Charleston – After finishing runner-up last year, top-seeded Poca began its redemption tour at the state tournament against Magnolia Tuesday night.
One down, two more to go for Dots.
Allowing the Blue Eagles to score just 10 points over the first three quarters, Poca rolled into Friday’s semifinal round with a 43-19 win.
“Obviously, I think our defense was really, really good tonight. Coming into the game our goal was to guard the ball hard and keep them off the offensive boards,” Poca head coach Allen Osborne said. “They are really good offensive rebounding team.”
Poca did its damage on offense inside with 30 points coming in the paint against just four from the Blue Eagles. The story of the night however, was defense. The Dots also held Magnolia to 18.2 percent from the field.
“We got off to a slow start offensively, but our offense got better as the game went on,” Osborne said. “We played really well tonight and our guys have bought into it defensively. They take a lot of pride in it.”
The 19 points and the shooting percentage by Magnolia both broke Class A state tournament game records in the modern era. Fayetteville held the previous low of 20 points and 21.6 percent shooting set in 2010.
“Hats off to Poca. They played outstanding defense,” Magnolia head coach Dave Tallman said. “They don ‘t hurt themselves offensively. They only had two turnover at halftime.”
Poca advances to the semifinals to meet Ravenswood Friday at 1 p.m.
