Prep Basketball: Tigers Tame Wildcats in Clash of Class AAA Titans

Shady Spring – Ronnie Olson had the word “Champions” circled on the whiteboard before Saturday’s game against Logan.

The Shady Spring head coach took the team’s No. 2 ranking, and at times No. 3 ranking, in state polls throughout the season as a sign of disrespect for the defending Class AAA champions.

Respect earned.

The No. 2 Tigers outscored No. 1 Logan 21-8 in the third quarter and nursed a comfortable double-digit lead throughout the fourth, handing the Wildcats a 69-50 loss Saturday in Shady Spring.

In a rematch of a Dec. 17 showdown between the two teams, a 57-49 Wildcat win at Logan, the third quarter again proved crucial. The second half has belonged to Logan all season, something the Tigers witnessed as they saw their halftime lead evaporate in December’s loss.

That wasn’t lost on the Shady.

“I think it started in the locker room and I think it started with our leadership and it started with Cole (Chapman),” Olson said. “When we talked about at it halftime, I don’t just want them to listen to me but he said that’s where they got us at. They got us in that in that third quarter. Let’s be the one to throw that first punch. We were aware of that. They’re very heady. My kids have a high basketball IQ. They’re aware of what’s going on.

“I don’t have to sit there and draw on the board that the third quarter’s when they got us. They won the game in the third quarter. I thought we played good enough defense to blow them out in the first, but they played just as good of defense as us. I will say my team is the best defensive team in the state – I stand by that, but Logan is right there with us. I’ll take my guys because they’re my guys but they’re a great defensive team as well. When our shots start falling and we get into transition there aren’t a lot of teams that can play with us.”

Needing contributions from players not named Jaedan Holstein and Braden Chapman – the only two to score more than four points in the December meeting of the two teams – the Tigers got just that. A pair of offensive rebounds led to a layup for Cameron Manns, who scored six of the Tigers’ first 10 points, helping them to a 10-4 advantage early.

A three-point play from Jackson Tackett and a bucket from Jaxon Cogar slashed the deficit to a point but Cole Chapman, who was held to two points in December, erupted for eight straight for Shady, canning a pair of 3-pointers. His outburst staked Shady to an 18-11 lead after one but the offense went cold.

The first Shady points of the second quarter didn’t come until the 3:08 mark but defense preserved the hosts’ lead until Holstein broke the dry spell.

The rest of the half was back-and-forth with Shady leading 22-19.

Then the third quarter happened.

Logan trimmed the deficit to 22-21 on a Scotty Browning bucket but a 3 from Manns pushed it back to four.

The teams traded buckets before a Braden Chapman layup made it a six-point contest. Afterwards it was all Shady.

Layups from Holstein and Ammar Maxwell pushed the lead to double figures and Manns topped the spurt with a layup to push it to 12. Tackett answered immediately but Manns erased all doubt with a 3-pointer on his next trip down the court.

“It left a bad taste in our mouths getting beat down there,” Manns said. “We were ready to come in. We really didn’t want to play against Princeton (Thursday) and it showed and we came in here and got the job done. We beat them by 20 and that’s a good feeling. It goes to show we’re the best team in the state.”

When the dust cleared the hosts held a 43-27 advantage after three, distancing themselves with a stellar defensive effort. They limited Logan to 18 percent shooting in the quarter (3 of 17) while converting on 53 percent of their attempts (9 of 17).

“We missed a lot of easy shots – a lot of open shots which ultimately led to runouts and layups for them,” Logan coach Zach Green said. “A lot of things we need to work on going forward but all the credit to them. They took away a lot from us. Defensively they did a heckuva job on our guards and really made things tough on us.”

The Wildcats trimmed the deficit to 12 early in the fourth but six straight from Holstein pushed the advantage to 18. The junior center added another chapter to his stellar season, finishing with 16 points and 15 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive glass.

As a team the Tigers out-rebounded Logan 41-29, pulling down more offensive rebounds (18) than Logan did on the defensive glass (17).

“That was two big things we talked about before this game and the other game,” Green said. “You can’t turn the ball over against them and and you have to rebound it. You’re going to give them 10, 15 extra possessions a game and against a team that good you can’t give away that many possessions. We gave away a bunch of possessions tonight on the rebounds and turnovers. We can’t beat them doing that. We’ve got some things we need to work on and we were really bad in our offensive sets tonight. We’ve got some things we need to fix with that but we’ve played like 10 games in 14 days. We’re tired. We’re going to have some time over the next two weeks to break things down.”

With both teams ranked at the top of Class AAA, a third meeting in the state tournament wasn’t ruled out by Green after the game.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Green said. “I really hope that’s it. If we both make it I think we’re probably going to be one and two so we probably won’t meet until the championship game and I’ll take that all day. I’ll take my matchup with them in the state championship all day.”

Five different Tigers scored in double figures, led by Manns’ 18 points. Tackett, the only Wildcat to score in double figures, paced Logan with 18 points and seven rebounds.

Shady improves to 18-1 and will close out the regular season at Nicholas County on Tuesday. Logan drops to 18-2 and will travel to Mingo Central on Monday.

Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94

Final
No. 2 Shady Spring 69, No. 1 Logan 50
Holstein with a monster showing – 16 points and 15 rebounds #wvprepbb pic.twitter.com/XQa5MiXaeM

— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) February 19, 2022