key for us,” Jackson said. “He can do that at anytime, but now he is doing it more consistently.”
A good corner look by Princeton went awry and the Tigers were forced to foul Lewis who once again canned two big free-throws for the final margin.
Princeton had one final look at a 3-pointer, but the shot did not fall.
“We had our opportunities, but we didn’t finish well and we missed some open shots. The fact was our man-to-man defense was sub-par. They got to the hoop too easy,” Williams said. “We work on that everyday. (Oak Hill) shot 55 percent from the field. At this time of year, when you allow a team to shoot 55 percent, you can’t beat them. Teams are too good.”
Jackson was happy to get out of Mercer County with a win and talked about his strategy on the final two Princeton possessions.
“Princeton is a good team. We were fortunate they missed an open 3,” Jackson said. “We didn’t want them to drive because they had been driving us hard to the basket all night. If they beat us with a 3, they just beat us.”
Kelly led the Red Devils with 17 points and Lewis ended with 15, including nine in the final period.
“Kelly is just a bad matchup for us. He is big and can shoot the ball. He is hard to guard and they run a lot screens for him,” Williams said. “(We) were on him a couple of times and he just shot it in (our) face. We played pretty good defense on him a lot of times, but he would just shoot over you.”
Joyce led all scorers with 19 and Hancock scored 16 for Princeton.
Both teams advance to the regional round next Wednesday. Oak Hill will host South Charleston, while Princeton will travel to George Washington.
“We knew going in as a four-seed that it was going to be a challenge. We beat Princeton during the year and we beat Greenbrier East throughout the year. We knew we could play with them if we played well,” Jackson said. “We knew it would be a challenge playing on someone else’s court, but I never thought we were out-matched by anybody. If we aren’t turning the ball over, we play good defense and rebound, I don’t think we are out-matched by anybody.”
OH: 12 20 7 21 – 60
P: 15 6 25 11 – 57
Oak Hill
Omar Lewis 6, Malachi Lewis 15, Cole Legg 5, Ethan Vargo-Thomas 11, Chance Minor 4, Jeremiah Jackson 2, Trevor Kelly 17. Totals: 21 15-18 60.
Princeton
Nic Fleming 4, Gavin Stover 2. Chase Hancock 16, E.J. Washington 11, Reed Thomas 11, Kris Joyce 19, Koen Sartin 5. Totals: 25 9-15 57.