Gallery by Karen Akers
A tropical beach theme ran through the Shady Spring student section Tuesday night.
On the hardwood for the boys basketball team it was more like The Wizard of Oz.
There was definitely “no place like home” for the high-powered Tigers.
Playing its first home game of the season, Shady Spring scored 25 first-quarter points and steamrolled Winfield 72-35 in front of a raucous crowd.
“This was definitely a homecoming. The boys were ecstatic and I know our whole community was excited,” Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson said. “You don’t realize sometimes how good it is to be home until you are gone for a while. I think we have one of the best home courts in the state. The kids fed off the crowd and we got back to Shady Spring basketball. It was great to see and I am proud of them.”
The Tigers had spent the early portion of the season on the road in Morgantown, Florida and Beckley before returning home.
Olson had a feeling before his team hit the floor Tuesday that it was going to be a special night.
“I know the pulse of my boys and I could feel the energy before the game,” Olson said. “I felt like we could jump on them early. We jumped on them hard and put them away.”
No stranger to fast starts, the Tigers stepped on the gas pedal and were off to the races.
Leading 4-2, Shady knocked down three straight triples predicated on the penetration from Braden Chapman.
After Jaedan Holstein cleaned up a missed layup with a put-back slam, the Tigers were rolling up 15-2.
By the time the first quarter horn sounded, Shady Spring had nailed six 3-pointers to lead 25-7.
“I think we were happy to be home, especially for us seniors. It was the last first home game (of the season) for us,” Braden Chapman said. “It was great to be home and have the fans out.”
On the road in a tough environment, it was not the start that the visitors had envisioned on the ride down.
“Give Shady credit. They are who we thought they were. They are strong, physical, quick and athletic,” Winfield head coach Travis Tarr said. “From my end of the spectrum, I think we played scared to start the game. Our kids didn’t show their talents tonight. They came in and got a little overwhelmed.”
The Generals finally got the water to calm in the second quarter outscoring the home team 10-6 to trail 31-17 at the break.
“We settled some and we missed seven layups in the first half,” Olson said about the second quarter. “That was seven buckets we could have had along with four or five bad shots that we had.”
Although the second quarter was not to their liking, the Tigers bounced back outscoring the Generals 17-5 in the third period with 16 of the points coming at point blank range.
“We were sharing the ball like crazy and playing defense. Second quarter we got a little stagnant, but it was a great first quarter,” Chapman said. “Shots don’t fall sometimes, so we felt we could get downhill for easy buckets or get to the foul line.”
Shady’s method of attack to open the second half caught the Generals a little bit by surprise.
“They started some curl action that we didn’t guard well. Obviously it was new action that they hadn’t run in the first half and caught us on our heels a little bit. That is on me,” Tarr said. “We just couldn’t get the ball in places that we like to play. We like to play in the paint and out.”
After the two teams traded 3-pointers to open the final quarter, Shady exploded for 16 straight points to take its biggest lead of the night at 67-25.
“We shared the ball a lot better and we ran our sets a lot better. We ran our break and got a lot of easy buckets. I thought the tempo was insane. That is the No. 7 AAA team in the state that just beat Logan, so this is a good win and we held them to 35 points,” Olson said. “I thought we just played good as a team. When we are playing defense like that and our shots are falling, it is really hard to beat us. Everything really came together tonight.”
While he wasn’t happy with the loss, Tuesday’s game was seen as another step in the learning process for the Generals.
“A lot of teams are physical and athletic in this game, but most teams don’t play at that speed and execute at that detail,” Tarr said. “You can tell coach Olson has a great group that he has had together for a lot of years. That is where we want to get to. At the end of the day, it was a good learning experience for us.”
The No. 2 ranked Tigers (7-3) have now won four games in a row and will host Class AAAA No. 4 Greenbrier East Friday night.
W: 7 10 5 13 – 35
SS: 25 6 17 24 – 72
Winfield
Cody Griffith 10, Jayce Miller 4, Ross Musick 3, Will Rice 13, Bryson Childers 2, Jaxson Cunningham 3.
Shady Spring
Braden Chapman 21, Ammar Maxwell 8, Ty Austin 3, Cole Chapman 16, Jack Williams 6, Jaedan Holstein 4, Khi Olson 2, Brady Johnston 2, Cam Manns 10.
