CHARLESTON – George Washington junior Noah Lewis scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as No. 3 George Washington defeated No. 6 University 62-42 in the Class AAAA quarterfinals of the 2025 WVSSAC boys state basketball tournament on Wednesday in Charleston.
UHS trailed 15-10 after the first quarter but was outscored 40-19 through the second and third combined, allowing the Patriots to pull away.
Lewis added eight blocks and two assists and hit a pair of triples in the contest. He shot 9 of 13 from the field.
Sophomore Luke Byrer was the bright spot for the Hawks, with 14 points on 6 of 9 from the floor. Junior Glenn Brown added 11.
“First of all, congratulations to Rick Green and his staff. They’re a good team, and they executed their game plan today,” UHS head coach Joe Schmidle said. “We didn’t play our best today, but I’m proud of our guys. We never gave up; we just ran into a buzzsaw and didn’t have an answer for Noah Lewis today. It was just one of those days.”
It didn’t help the Hawks’ case that senior big Zach Demidovich, who drew Lewis as his matchup, picked up two personal fouls less than three minutes into the game and was forced to sit.
Despite his absence, UHS managed to find some success and trailed 15-10 after the first quarter.
But Lewis began to impose his will in the second, scoring at will from all over the court on offense and shutting the Hawks down defensively.
UHS cut the deficit to one possession with a jumper by Glenn Brown to begin the second quarter, but George Washington went on a quick 10-0 run to pull away 25-12 midway through the frame.
Lewis scored 13 of his 24 points in the second quarter as the Patriots outscored UHS 21-9.
“Ideally, we wanted to prevent him from getting the ball because that’s the only way you’re going to stop him,” Schmidle said. “When Zach got in foul trouble early. We had to switch some things around and got out of position a few times, making things harder for us because much of what we do revolves around Zach.”
George Washington opened the third quarter with a pair of baskets by Jeff Harris. Brown answered for UHS but was followed by a deep triple by Lewis, his second of the game, pushing the lead to 43-21.
The Patriots would continue to build their lead from there, pulling ahead by as many as 30 points in the fourth on the way to an opening-round victory.
“Congratulations on University getting here, that’s a first-class program,” GW head coach Rick Green said. “We played excellent defensively, and shooting the ball always helps. But when we can play that well defensively, we are at our best.”
The Hawks will say farewell to two seniors, Chayce Adams and Demidovich.
“Those two older guys had a big responsibility with the younger guys,” Schmidle said. “They embraced the young group and really did a great job being patient and welcoming everyone into the team. There were growing pains along the way, but they handled everything wonderfully.”
Despite the departing senior class, UHS will welcome back most of its roster of six sophomores (two of whom started in the quarterfinals on Wednesday).
“We have to use this as motivation for next year and have a better mentality,” UHS sophomore Luke Byrer said. “It starts with the work in the offseason; just have to come back next year bigger, stronger, faster.”
George Washington will face off against the winner of No. 2 Morgantown/No. 7 Parkersburg South on Friday in the Class AAAA semifinals.
University finishes its season with a record of 18-2.
BOX SCORE
UHS 10 9 10 13 – 42
GW 15 21 19 7 – 62
University (18-5) – L Byrer 6 1-2 14 Brown 5 1-2 11 Lewis 2 1-2 5 Demidovich 2 0-0 4 Adams 2 0-0 4 Karpinski 0 2-2 2 J Byrer 0 2-2 2
George Washington (20-4) – Lewis 9 4-5 24 Kelley 4 0-0 8 Harris 3 0-0 6 Lamb 2 0-0 6 Sprouse 2 0-0 4 Welch 1 0-1 2 Martin 2 1-2 5 Maddox 0 1-2 1
3pt goals made – University 1 (Byrer); George Washington 4 (Lewis 2 Lamb 2)
