Charleston – St. Marys and Braxton County squared off Wednesday night in the final Class AA quarterfinal battle at the state tournament.
Waiting in the wings for the winner in Friday’s semifinal round game at 9:30 a.m. was Bluefield.
Although the No. 7-seeded Eagles battled to the wire, they could not overcome the Blue Devils, falling 51-41.
“That is one of the most complete games we have played all season. You look at the score and the result, you don’t see that.” Braxton County head coach Scott Stutler said. “From a coaches standpoint, what I have watched us do all year is have great quarters, but we haven’t played a complete game until tonight. We just couldn’t make a shot.”
St. Marys led by four after one quarter and by seven at halftime. The Blue Devils opened a 12-point lead after three quarters and held on for the win.
“Braxton County came out and played extremely well. We knew that they would play very hard. We knew they would come out and get in our grill,” St. Marys head coach Mark Barnhart said. “Tonight was one of the most physical games that we have played this season.”
Waylon Moore led St. Marys with a double-double scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Grant Barnhart scored 10 points, while Luke Powell scored nine points and had seven rebounds.
Beau Liston scored 10 points for Braxton and Williams Forbush added eight and grabbed 11 rebounds.
