Fairmont Sr. reigns again: Polar Bears dominate Poca for AA title

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Fairmont Senior dominated from start to finish on Saturday, winning its first boys basketball championship since 1996 with a 55-37 victory over defending champion Poca.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling—they’re the defending state champion,” said Fairmont Senior coach David Retton. “To beat them says a lot about our team. (Our players) were very deserving.”

It was a rematch of the 2015 Class AA title game, which saw Poca erase a 20-5 deficit to complete a perfect season.

There was no comeback for the Dots (25-3) this time.

“Last year we were up 10 at the half and we were playing not to lose and we kind of lost focus,” said Fairmont Senior’s Darhius Nunn. “Up 12 at the half this year we knew it wasn’t over and that they could come back. That was the biggest key. We couldn’t let last year happen again.”

Fairmont Senior (23-5) started 6-of-8 from the floor, taking a 16-6 lead as Poca missed 11 its first 13 shots. The Polar Bears kept that momentum into the second quarter as a 3 from Brennan Moorehead built a 28-16 advantage heading into the break.

“I just felt like everything I shot was going to go in,” Moorehead said. “I was open and Darhius kept feeding me. If it wasn’t for him and my teammates, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity.”

Moorehead finished 3-of-7 from 3-point range and 5-of-9 overall with 13 points.

An 11-0 run in the third for Fairmont Senior extended the Polar Bears’ lead to 41-19 at the 3:26 mark. Fairmont Senior led 43-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

“The bottom line is we just didn’t put the ball in the basket,” said Poca coach Allen Osborne. “I’m going to give Fairmont the credit, because they defended us really well. They contested our shots, made it hard for us to score and the bottom line is that we didn’t shoot the ball well.”

Nunn led Fairmont Senior with 18 points and 10 assists in the win, while Zyon Dobbs added 10 points. Dobbs played a key part in limiting Poca’s Frampton to just six points on 3 of 14 shooting.

“We just had to play tight defense on him and couldn’t let him get open shots,” Dobbs said. “We just had to find their shooters on every play.”

Elijah Cuffee scored 20 points for the Dots. No one else, though, had more than seven points as Fairmont Senior held the Dots to just 23.1 percent from the floor (12-of-52).

“Coach has always talked about us staying in line with the ball,” said Fairmont Senior’s Justin Lee, who scored eight points. “We played other teams with shooters and we had to get back to them as soon as possible.

“We didn’t really go to the press at all (Saturday), we stayed in the half-court defense and I think that helped us out a lot,” Lee said. “We were able to stay in line with the ball and also spread out, getting to the shooters as quickly as possible.”

With the win, Fairmont Senior ended Poca’s 51-game winning streak against in-state opponents.

“This was the climax,” Retton said. “Not only is it the biggest stage of the season, but of a high school career. We did it on the biggest stage of these guys’ high school career and that couldn’t be more fulfilling as athletes and as basketball players.”

Nunn finished the tournament with 54 points, 21 assists and 15 steals over the three games.

“It hasn’t set in yet, I don’t know when it will,” Nunn said. “This is the best way to end my career, end it with a W. That’s the only way to end it.”

Click here for the complete MetroNews television Class AA championship broadcast.

Watch players and coaches react in postgame:





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