Charleston – Friday night at 7:15 p.m. defending Class AAA state champion Shady Spring will battle Wheeling Central in a rematch of last year’s state championship game.
The semifinal matchup was secured Wednesday when the Maroon Knights defeated Grafton, 73-63 in the their quarterfinal showdown.
“I give Grafton a ton of credit. They came out and played really well, especially in the first half. They were taking it to us,” Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens said. “They didn’t do anything that we didn’t expect. We just didn’t execute our game plan.”
With 3:11 to play in the third period, Wheeling Central trailed by 10 and the Bearcats appeared to be in full control.
A quick 8-0 burst by the Maroon Knights changed the momentum and Grafton never recovered.
Trailing by two points to start the final eight minutes and having not led since 2-0, Wheeling Central scored the first 17 points of the quarter to take a 60-45 lead with 3:31 to play in the game.
“It was a battle and we anticipated that coming in. We anticipated that we were pretty evenly matched which was the case all the way through,” Grafton head coach Michael Johnson said. “It was a game of runs. It was kind of back and forth that way. We could just couldn’t answer the last run that they made.”
Grafton cut the lead to eight on two occasions, but could not get closer down the stretch.
“We talked at halftime about (playing) a little bit better defense and rebounding the ball a little better,” Stephens said. “We basically said we were going to have to win both quarters. To put 30 points up on a team like that in the fourth quarter when the game was still in doubt, says a lot about the guys determination to not give and not give in.”
Quinton Burlenski led Central with 22 points, while Michael Toepfer scored 15, Ryan Raesbeck added 14 and Leyton Toepfer scored 13.
Ryan Maier scored 21 for the Bearcats and Tanner Moats had 15. Kaden Delaney scored 11.
