CHARLESTON, W.Va. — No. 5 Woodrow Wilson outlasted four-seed Martinsburg on Thursday, beating the Bulldogs 60-59 from the Charleston Civic Center in the Class AAA quarterfinals.
“Give Martinsburg a whole lot of credit – they’re a very scrappy team,” said Woodrow Wilson coach Ron Kidd. “I thought in the first half that they really went to the glass. Our kids showed a lot of grit in the second half by not letting them get all of the rebounds. This was a great game for the fans to see.”
The Bulldogs overall won the rebounding battle 40-37, but Woodrow Wilson outscored Martinsburg inside the lane 36-22.
The two teams went into the fourth quarter tied at 41-41. After trading baskets for much of the fourth, Beckley opened up a four-point lead, 52-48 with 3:40 to go following a Noah Hancock layup. Another Hancock layup a minute later put the Flying Eagles up 54-48.
Martinsburg responded with a 7-2 run to close its deficit to 56-55 and 1:44 left. Later, Hancock muscled a huge rebound and put-back for Beckley, giving the Flying Eagles a 58-55 lead and just 36 seconds to go.
“I was thinking to myself that I had to make the shot,” Hancock said. “It rolled out and they were muscling with me. I threw it up there and it went in.”
“He’s the best big-man in the entire state,” Kidd said. “Nobody has a Noah Hancock when he goes down (inside) and dominates the paint.”
The Bulldogs (18-7) then missed two 3’s on the other end, but Jessiya Villa got fouled on an offensive rebound and went to the line where he made one of two shots, tightening the game at 58-56 and 8.4 seconds remaining.
“We were trying to get some double-screens and bring who we thought our shooters were out of the corner and try to get a 3,” said Martinsburg coach Dave Rogers. “We needed a 3-ball at that time.”
Woodrow Wilson’s Corey Acord missed both ensuing free throws for the Bulldogs, but Martinsburg turned the ball over after getting the rebound. It was Acord hustling to cover Martinsburg’s Jarrell Jones, forcing the turnover out-of-bounds.
“I felt like I let my team down missing those two free throws,” Acord said. “I had to make up for it somehow. I knew they would probably try to get (Jarrell) Jones the ball, so that’s the first guy that I went to. I was just trying to get a deflection or steal.”
“It was really deflating,” Jones said. “I thought I had it, but he knocked it out of my hands and it was their ball again.”
That defensive effort eventually led to two free throw shots from Beckley’s Malyk Fowlkes who hit both shots to ice the game, 60-56, and just four seconds left. Villa hit a last second three as time expired, but the Bulldogs were a point short.
Woodrow Wilson (17-6) took a three-point, 27-24 advantage into the locker room at the half and jumped out to a 31-24 lead early in the third. Martinsburg answered, though, with a 7-0 run of its own, tying the game at 31-31 with 3:59 left in the third on a Villa 3.
Hancock led Woodrow Wilson with 23 points and 14 rebounds in the win, while Villa scored 17 points to lead Martinsburg. Brent Osborne and Stephen Beasley both scored 11 points apiece as well for Beckley.
Martinsburg played without starting 6-foot-6 senior center Noah Miller who was injured in regional play.
“When it gets down to a one-point victory, you’re looking at an out-of-bounds play that somebody scored on,” Rogers said. “You’re looking at a loose ball, you’re looking at a 50-50 ball. We probably didn’t get our fair share of those today.”
The Flying Eagles move on to face No. 1 Parkersburg South in Friday’s semifinals at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s huge,” Osborne said. “It’s nice to win (Thursday’s) game, but we don’t celebrate it. We feel like we should be playing on Friday night and we should be playing on Saturday night. We’re past this game and looking forward to a tough Parkersburg South team. We have a challenge ahead of us.”
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