CHARLESTON – In a game where the University High basketball team outshot its opponents by 21 attempts, forced 20 turnovers, and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, the Hawks failed to come away with a victory.
The sixth-seeded Hawks fell 64-55 to the 3-seed Spring Mills in the Class AAAA quarterfinals of the 2026 WVSSAC boys state tournament on Thursday morning in Charleston.
Four players scored in double figures for Spring Mills (20-2), led by sophomore Chase Jones with 16 points. Seniors Akwasi Opoki-Achampong and Tyler Jones each added 14, with Jones also grabbing 11 rebounds.
UHS senior Eli Karpinski led his team with 21 points in his final game with the program. Juniors Luke Byrer and Kaleil Lewis added 17 and 12, respectively.
“Congratulations to Spring Mills, they obviously shot the ball much better than we did today,” UHS head coach Joe Schmidle said. “Anytime it seemed we would get any momentum, they seemed to put an end to it. Just looking at the stat sheet, it’s a problem when you shoot 21 more shots than your opponent and still lose.”
Despite advantages in field-goal attempts, turnover margin, and offensive rebounds, UHS (16-7) was unable to overcome the Cardinals’ fast start on offense, which saw the Cardinals score 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting in the first quarter, opening a 21-13 lead.
The cold start continued for the Hawks in the second frame, scoring only seven points in the eight minutes, while allowing the Cardinals to nearly double the lead heading into halftime, 35-20.
“I thought we did well defensively, especially in the second half,” Schmidle said. “Our pressure bothered them, and we turned them over a good amount, and that allowed us to get out and attack the rim. We had things going the way we wanted, other than just making shots.”
The Cardinals added a basket to the lead in the third, holding a 49-32 advantage entering the final quarter.
As Schmidle alluded to, the Hawks proved they had a fight in them in the fourth quarter, scoring 23 points, but the deficit was too much to overcome as the Cardinals closed the game strong.
UHS will say goodbye to seniors Eli Karpinski, Glenn Brown, and Jack Byrer.
“They got on a roll to start the game, and we dug ourselves a hole we just couldn’t get out of,” Schmidle said. “I’m so proud of our guys for the way we fought all year. This group of seniors has been great for our program, and was great this season.”
BOX SCORE
Spring Mills 64, University 55
SM 21 14 14 15 – 64
UNIV 13 7 12 23 – 55
Spring Mills (20-2) – C. Jones 5 5-6 16 T. Jones 5 4-4 14 Opoku-Achampong 5 3-4 14 Stovall 4 0-0 11 Anderson 3 0-0 6 Bokwe 1 1-2 3 TOTALS 23 13-16 64
University (16-7) – Karpinski 8 3-4 21 L. Byrer 7 1-2 17 K. Lewis 6 0-6 12 Brown 0 2-6 2 A. Lewis 1 0-0 2 Weaver 0 1-2 1 TOTALS 22 7-20 55
3pt goals made – Spring Mills 5 (Stovall 3 C. Jones 1 Opoku-Achampong 1); University 4 (Karpinski 2 L. Byrer 2).
