MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Wednesday night at Morgantown High was business as usual for the Mohigans boys’ team, dominating Buckhannon-Upshur from the tip to the final buzzer. Just a week shy of defeating fifth-ranked Wheeling Park, the Mohigans ended the Buccaneers’ season with a 78-49 thumping.
There were a lot of amazing things working for MHS: A 26-point performance by Alex Rudy, 22 forced turnovers, 45% shooting from the floor, and more. But the sharpest looker of the night was forward Trey Battle, the night’s defensive player of the game. Battle was all over B-U big man Lamar Hurst, helping hold him to five points – all of which came in the second half.
“Troy was all over the place, ran the floor and posted up,” MHS Dave Tallman said. “He had a really good game and played hard. I thought the whole team defense was good, too.”
The Mohigans started off on the right foot, winning the tip to go on a 7-0 run in less than one minute. After B-U called its first timeout the Buccaneers began to hit their shots but Morgantown was already far ahead, taking a 20-point lead behind three treys by Mac McMillen and Rudy and an 8 of 13 performance from the field. The Bucs also helped Morgantown out with four free points on two goaltending calls while shooting 3 of 12 from the field.
The second quarter was identical to the first as Morgantown jumped out to a 42-19 lead at the half. But the Bucs weren’t giving up, coming out of the break to go on a short run capped by a dunk by Hurst – the biggest highlight of the game for B-U. Even though Morgantown was loose from behind the arc, missing four straight 3-point attempts, the Bucs were unable to find any motion. Most defensive rebounds ended amid a stifling press by MHS – who forced five turnovers in the third quarter alone – or failed jumpers.
With a 25-point lead heading into the final stanza, Tallman emptied his bench who outscored B-U’s mix of starters and relievers 16-5 in the first four minutes. A final push gave the Bucs some more points to pad the blowout, but nothing more than that.
Ryan Hurst and Ryan Strador led the Bucs with 13 points each. No one else was close to double digits. The Bucs shot 21 of 42 (50%) from the floor, 2 of 10 (20%) from beyond the arc and 5 of 8 from the free throw line.
Aside from Rudy, Carson Poffenberger netted 13 points to close out double digit scoring for the Mohigans. Eight of his 13 came in the paint. In addition to shooting 41% from the floor, MHS shot 9 of 26 from 3-point land (34.6%) and 15 of 19 from the charity stripe.
“I thought we came out ready to play. We’ve been really focused,” Tallman said. “We’ve got to play with a chip on our shoulder and I think [we did that] tonight. This is probably the most unselfish team I’ve ever coached. They really like each other, share the ball and find the open guy. We haven’t been turning the ball over the last five or six games, and if we don’t do that we’ll be hard to beat.”
The Mohigans next face No. 1 University on Bakers Ridge Friday at 7 p.m. in the Region I, Section 2 finals. After an uncharacteristic loss in the OVAC Championship – the last time the rival teams saw each other – Morgantown enters the battle with another chip on its shoulder looking to repeat last year’s sectional final win.
“I think we’re the best two teams in the state, and I think it’s going to be a heck of an environment,” Tallman said. “We just have to go out there and play our type of basketball. We’ve got to play hard and take it to them.”
BOX
BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR (12-11)
R. Hurst 5 1-1 13; Strador 6 1-2 13; L. Hurst 2 1-2 5; McCauley 2 0-0 4; Hyre 1 1-1 3; Walker 1 1-2 3; Keith 1 0-0 2; Laudin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 5-8 49.
MORGANTOWN (20-3)
Rudy 10 2-3 26; Poffenberger 5 2-2 13; Poland 2 5-5 9; McMillen 2 2-4 7; Bechtel 2 2-2 7; Gage 2 0-0 5; Battle 2 0-1 4; Fleeten 1 0-0 3; Pryor 1 0-0 2; Rollo 0 2-2 2. Totals: 27 15-19 78.
BU 7 12 16 14 – 49
MHS 27 15 18 18 – 78
3-pointers: BU 2 (R. Hurst 2); MHS 9 (Rudy 4, Poffenberger, Bechtel, McMillen, Gage, Felton).
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