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No. 1 Fairmont Sr. eclipses 90 points for 11th time this season

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two-time defending Class AA state champion Fairmont Senior cemented its return to the semifinals on Wednesday, beating No. 8 Braxton County 98-62 from the Charleston Civic Center.

“I think we did a great job initially,” said Fairmont Senior coach Dave Retton. “We did a great job with getting them to speed up – we did an outstanding job. We were able to get some easy transition baskets.”

It’s the 11th time in 24 games this season No. 1 Fairmont Senior (24-0) has eclipsed 90 points.

“We felt that we could get the ball to the basket a lot,” Retton said. “Initially we were settling for some 3s and outside shots, as opposed to really getting the ball inside like I thought we should.”

Retton pulled his starters with four minute to go in the fourth quarter as state tournament scoring records stayed in place.

The Class AA record for points scored in a AA game is 104, set by Bluefield in 1995 – the overall record is 111 points, scored by Logan in 1977.

Fairmont Senior’s second half defense, though, is what Retton will preach to his players as the Polar Bears move into the semifinals.

“They scored 40 points in the second half on us,” Retton said. “I believe we lost focus. The game was over with, so let’s do some things differently. They had 16 offensive rebounds. I’m not coaching the score – if we win by one and the focus is there, then we win by there.

Zyon Dobbs scored 28 points to lead Fairmont Senior over Braxton County in the Class AAA quarterfinals.

“It doesn’t make a difference if we win by 36 and the focus waned – I thought it waned as the game went on,” he continued. “I’m happy we won, absolutely, but at the same time we need to correct some things before our next game.”

Fairmont Senior was led by Zyon Dobbs who scored 28 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Taevon Horton added 21 points, while Jalen Bridges scored 14 points and Dante Stills totaled 12 points.

Braxton County (21-5) was led by Cole Browning’s 22 points.

“I’m proud of our basketball team,” said Braxton County coach Josh Lunceford. “We knew coming in that (Fairmont Senior) needed to shoot it poorly and we couldn’t turn the ball over. I don’t think either of those happened. That’s the first team we’ve played this year and lost to that I felt was legitimately better than us – and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Fairmont Senior scored 31 points off of 22 forced turnovers in the win.

The Polar Bears move on to face either Philip Barbour or Bluefield in the semifinals Friday at 1 p.m.

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