By Eric Herter (For The Dominion Post)
MORGANTOWN – For 21 games this season, the Magnolia boys’ basketball team played without its full complement of players.
On Thursday, that changed.
The Blue Eagles (9-13) welcomed back starting point guard Scott Bailey, and that proved to be a significant difference as they were able to knock off Trinity Christian School 69-62 in overtime in a Class A Region I contest.
“Scott made all the difference in the world,” Magnolia coach Dave Tallman said. “He’s had a torn ACL and has missed all of our games. This is his first game back.”
Bailey’s presence allowed the Blue Eagles to move all-state selection Kingston Christen back to his norma shooting guard position.
The difference paid off on both ends of the floor as the Blue Eagles were able to hold the Warriors’ (16-7) high-powered offense at bay.
Trinity, a normally good shooting team from behind the three-point line, made just six threes on 28 attempts for 21.4 percent.
“We normally make them,” Trinity coach Mitch Bland said of his team’s off night from deep. “There are a lot of things that we did that were out of character for us. I’m not gonna harp on those things; it was a good season. We won 16 games this year after winning just five last year.”
Despite the rough shooting night, the Warriors nearly pulled the game out as Maddox Mousadis hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in the game in regulation. The Warriors stopped Christen’s last-second shot to force overtime.
In the extra period, the Warriors managed just two field goals, while Magnolia worked the ball inside and got to the charity stripe.
“We have got to do a better job of creating contact,” Bland said. “We have to force the officials to make those calls. We didn’t do a very good job of that other than not hitting our threes.”
The Blue Eagles hit 7-of-8 from the free-throw line in overtime to put the game away. Christen scored eight of his team-high 29 points in the extra period.
“Kingston is the captain,” Tallman said. “He does everything for us. Also getting Bailey back was big, and he came up with some huge moments for us.”
Bailey finished with 12 points in his first game back, while center Noah Hood had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Trinity was led by Austin Porta, who scored 31 points, Mousadis added 11, and Collin Lemley had 18 points with 12 rebounds. Porta’s scoring gave him 1,002 points for his career at Trinity.
“We aren’t done by any means,” Bland said of his team’s future. “We’re gonna come out and fight more next year.”
Magnolia now advances to the Class A regional co-final on Wednesday at Parkersburg Catholic.
BOX SCORE
Magnolia 69, Trinity 62 (OT)
MHS 11 19 11 17 11 – 69
TCS 20 4 20 14 4 – 62
MAGNOLIA (9-13) – Hood 7 4-4 19, Byers 2 2-2 7, Bailey 4 3-4 12, K. Christen 8 11-14 29, D. Christen 2 0-0 2. Totals: 22 20-24 69.
TRINITY CHRISTIAN (16-7) – Lemley 7 4-6 18, Mousadis 4 0-0 11, Porta 12 4-4 31, Bland 0 0-0 0, Hutson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 8-10 62.
3-Point goals made – Magnolia 5 (Hood, Byers, Bailey, K. Christen 2); Trinity (Mousadis 3, Porta 3).
