New Richmond – A five-year state tournament drought can seem like an eternity in basketball-crazy Wyoming County.
Thursday night the Wyoming East boys put an end to that excruciating dry spell.
Riding big quarters from their two top guns, Tanner Whitten and Garrett Mitchell, the Warriors punched their ticket to Charleston with a 61-44 win over Liberty in their Region 3 co-final battle.
“I am just glad this one is over. You never like playing this type of game. We played them twice (in the regular season) and beat them pretty well, but these games can sneak up on you,” Wyoming East head coach Derek Brooks said. “(Liberty) played well and played hard. We knew they were going to. I am just glad we pulled away in the second half and we played a little better. We got some looks going to the rim and we hit some open shots.”
Wyoming East never trailed in the contest and led 13-5 after the first quarter, but the first eight minutes had taken its toll on both teams.
Whitten and Chandler Johnson both had two fouls for the Warriors, while Adam McGhee had two for Liberty and teammate Zach Bowman had three fouls.
“At the end of this, foul trouble is what killed us. I don’t think our offense and defense was the problems, we just ran out of guys that could guard their players,” Liberty head coach Chad Williams said. “We had a good game plan I thought going into tonight. The boys were focused and ready to go. It was just too much firepower. When you play six guys on a regular basis and you get one in foul trouble, the wheels fall off.”
With Brooks choosing to sit his two starters, East needed someone to step up and Mitchell turned it on for the Warriors.
The problem for the home team with both big guys sitting was stopping Adam Drennen. East struggled all quarter with the Raiders’ inside threat.
Of his 19 points on the night, Drennen scored 10 in the second stanza.
“It was tough. They were two big pieces of our puzzle. Chandler has been playing lights out and Whitten, of course, is our leading scorer,” Brooks said. “It was tough sitting them down. We just pushed through it with the next man up mentality. Drennen is tough. He is kind of an unorthodox player, but he scores it efficiently and he is a big kid. He jumps well and he played well tonight.”
While Drennen was causing East fits, Mitchell helped the Warriors maintain the lead by also scoring 10 points in the quarter.
“With Whitten and Chandler not in the game, that is always tough for us. We had to step it up and get some buckets with them on the bench,” Mitchell said. “Most of the time the guys would come and set me a screen so I could get open. The game just came to me and I got some buckets.”
Brooks has seen strong improvement from Mitchell, especially late in the season.
“Garrett shot the ball well and he played good defense. He has had a good season, but he has been playing very well over the last six weeks. I told him we had to have that night in and night out from him,” Brooks said. “His defense has led to offense for him, which is unusual. Normally when you exert a lot of energy on defense, you don’t score as efficient, but he has.”
Going into halftime, Liberty trailed only by five points and had the game they wanted to pull off the upset.
“We drew up on the board every aspect of the game that we knew if we controlled, we would be winning the game or within striking distance,” Williams said. “We walked in at halftime and we had a check mark on every box.”
Wyoming East however had a different mindset when they hit the floor for the second half thanks to a halftime talk from the head coach.
“It has to mean something to the seniors. Our seniors were quiet in the locker room and I let them know about it. They have to be the leaders because this could have been the last game of their career,” Brooks said. “I didn’t want that and they had to step up. We had to get more from those two seniors and I thought we did in the second half.”
After Whitten scored just four points in limited first half action, the senior all-stater was red hot in the third period.
“It wasn’t very fun sitting out the second quarter. Coach D lit a fire in my hind end at halftime. He told me I was a senior and this was my last ride,” Whitten said. “That really hit me and sunk in. I knew I had to give everything I had for the next 16 minutes. I wanted to do anything I could to help my team win. That was really it. Whether it was getting rebounds or getting some put-backs, whatever it took.”
With the Raiders hanging tough, Whitten was a man inside scoring the final 12 points of the quarter for the Warriors.
“Whitten came out and carried them in the third quarter. We got in foul trouble and we don’t have any depth. As soon as we got in foul trouble and didn’t have anybody to guard him, he just took over the game. It was a slippery slope from that point on,” Williams said.
With eight minutes to play, the visitors were still within reach, down just 10 points. That was before Mitchell scored five straight and senior Tucker Cook drove hard through the lane, laying the ball over the rim for a 49-32 lead.
Mitchell led all scorers with 22 points and Whitten had 20. Cook finished with nine for the Warriors. Adam McGhee scored 10 for Liberty.
Wyoming East was given the No. 6 seed in the Class AA division at the Boys State Tournament to be played at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The Warriors will play longtime nemesis, Bluefield for the fourth time this season on Wednesday, March 16 at 11:15 a.m.
The two teams split the regular season clashes, while the Warriors knocked off the Beavers for the sectional championship last week at Brushfork Armory.
L: 5 17 10 12 – 44
WE: 13 14 15 19 – 61
Liberty
Adam McGhee 10, Adam Drennen 19, Ethan Williams 8, Zach Bowman 3, Conner Cantley 2, Kris Bowman 2. Totals: 19 4-9 44.
Wyoming East
Tanner Whitten 20, Garrett Mitchell 22, Cole Lambert 6, Chandler Johnson 3, Tucker Cook 9, Jacob Howard 1. Totals: 21 13-19 61.
3-pointers – L: 2 (Williams 2); WE: 6 (Mitchell 4, Johnson, Cook)