POCA, W.Va — One of the hottest teams in Class AA has used a mixture of experience, sprinkled with some youth and scorching shooting to come into the month of February with an 11-1 record. Allen Osborne’s Poca Dots have started three seniors, and have two freshman that are big contributors to a team that shoots 52 percent from the floor on the year.
“We’ve got a really balanced team as far as scoring,” Osborne said. “With four starters coming back, we thought we were going to be pretty good.”
And the Dots certainly have with impressive recent wins over Charleston Catholic and Chapmanville. Their lone loss came to Class AA No. 1 and undefeated Robert C. Byrd back in December.
“I’ve got a really good group of kids, their team GPA is a 3.5,” Osborne said. “They’re leaders on and off the court and they bring it everyday and they want to get better and win.”
Poca relies on its balance to score the basketball as three guys average in double figures, with a fourth right behind, putting up nine points a game. Matt Chandler heads the balanced attack as he went off for 21 points in their recent win over Charleston Catholic.
“Matt’s our leading scorer right now, he’s shooting the ball well and playing good defense,” Osborne said.
The surprise for the Dots is how well their two freshman, Elijah Cuffee and Lukas Frampton have developed.
“They’ve really come in and exceeded what we thought they were going to do,” Osborne said. “Elijah is our second leading scorer and our leading rebounder, he can shoot the ball and he can drive it.
“Luke is a 6’4” guard who can shoot it and he sees the floor really well too, both are very talented kids whose best days are ahead of them,” he said. “They’re just trying to find their ways around right now.”
On the year, Poca is averaging 73 points per game, shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc.
“We’ve been shooting the ball well all year, but the most impressive thing about our guys is they’re sharing the ball and making the extra pass to get really good shots,” he said. “That’s one reason we’re shooting the ball so well.”
In the win over Catholic, Poca had 14 assists on their 19 field goals. As for getting back to the state tournament and making a run?
“It’s going to be difficult, but it’s attainable we just have to play and get better everyday,” Osborne said.
| POCA Boys Basketball Schedule |
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| 1 | 12/13/13 07:30PM | H | CLAY COUNTY | 84 | – | 40 | W | |
| 2 | 12/17/13 07:30PM | A | MINGO CENTRAL | 73 | – | 50 | W | |
| 3 | 12/21/13 08:45PM | A | ROBERT C. BYRD | 50 | – | 56 | L | |
| 4 | 12/28/13 07:30PM | H | NITRO | 90 | – | 30 | W | |
| 5 | 12/30/13 07:30PM | A | TOLSIA | 68 | – | 16 | W | |
| 6 | 01/08/14 07:30PM | A | SCOTT | 70 | – | 49 | W | |
| 7 | 01/14/14 07:30PM | A | WAYNE | 87 | – | 38 | W | |
| 8 | 01/17/14 07:30PM | H | SCOTT | 77 | – | 48 | W | |
| 9 | 01/24/14 07:30PM | H | SISSONVILLE | 79 | – | 47 | W | |
| 10 | 01/28/14 07:30PM | A | CHARLESTON CATHOLIC | 69 | – | 59 | W | |
| 11 | 01/31/14 07:30PM | A | HERBERT HOOVER | 73 | – | 31 | W | |
| 12 | 02/01/14 07:30PM | A | CHAPMANVILLE | 53 | – | 43 | W | |
| 13 | 02/04/14 07:30PM | H | TOLSIA | – | ||||
| 14 | 02/05/14 07:00PM | A | NICHOLAS COUNTY | – | ||||
| 15 | 02/07/14 07:30PM | H | NICHOLAS COUNTY | – | ||||
| 16 | 02/11/14 07:30PM | H | CHAPMANVILLE | – | ||||
| 17 | 02/14/14 07:30PM | A | SISSONVILLE | – | ||||
| 18 | 02/17/14 07:30PM | A | CLAY COUNTY | – | ||||
| 19 | 02/19/14 07:30PM | H | MINGO CENTRAL | – | ||||
| 20 | 02/21/14 07:30PM | H | HERBERT HOOVER | – | ||||
| 21 | 02/25/14 07:30PM | A | NITRO | – | ||||
| 22 | 02/27/14 07:30PM | H | WAYNE | – | ||||
| wins: 11 lost: 1 ties: 0 | ||||||||