Consol Energy WV-KY All-Star Game–5/4/13

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Huntington Prep’s Carlos Arroyo poured in 26 points and sparked a huge run early in the second half as West Virginia hit 16 three-pointers and ran away from Kentucky, 116-86, in the first annual Consol Energy WV/KY All-Star game.  The contest, played at Mingo Central on Saturday night, featured senior standouts from Southern WV and Eastern KY.

From the opening tip, the WV squad played with more intensity, especially on the defensive end.  They led for nearly the entire game, including a 45-34 advantage after Austin Banks (Mingo Central) hit a three at the halftime buzzer.

At the beginning of the second half, though, the floodgates opened.  The WV lineup of Arroyo, Banks, Luke Eddy (George Washington), Mackenzie Martin (Chapmanville), and Cody Morris (Herbert Hoover) cranked up the defensive pressure and continued the hot shooting while going on a 25-7 run in the first four minutes of the half to push the lead to 70-41.  The WV squad would never look back as they played with a 20+ point lead most of the rest of the game.

Besides Arroyo (named MVP for WV) with 26, WV had a slew of other scorers in double figures.  Eddy was phenomenal all game, finishing with 16 points and several assists.  Martin (18 points) and Banks (13) each hit four three-pointers.  Matt Dolan (Scott) and Marqus Cunningham (Mingo Central) also finished in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.  Major college recruit Ray Kasongo (Pikeville) led the KY squad with 15 and captured the MVP for the KY team.

The effort and continuity of the WV team, especially on the defensive end, made it very difficult for the KY team to sustain any runs.  From the very beginning, the WV team looked like they had been playing together for more than just a couple practices.  They were even able to run some full-court and half-court traps with great success.  With Cunningham, Morris, Martin, and Austin Brewer (Tolsia), the WV team was always going to have two solid defensive and rebounding big men in the game.

Perhaps the biggest reason for the blowout, though, was a WV lineup that included Eddy, Arroyo, and either Banks or Dolan.  When that mix was on the floor together, KY simply had no answer.  Their quickness and intensity on defense forced a bunch of turnovers, and they had three guards on the floor that could both shoot and get to the rim at will on just about anyone.  This lineup combination was in during the 25-7 run, and they also had good runs in the first half and later in the second half.  That lineup (including two of the four big men) was significantly better than anything KY could put on the floor.

The WV squad was led by Scott head coach Nick Cabell, and KY was coached by Sheldon Clark head coach Frankie Smith.  Mingo Central head coach Brad Napier organized and hosted the event.

Earlier in the day, there was also a girls’ contest, a three-point shootout, and a dunk contest.  KY won the girls’ game by a score of 83-66.  Ray Kasongo, who is a 6’8” freakish athlete, won the dunk contest in convincing fashion when he jumped over a 5’11” teammate.  Austin Banks won the three-point contest for the boys while Rachel Ward (George Washington) won for the girls and also claimed the WV MVP in the girls’ contest.

Complete rosters for the game can be found at http://rsnsports.com/news/1029.

State Tournament Wrap Up

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Since I’m still in a little bit of denial and depression about basketball season being over for another nine months, I thought I would compile one final post with some of my lingering thoughts and impressions from this year’s boys’ state tournament.

–I’ll avoid common words like “best” and “great” when describing this year’s state tournament, but I think most with whom I chatted this week agreed that this was one of the most competitive state tournaments we’ve ever seen.  Of the 18 quarterfinal and semifinal games, only Tug Valley’s win over Notre Dame (which was competitive in the first half) and Wheeling Central’s win over Magnolia (which was a 7 beating a 2) could be considered blowouts.  We went through a 14 game stretch (late Wednesday through all of Friday’s games) where every game was competitive and only three games (13, 11, and 10) finished with a margin in double digits.  The 1/8 and 2/7 games in both AA and AAA were competitive and in doubt until late in the fourth quarter.  Again, I’m avoiding “best ever” or “worst ever,” but I can’t really remember when a tournament was this competitive.

–I almost never do this, but I guess I’m going to have to give the officials some love.  I tweeted right before the tip of the first game that one of my biggest wishes for the tournament was for officials that would call fouls.  I felt in recent years officials have taken the “let them play” concept way too far and have let a lot of games turn into complete bloodbaths. (I thought last year’s A and AAA championship games were nearly unwatchable because of this.)  Some schools are always going to complain that they got a raw deal on the officiating, but at least the refs were willing to call some fouls.

–One of the more interesting subplots of the tournament to me (once I recognized it) was the theme of Harrison and Marion Counties against the Coalfields in AA.  Every first round matchup (Bluefield vs. North Marion, Fairmont Senior vs. Scott, Westside vs. Bridgeport, Robert C. Byrd vs. Tolsia) was a battle between these two regions.  The Coalfields/Southern WV have long dominated AA (31 AA state titles since 1970), but many anticipated a power shift with the 5 schools in Harrison and Marion Counties moving down this year.  The schools made an immediate impact when 4 of the teams advanced to Charleston and 3 won their quarterfinal matchups.  Bluefield was just a little too much for any of the other AA schools to handle, though.  I find this to be a very intriguing subplot moving forward.

–For the first time in a while, I felt like the three best/most talented teams won the titles.  Some might think this is a silly comment, but the best team doesn’t always win the title.  It only takes one bad game to lose.  I was pretty convinced that Tug Valley, Bluefield, and Martinsburg were the best teams in their classification early in the year (or after last year), and that lasted throughout the season.  This is why I picked each of them to win the title before the tournament (though I wasn’t sure all three would win), and it just so happened to work out.  Charleston Catholic, Fairmont Senior, and Woodrow Wilson all put together valiant efforts, but there seemed to be somewhat of a consensus around Charleston that the best three teams won.

And finally, I have a way too early list of teams to look out for next year.  This list is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather just some teams I’ve seen with good young talent.

AAA: Woodrow Wilson came within a few plays of the title and only loses starting PG Andrew Johnson for next year (with some pretty good replacements on the way).  Washington battled Martinsburg to the buzzer in the semifinals and started five underclassmen.  Riverside could be a little bit of a dark horse next year. They have a lot of really good young talent and are definitely a program that is trending upward.  Wheeling Park struggled a little with a really young team this year, but they don’t tend to stay down for too long.  Hurricane will miss Rasaan Harris, but they will return a lot of players that now have state tournament experience.

AA: Bluefield won the state championship starting five underclassmen.  I don’t have to say much beyond that.  Westside returns all but one of their key pieces, including two guys that can fill it up in Corey Bowles and Justin Cogar.  Robert C. Byrd returns several key pieces for next year, including stud Devonti Birch.  Scott loses star Matt Dolan, but they have a bunch of young talent, mostly sophomores.  Poca came within two late, clutch free throws of making the tournament this year and return just about everyone next year with a phenomenal upcoming freshman class.  And don’t go to sleep on Wyoming East.  The Warriors had a really good year this year, and, outside of Brett Bowling, they have a bunch of players coming back.

A: Tucker County will miss Tyler Snyder, but Ian Nichols had a breakout state tournament and has a few other key pieces returning with him. Charleston Catholic loses a lot of good players but returns Nick George and Garrett McCarty.  Those two alone should make them contenders.  Greater Beckley Christian will miss Keith Mullins, but they return Javonne Staunton-Baliey and everyone else from this year’s tourney team.  Notre Dame made it to Charleston this year with a lot of underclassmen, including Cal Cistaro, and I expect them to be even better next year.  Tug Valley loses a phenomenal senior class, but don’t completely write them off.  They have some pretty good players coming back, too, and they had a somewhat promising JV team.  They’ll be down, but they’ll be far from the bottom.

Class AAA State Championship: Martinsburg 57–Woodrow Wilson 52

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State Player of the Year candidate and Division I recruit Donte Grantham powered Martinsburg to their third basketball state championship in school history with a 57-52 win over Woodrow Wilson on Saturday night.  Grantham led all scorers with 20 points and pulled in a game-high 17 rebounds.

Grantham and fellow big man Eugene German powered the Bulldogs inside in the first half, as they were able to build a double-digit lead.  The lead peaked at 13 before a late Beckley run cut the halftime margin to 30-23.  Grantham and German were both good again early in the second half as Martinsburg built a 17-point lead with just over 3:00 to play in the third quarter.

As anyone who had seen them play in the last 30 years knew, Woodrow was not going to go quietly.  They started chipping away at the lead and had it down to 9 by the end of the quarter.  A pair of free throws by Dai Dai Fortune cut the lead to 51-49 with 1:37 to play, but that’s as close as the Flying Eagles would get.  Martinsburg made just enough free throws and plays to hold off Beckley, including a huge Jordan Robinson steal that led to a Jalen Lewis layup to push the lead back to 5 with under a minute to play.  This championship game seemed to follow one of the themes of the tournament: a team charges back from a large deficit, gets the game tied or within a few points, but can never get all the way over the hump.

The lone senior for Beckley, Andrew Johnson, led the flying eagles with 19 points as he tried to will his team back in the game.  Freshman Nequan Carrington, who was no longer a freshman by the end of this tournament, chipped in 12 while working hard to guard Grantham for much of the night.  Woodrow will certainly miss Johnson next year, but this team has a ton of really good, young talent.  The Flying Eagles should begin next year alongside Washington as the favorites to win the AAA title.

Martinsburg bids farewell to an excellent senior class that spent essentially two years atop the AAA state rankings.  Grantham is the headliner of the class, but Lewis, Robinson, German, and Denzel Cole are all excellent players.  They were a very complete, deep team that had an abundance of talent.

The Bulldogs also continue a run of Eastern Panhandle dominance in boys’ AAA sports.  Eastern Panhandle teams have won 3 of the last 5 championships in basketball, 3 straight (all Martinsburg) in football, 2 of 4 in baseball, and 4 straight in track.  The Panhandle has always been crawling with great athletes, and that has only increased as the population has exploded in the last 15+ years.  The teams have started to take over in just about every sport. Don’t expect this to change anytime soon.

As he left the postgame press conference, Donte Grantham yelled out “We’re gonna keep all the rings in the Eastern Panhandle, baby!”  He may just be right.

Class AA State Championship: Bluefield 63–Fairmont Senior 43

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Anthony Eades caught fire and led Bluefield to a comfortable 63-43 victory over Fairmont Senior in the Class AA State Championship Game.  The Beavers win their first championship since 1996 and avenge last year’s title game loss.

After struggling a bit on offense through their first two tournament games, Bluefield was finally able to get rolling in the finals.  Eades scored 27 points on 9 of 17 shooting (8-8 FTs) as the Polar Bears struggled to defend him all game.  Lykel Coller had 10 points in the first half (12 on the game) as the Beavers built a 13-point halftime lead.  (The lead would never get back under 10 in the second half.)  Andrew Coppola was also in double figures with 12. For the game, Bluefield shot 50% from the field and 57% from behind the arc.

Fairmont Senior struggled to get in a rhythm all night.  Standout Travon Horton was limited by early foul trouble, scoring 4 points in just 19 minutes.  Jarin Hilson led the Polar Bears with 11 points and Austin Norman chipped in 10.

After entering last year’s championship game with just one loss, Bluefield had a little bit more of an up-and-down season in 2012-13.  They lost just three times (Princeton x2, Greenbrier East), but they also had some wins by margins smaller than one would expect.  When I saw them run a pretty good Wyoming East team out their own gym in early January, I knew they were the best team in AA when they played well.  I started to waver on that a little bit when they struggled through their quarterfinal and semifinal games in the tournament.  In this championship game, though, I finally saw that same team that rolled over Wyoming East.  When that team finally came back out, the second best AA team in the state, who admittedly didn’t play their best, wasn’t able to keep up.

For as many games as we’ve seen these particular Bluefield players play in the state tournament, it’s easy to forget that they start 5 underclassmen.  They have two likely all-state players in Collier and Eades, but Coppola, DJ Edwards, and Michael Yost are all three really good players that had great state tournaments.  It’s hard to imagine anyone beating them next year.

So where do they go from here? “We’re going to take some time off and relax our bodies,” said Collier.  “Then we’re going to work to get bigger and stronger to come back next year.  Our motivation is to repeat like the teams did in ’95 and ’96.”  They’ll begin the 2013-14 as heavy favorites to do just that.

Class A State Championship: Tug Valley 58–Charleston Catholic 41

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“No three sweeter words do I know than ‘back to back’ right now.”   These were the first words to the media from Tug Valley head coach Garland Thompson after his Panthers beat Charleston Catholic 58-41 on Saturday to capture their third state championship in school history.  After last year’s AA championship, this Class A title is historic for Tug, as they become the first team in state history to win back-to-back championships in different classifications.

Aaron Muncy provided a huge spark on both ends of the floor for the Panthers, scoring 16 points in the first 12 minutes of the game (21 on the game), pulling in 7 rebounds, and guarding every position on the floor over the course of the game.  Austin Brewer and Mikey Newsome finished their stellar careers with 15 and 10, respectively, and Thomas Baisden had 8 points and 12 huge rebounds.

Veteran Charleston Catholic coach Bill McClanahan had the highest of praise for Tug Valley. “We’ve seen some pretty special guards along the way.  We’ve seen Noah Cottrill.  We’ve seen Stevie Browning.  We’ve seen Jordan Simpson…we’ve never seen three guards that were like that.”  Indeed, Brewer, Newsome, and Muncy were fantastic in this game, as they have been just about all year.

Charleston Catholic hung tough and battled all game, trailing just 32-26 at the half.  As Tug Valley ratcheted up their defense in the third quarter, though, the game started to slip away from the Irish.  In fact, down 12 after a small Tug run with 1:30 to play in the quarter, the Irish decided to hold the ball for the last shot.  This seemed a curious decision to most at the time, but everyone in the Civic Center could feel the game slipping away from Charleston Catholic.  Coach McClanahan did what he felt he had to do in order to stop Tug’s momentum and stay in the game.  The Panthers were ultimately able to extend the lead to 16 early in the final quarter and put it out of reach.

The Irish were led in the loss by Nick George with 13 points.  Garrett McCarty chipped in 10, Kiefer Hovorka scored 9, and Zach Casto was held to just 2 points in limited minutes due to foul trouble.

Tug Valley becomes the first public school to win the Class A state championship since Williamson defeated Oceana 59-49 to win the title in 2001.  Both coaches downplayed this after the game (saying some variation of  “We play in the classification we’re assigned against the teams we’re assigned”), but Coach Thompson did admit that it added a little extra to the title, especially since he was an assistant on that ’01 Williamson team.

I always try to avoid being a prisoner of the moment, but I also like to put things in their proper historical perspective.  I may be proven wrong in the years to come, but I feel like Tug Valley has, in a way, become a bit of a transcendent team in the state, and certainly in Southern WV.  People will not speak as reverently about them as they will the ’07 Huntington team, Barksdale’s Woodrow teams, or Northfork’s run of dominance, but I think people will remember this Tug Valley team for a few reasons.  The coaches may have downplayed the public/private significance, but I can assure you those throughout the state have not.  This is something I hear yearly at the state tournament and when I talk about Class A basketball with people throughout the state.  Right or wrong, this is a huge issue for a lot of people, and many will remember this Tug Valley team as the one that broke the streak.  (Whether this is the only public school to win for another decade or starts a long public school run, Tug will still be remembered as the team that broke it.)

I think this Tug Valley team will also be remembered for an incredible two year stretch that ended with them winning in two separate classifications.  Last year, they were among the smallest AA schools in the state and beat tourney teams South Charleston and Logan on their way to a AA title.  (I thought they could have made a run at the AAA title.)  This year, they ran Huntington (who gave Martinsburg all they could handle) out of their own gym late in the year, and also beat Riverside, Logan (2x), and Westside on their way to a Class A title.

Finally, many (or at least I) will remember them as a great group of unselfish winners.  Watching them play basketball at times was like a clinic.  They loved assists as much as points, and they always seemed to know what everyone else on the floor was doing at all times.  They also loved to defend.  I had a feeling this team would win the title early in the year when I saw Newsome, who isn’t afraid to launch a three from 30 feet out, with a smile on his face and a look in his eyes when his defense was driving the opposing guards nuts.  They just wanted to win and would always do what it took to get there.

Would they have won AA again this year?  There’s a decent chance they would have.  Would they have won the AAA title? No, but I had to pause for a second because I never wanted to count this team out, and I know they would have thrived on the challenge.  I can’t think of much higher praise than that.  History will show how this team is remembered, but I’ll not soon forget watching them play this year.

State Semifinal: Woodrow Wilson 64–South Charleston 57

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Woodrow Wilson was able to crank their defense up just a notch higher than South Charleston as they squeaked out a 64-57 AAA semifinal victory.  Nequan Carrington led the Flying Eagles with 16 points, and Andrew Johnson (8 rebounds and 9 assists) and Donte Nabors chipped in 14 apiece.

This was one of the most fast-paced, back-and-forth games I’ve seen in quite a while.  Both teams were extremely intense on defense from the start, and it only seemed to escalate from there.  The two teams traded baskets throughout the game, but South Charleston played with the (small) lead for much of the second half.  With about 5 minutes left in the game, one of the better stretches of high school basketball you’ll see ensued when the two teams flew up and down the floor exchanging huge baskets.  The score went from 45-42 (SC leading) to 52-52 in just over a minute of game time.  From there, Woodrow took control with big baskets from Carrington, Nabors, and Dai Dai Fortune and free throws by Nabors and Chase Hancock.

Devyn Harris led the Black Eagles with 16 points in the loss; Hunter Moles chipped in 15 and Trevond Reese 10.  South Charleston played extremely well and battled to the end, but someone had to come up short in this game.  SC finishes their season with just three losses: two to Beckley and one to KY state champion Madison Central.

Woodrow advances to take on Martinsburg in Saturday night’s AAA state championship game.  That matchup should be another athletic and physical battle.  When they are at their best, both teams look phenomenal and unbeatable.  I don’t really know who will win, but I’m glad I’ll be here to witness it.

State Semifinals: Bluefield 54–RCB 48

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Bluefield held Robert C. Byrd scoreless for the first 6:30 of the fourth quarter while building a nine-point lead and held on for a 54-48 AA semifinal victory.  Anthony Eades led a balanced Bluefield attack with 15 points and Devonti Birch led all scorers with 18 for RCB.

This was a highly competitive game as neither team was able to build much of a lead.  Bluefield’s eight consecutive points to start the fourth quarter were about the biggest run of the night, and even that came over a long stretch of game time.  RCB was able to score most of the night, but they were just a little overwhelmed by the Beaver defense in the final quarter.

RCB has a lot of really good young talent that now has some state tournament experience.  They will really miss Nick Dyer next year, but you can expect them to make another deep run in 2014.

For the second straight game, I feel like Bluefield escaped without playing their best.  Eades was again good, but not great, and Lykel Collier has really struggled to get going offensively.  He had 7 assists, but many of his 10 points came on late free throws.  Collier and Eades are two of the best guards in the state, regardless of classification, and the Beavers need them to play at their best.  I still think Bluefield is the best team, but if they don’t play better tomorrow they will get beat by Fairmont Senior.

State Semifinals: Martinsburg 45–Washington 42

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Martinsburg raced out to a quick 12-2 lead over Washington and held on for a 45-42 semifinal victory to advance to Saturday night’s AAA state championship game.  Donte Grantham led the Bulldogs with 18 points and 9 rebounds, and Dominique Newman paced the Patriots with 15 in the loss.

In Martinsburg’s hot start, they looked about as good as a AAA team could look.  They were pressuring, forcing turnovers, and making shots as the run was punctuated by a hard Grantham dunk.  After that early flurry, Washington was able to effectively slow them down with a zone defense and chip away at the lead.  The Patriots were never able to make it all the way back, though, coming up 3 points short as Keldon Bell’s deep shot at the buzzer skipped off the rim.

Washington made a great showing in their first state tournament appearance.  They have a ton of talent and athleticism, and they start 5 underclassmen.  This experience will be huge next year when they should begin the year as one of the favorites to win it all.

Martinsburg advances to the title game to take on the winner of Woodrow Wilson and South Charleston.  Having seen all three of those teams, I really think Martinsburg has the most talented squad.  They are the best team when they play well, but I’m not positive yet that they will win it all.  Whoever they play, it will be an excellent, highly athletic matchup.

State Semifinals: Tug Valley 54–Tucker County 41

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Top-ranked Tug Valley survived a semifinal war against fourth-seeded Tucker County to advance by a final of 54-41.  Thomas Baisden led the Panthers with 18 points and Mikey Newsome scored 16.  Ian Nichols led all scorers with 26 and pulled in 14 rebounds in the loss.

Tug raced out to a 16-7 first quarter lead, but Tucker was able to reel them in and cut the halftime deficit to 3 at 26-23.  Tug extended the lead to 10 at 37-27 with 2:39 left in the third quarter, and the Mountain Lions never really recovered from that.  The Panthers played with an 8 to 10 point lead the whole fourth quarter and Tucker was never able to seriously threaten again.

Nichols and Tyler Snyder were both fantastic for Tucker in the loss.  Nichols hit just about every big shot for the Mountain Lions and outscored the rest of his teammates 26-15.  Snyder finished with 9 points and 6 assists and battled defensively, mostly guarding Newsome.

Tug Valley advances to the championship game against Charleston Catholic despite struggling offensively.  They still won somewhat comfortably, though, because their defense shows up for every game.  I feel like this might have been the game for Tug to lose if anyone was going to beat them.  They seem to have survived their bad game.  I like them to beat the Irish for the title tomorrow.

State Semifinals: Fairmont Senior 65–Bridgeport 58

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Fairmont Senior utilized hot first half shooting to build a 12-point halftime lead and held on down the stretch for a 65-58 AA semifinal win over Bridgeport.  Jarin Hilson and Travon Horton scored 19 apiece for the Polar Bears and Shaquille Washington had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Polar Bears shot 51.6% from the field in the first half (and 6 of 11 from behind the arc), as they seemed to erase their quarterfinal shooting woes.  They pushed the lead up to 16 early in the third quarter before they cooled down and Bridgeport heated up.  The Indians outscored Fairmont Sr. 27-12, steadily chipping away at the lead, until they cut it to a single point with 1:38 to play.  Bridgeport never got all the way back, though, as the Polar Bears made some key plays and just enough free throws down the stretch to pull out the win.

Bridgeport point guard Jordan Haywood’s excellent state tournament run ended today with 17 points and 9 rebounds.  John Wilfong scored 16 in the losing effort, and Tyler Sprouse scored 15 as he willed the Indians back into the game.

Fairmont Senior advances to the AA state championship game where they will face the winner of Bluefield and Robert C. Byrd.  If the Polar Bears play offensively like they did in the first half, they have a great shot of winning it all.  Much of that will depend on the matchup, though.

Finally, the coaching career of Bridgeport’s Gene Randolph ended with the loss today.  He was always a class act and coached some of the most fundamentally sound teams you’ll see.  He will be missed around the Civic Center in the coming years.