Charleston – A year ago Poca was on the wrong end of the Class AA championship game.
Now the script has flipped.
Two-time Evans Award Winner Isaac McKneely capped off a standout career with 22 points as the Dots toppled Bluefield 65-48 Saturday in the Class AA championship game Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The win comes after the Dots (26-1) fell to Williamstown in last year’s championship bout.
“I remember sitting in these exact same seats last year after losing the state championship and that was an unbearable feeling,” McKneely said. “I didn’t even want to come out. I wanted to stay home and coop up so we had a chip on our shoulders ever since that game and we came back this season and our motto was ‘Leave no doubt’ and I think we did that today. We left no doubt that we’re the best team in double-A and I believe that we’re the best team in the state period.”
In a game billed as battle of stout defenses it was the offenses that stole the show with both teams shooting over 50 percent from the field. And while McKneely played his part, several other Dots stepped up and took advantage of how the Beavers shaded him.
Kambel Meeks was the first beneficiary, opening the game with a 3-pointer before a free throw from R.J. Hairston and a layup from Chance Johnson tied it. A pair of Jackson Toney free throws and a McKneely layup made it a 7-3 game but Caleb Fuller, who struggled most of the tournament, found the range with a 3.
McKneely drew a pair of fouls on 3-point attempts, helping Poca to a 19-11 advantage late in the quarter but the play of his supporting cast elevated the Dots as the game wore on.
A pair of 3s from McKneely sandwiched an Ethan Maynor put-back but a pair of midrange jumpers from the latter helped the Dots expand their lead to 35-21.
“It was a good team win,” Poca head coach Allen Osborne said. “Kambel had 15 points and nine assists and Ethan Maynor had 12 points. Toby (Payne) had eight and it was a great team win. They played triangle-and-two on Jackson (Toney) and Isaac and some other guys stepped up and took up some slack scoring. These guys are so unselfish and they care about each other.”
The Beavers’ final charge came early in the third when Will Looney hit a 3 to maker it a 37-31 game but Meeks and McKneely answered with their own treys as the Dots’ lead never faltered below double digits the rest of the way.
“My biggest concern going into this game is they don’t make mistakes,” Bluefield coach Buster Large said. “When you’ve got a ballplayer like McKneely, and you saw what they did, they shot the lights out the first half and that was my big concern and it happened. You go back two days ago and we shot the lights out. They’re a solid ball club, they’re well coached and they’ve got other players that play a role in their offense.”
Large continued to discuss the difficulties in making a comeback against the defensive-minded Dots.
“We had some chances,” Large said. “We got it down to 11 and if we could’ve got it to eight or six at the end of the third quarter, it could’ve been interesting. They just found a way to come back down. The layups in the fourth quarter, we shut McKneely down and they got loose with some layups and that really hurt us.”
The Beavers finished with a 51-percent showing from the field but the Dots countered with a 54-percent outing, taking nine more shots in the game.
Leading the charge for Bluefield was Caleb Fuller with 16 points while R.J. Hairston pitched in 15.
The Beavers will graduate two starters in point guard Ja’eon Flack and forward Chance Johnson as well as reserve Steven Addair but return every other player, including Hairston and Fuller.
“We’re going to use this to fuel the fire next year,” Fuller said. “We’re mad right now so we’re just going to take that into the summer and work even harder.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
