CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Even with Jon Elmore scoring at will during the second half on his way to a 40-point performance, No. 4 George Washington needed more.
The Patriots ultimately couldn’t stop No. 5 Huntington and couldn’t catch up in the Class AAA quarterfinals, falling 72-64.
Elmore scored 31 in the second half, but George Washington could draw no closer than seven points as the teams traded baskets.
“As we got down I realized this may have been my last high school game,” Elmore said. “I thought to myself we just have to keep chipping away and get close enough to where we can make it a ball game.”
Huntington (21-4) was led by Tavian Dunn-Martin’s 19 points. He made12-of-14 from the foul line, many of them down the stretch to prevent a GW comeback.
The win avenged two previous losses to the Patriots this season.
“We knew we would get another shot at them, and we came out tonight and executed,” Huntington guard Nick Tubbs said.
Huntington’s Jeffrey Howard, who found himself on Elmore a lot due to foul trouble, came off the bench to put in 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
“GW’s a hard team—they beat us twice and we wanted to come out and get them,” Howard said. “You’re not going to stop Jon. You just have to contain him the best way you can and that’s what I tried to do.”
George Washington (19-7) also got contributions from senior Cai Carena who had 12 points and eight rebounds and freshman Anthony Dean who added 10 points.
In the two previous meetings the Highlanders didn’t do a great job of keeping the GW’s role players in check. But Huntington coach Ronald Hess thought they did a better job this time, as only three other Patriots scored beside Elmore.
“Their big kids got a lot of boards last game and we left them to often to get put backs,” Hess said. “We didn’t allow that tonight and that’s what you have to do. Elmore’s going to get his points, you have to keep the other kids from scoring.”
Huntington advanced to the Class AAA semifinals where it will face top-seeded Washington on Friday 5:30 p.m.