Gallery by Tina Laney
White Sulphur Springs – Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson wasn’t concerned when his team trailed by seven points in the second half of its game against Cabell Midland on Friday, explaining his squad has produced a run in every game over the last four years.
Saturday the Tigers proved Olson right again, sprinkling in two runs.
Class AAA No. 1 Shady Spring used a 20-6 run in the second quarter and a 10-1 run in the third to bounce Class AAAA No. 2 Parkersburg South 87-69 in Colonial Hall at The Greenbrier, earning the Springhouse championship.
Trailing 27-24 after a pair of Cyrus Traugh free throws, the Tigers used their first run to establish a 44-33 advantage at the break.
That lead quickly shrunk when an 8-0 South charge in the first 90 seconds of the third quarter closed the gap to three but the Tigers were more than happy to answer with the difference making run, a 10-1 spurt, that ensured the advantage never fell below double digits the rest of the way.
“I really felt like we were starting to break their traps to score and we were sharing the heck out of the ball,” Olson said. “When that happens we start going downhill and we get a couple of steals and everyone knows that’s when the avalanche – that’s our calling card. We didn’t even have to turn them over in the full court. It led to easy baskets and open 3s and we started getting stops. Basketball’s a pretty simple sport. You get stops and score against a pretty doggone good team.
“Offense and defense equals wins but it’s not me. It’s them, every night. They were just so focused. They wanted to make a statement. We feel like they’re one of the best teams in the state but these guys still play with a chip on their shoulder and what I really liked is they wanted to win this game so the underclassmen could come back next year. Win this and you get to come back next year. The run came earlier than I thought though.”
Unbothered by Shady’s talent and physicality early, the Patriots executed their hyper-speed tempo offense, getting a 3 from Aiden Blake off the bat. Braden Chapman scored the next five points to give Shady an advantage before Traugh tied it at 5-5.
The Tigers eventually pushed their lead to 10-5 and led 19-18 after a quarter behind eight points from Chapman.
Blake reestablished order for South with a 3 and Austin Reeves netted a pair of free throws to make it a 23-19 contest in favor of South but the momentum visibly flipped shortly afterwards.
Reeves gave South its final lead of the night at 32-31 on a layup before Chapman nailed a pair of free throws to nab the advantage for good. A Cam Manns 3, Cole Chapman jumper and four points from Ammar Maxwell concluded a flurry that sent Shady into the locker room with a 44-33 advantage.
“I think early we were attacking the rim and getting to where we wanted to,” Parkersburg South head coach Mike Fallon said. “Then we were starting our offense a little further out and a little further out. Give credit to them. They’re as good as anybody in A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA as you’re going to see. They’re very physical and the thing was we gave up, I think 11 offensive rebounds in the first quarter. When you give a team like that that many extra possessions, they’re going to make you pay.”
South quickly slashed the lead when Nate Plotner converted a 3-point play, Aiden Blake nailed a 3 and Reeves added a layup but the cast of Braden Chapman, Manns, Maxwell and Jaedan Holstein proved too much to overcome in the final wave.
“They cut that in like 30 seconds,” Olson said. “That’s my fault. I probably should’ve been like ‘Look, they’re going to run a quick play’ and that was a good set out of the half. Then we turn it over on the press and they hit a 3. That was the biggest turning point in the game to me. They cut it to five and there was no panic, no push or anybody blaming each other. They were truly on the same page as a unit tonight. That shows a lot of maturity out of them. They worked a whole half to get that 11-point lead and just like that it dissipates and then we just kept going right back at them. Those are tough guys right there.”
Shady finished shooting 52 percent from the field, hitting at 64 percent inside the arc. South finished with a 39 percent field goal clip.
Leading the way for the Tigers was Braden Chapman with 27 points and 10 rebounds while Manns scored 25 on the heels of a 17-point outing Friday against Cabell Midland.
Blake led South with 18 points in the loss.
Shady (14-3) returns home Tuesday where it will host Independence.
SS: 19 25 20 23 – 87
PS: 18 15 18 18 – 69
Shady Spring
Braden Chapman 27, Sam Jordan 2, Ammar Maxwell 16, Cole Chapman 7, JAck Williams 6, Jaedan Holstein 4, Cam Manns 25
Parkersburg South
A. Reeves 12, C. Traugh 16, M. Jones 1, J. Smith 5, C. Jay 2, H. Silvis 8, N. Plotner 8, A. Blake 18
3-point goals – SS: 6 (C.Chapman 1, J. Williams 2, Manns 3) ; PS: 7 (Smith 1, Silvis 2, Blake 4)