Charleston – Two seasons ago, Tucker County only won four games in the regular season.
Tuesday morning the No. 3 seeded Mountain Lions knocked of No. 6 seed Pendleton County, 59-45 in the quarterfinals of the Boys State High School Basketball Tournament.
“It was ugly. We have played them three times this year. They know us and we know them,” Tucker County head coach Daniel Helmick said. “The second half we rebounded a little better, took care of the ball and made a couple shots.”
Tucker County led by six midway through the second quarter before an 8-2 run from the Wildcats evened the game at 25 after the first 16 minutes.
With 2:35 to play in the third quarter, the Mountain Lions held a slim two-point lead before a pair of 3-pointers from Hayden Wamsley separated the game for good.
“The 3-pointers definitely helped the momentum, but I think the big thing was us playing defense and getting stops,” Wamsley said. “The first half we rebounded the ball pretty poorly, but in the second half we started boxing out and actually started getting some rebounds.”
Tucker County held Pendleton to just 20 points over the final 16 minutes and out-rebounded the Wildcats 23-13 over the same period.
“That was tough one. I know we were prepared, but they were more prepared. We gave it our all,” Pendleton head coach Jeremy Bodkin said. “It’s tough to score down here. Hats off to Tucker. They made shots. We tried to force too many shots and didn’t run the offense a couple times.”
Wamsley finished with 17 to lead all scorers, while sophomore Owen Knotts had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Ashton Lycliter scored nine points and had eight rebounds.
Clayton Kisamore scored 15 points for Pendleton and Cole Day had 10. Jacob Beachler scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and erased seven shots.
Tucker County advances to Thursday’s semifinal game against the winner of Greater Beckley Christian and Class A defending champion Man.
The semifinal game will be played at 11:15 a.m.
