New Richmond – The feeling of state tournament basketball was in the air Friday night at the War Zone.
The 2002 Wyoming East state championship team was honored at halftime and on the floor, the game had a true state tournament feel.
Seeing a 19-point first half lead dwindle to a one-point deficit inside two minutes to play, the Warriors gutted out a wild 66-60 win over regional foe Chapmanville in overtime.
“It was a good win for us. It got a bit scary there at the end,” Wyoming East head coach Derek Brooks said. “I thought we should have cruised in the second half because we played well enough early. We let them go on a couple of big spurts there at the end of each half, but I think we were tired. I only played six guys tonight and we played last night.”
The Tigers scored the first basket of the game before Wyoming East took control scoring 15 straight points.
With a 1:31 to play in the half, the Warriors led 29-10, but some loose play down the stretch gave Chapmanville life.
Eight points in a row by the visitors made it a 29-18 game at halftime.
“I thought Wyoming East was really good in the first half. They came out ready to play. They were executing and pretty much whipped our tail in every way that you can,” Chapmanville head coach Brad Napier said. “For whatever reason, we started really slow and Brody (Dalton) got in foul trouble. That slowed us down the whole game and we couldn’t get in a flow.”
The lead was 12 points going to the final quarter, but the pressure from the Tigers was forcing the game into a faster pace.
“I didn’t like our effort in the first half, honestly,” Napier said. “We kind of dug in and finally played with some effort and enthusiasm and we had some shots fall in the fourth quarter. In the first half, even when we got good good looks, we missed it. We just didn’t shoot the ball well at all. A lot of it was them, they did a good job guarding.”
A 3-pointer from Sam Leslie cut the lead inside double digits for the first time since the opening quarter.
Jacob Howard scored to push the lead back to 11 points before the pressure by Chapmanville changed the game.
An elbow jumper from Zion Blevins and three straight Wyoming East turnovers were part of an 11-0 run by the Tigers to tie the game at 44 apiece.
A free throw from Chandler Johnson gave the lead back to East, but two charity tosses from Devon Workman gave Chapmanville a 46-45 advantage with 1:54 to play.
After the teams traded baskets, East set up a play trying to get the ball to Tanner Whitten. When that didn’t work out, Garrett Mitchell forced his way hard to the rim for the go-ahead score.
“You could see it in his eyes that he wanted it. Even on the defensive boards, Garrett was flying in there to get the ball,” Brooks said. “You could tell he wanted to win that game. He scored when we had to have it. We were trying to get it to Whitten, but he just took over.”
On the next possession, Chapmanville attacked the basket, but turned the ball over and was forced to foul.
Sophomore Cole Lambert canned the two free throws with 9.7 seconds before Chapmanville made one last push.
With the clock ticking down, Zion Blevins drilled a 3-pointer for the tie just before the horn sounded.
“We always preach that we have to finish out the half. I am proud of the fight in them though. We gave up the big lead, but (Chapmanville) took it. We had to come back and get it just to make it to overtime. Then we made some free throws down the stretch,” Brooks said.
The teams traded a pair of free throws and a pair of 3-pointers before Mitchell knocked in his third triple of the night to give East the lead for good.
Mitchell finished with 20 points as did the young sophomore point guard Lambert who played well above his age all night.
“I have really been satisfied with Cole’s play all year,” Brooks said. “Sure, he is going to have a turnover here or there, but he has the ball in his hands basically all the time. He has handled it well as a sophomore.”
Blevins led the Tigers with 24, while Workman scored 18. The Tigers had to play the overtime period without Workman who fouled out at the end of regulation.
“It did hurt us,” Napier said of losing his point guard. “He was playing really good tonight and he had carried us offensively for awhile. We struggled shooting, but Wyoming East played great defense.”
The two teams will match up again Tuesday, this time in Chapmanville.
“I think both of us have solid teams. I think both of us can make deep runs come tournament time if things play out right,” Napier said. “Hopefully we come to play in the first half next week.”
C: 2 16 8 25 9 – 60
WE: 15 14 9 13 15 -66
Chapmanville
Brody Dalton 8, Zion Blevins 24, Colton Craddock 2, Devon Workman 18, Sam Leslie 5, Drew Berry 3. Totals: 21 13-14 60
Wyoming East
Tanner Whitten 9, Garrett Mitchell 20, Chandler Johnson 7, Cole Lambert 20, Tucker Cook 3, Jacob Howard 7. Totals: 23 15-24 66
3-pointers – C: 5 (Blevins 2, Workman Leslie, Berry); WE: 5 (Whitten, Mitchell 3, Cook).