MORGANTOWN —After losing two in a row to Class A No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 4 Greater Beckley, Trinity head coach John Fowkes thought it felt good to get back in the win column at the expense of Frontier (Ohio) 73-25 in the OVAC semifinals.
But the performance of senior Logo Zervos may be the biggest thing to come out of the win Tuesday at Trinity.
“We go as Logo goes,” Fowkes said. “If Logo is feeling great and believing in himself, we usually win the game. You may not always see him in the box score, but he’s just sturdy — he doesn’t try to do anything he can’t do.”
Zervos did show up in the box score against the Cougars, netting 12 points and finishing as the Warriors’ second-leading scorer behind the 17 scored by center Daniel Woods.
At 6-foot-3, Zervos is a long and athletic wing that can create, so if he can keep himself under control, the offense can flourish even if he isn’t the one putting points on the board.
“I just try to do the little things,” he said. “I’m not a huge scorer so I try to help in any way that I can. There’s certain games where coach Fowkes will tell me to do this or that, so that’s what I try to focus on when I’m out there.”
During Zervos’ final exit from the game, he was greeted with a strong pat on the back and words of encouragement from Fowkes, who believes if Zervos, typically stoic, can try to relax, he can be a consistent threat.
“He’s a great human being but there’s not too much emotion in that kid,” Fowkes said. “We’re trying to get a little bit of that out of him and that’s what I told him there. When he laughs and smiles and has fun, he plays this game with such ease.
“If he can just relax, he could take us a long way.”
Briston Bennett and Fletcher Hartsock also scored in double-figures for Trinity, scoring 10 points each.
The Warriors will face Cameron for the OVAC championship Saturday at Ohio University Eastern in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Trinity beat the Dragons 88-57 on Jan. 15, but getting postseason exposure in a bigger arena is something Fowkes thinks could benefit his team as sectional play nears.
“It’s not easy to go up to Ohio Eastern and win that,” he said. “It’s like the state tournament in a lot of ways — it has the same type of baskets, same backdrop, same scenery. It’s different than shooting here in Trinity and for some reason, it disturbs the kids to shoot at something like that. We’ve played in several tournaments like that this season and that’s why we do it.
“We could go around thumping teams by 40-50 points if we wanted, but that’s why we play this schedule, to get better.”
However, Trinity will face South Harrison on the road at 7:30 p.m. Thursday for a Valentine’s Day date.
