CHARLESTON, W.Va. – No. 1 Fairmont Senior continued its overall season dominance on Friday in the Class AA boys basketball state tournament semifinals, beating No. 4 Philip Barbour 99-62 for a spot in Saturday’s title game.
“Laser focus,” said Fairmont Senior coach Dave Retton. “Our guys were on. I believe we were on last night from about 10 p.m. to this point. Our guys were tremendous. They had a mission.
“I was really frustrated in our last game,” he continued. “They knew that when I came in the locker room. We needed to move forward and our players did that. What a result today.”
The Polar Bears (25-0), who led 42-26 at the half, overall shot 55 percent from the floor and won the rebounding battle 47-25.
Philip Barbour (22-4), after shooting 71 percent in a quarterfinal win over Bluefield, went 44 percent from the floor on Friday.
“The intensity was there and we really did a great job defensively,” Retton said. “I know they scored 62, but we got our starters out of there for most of the fourth quarter. So we gave up 13 in the first, 13 in the second and 14 in the third. We were really locked down defensively.”
Jalen Bridges scored 25 points to lead Fairmont Senior, while Zyon Dobbs added 20 points and Taevon Horton totaled 12 points in the win.
Philip Barbour was led by David Shriver’s 19 points and Levi MacAdam’s 10 points.
The win sets up a highly anticipated rematch of last year’s state title game where Fairmont Senior erased a 10-point second half deficit to beat Chapmanville Regional 59-54.
“We’re in a spot that the whole state expected,” Retton said of the rematch. “They are an excellent ball club. Both teams are going to go at it and we’re excited to have this opportunity.”
Chapmanville defeated Winfield earlier in the day for a title game berth as Drew Williamson scored 33 points.
“He’s so good,” Retton said. “He’s smart with the ball. He knows how to get the ball to the basket, he knows how to drive and he’s a very intelligent player. He can shoot it, has deep range and can get the ball to the basket.”
The two teams are a combined 51-1 with that lone loss for Chapmanville coming out of state.
“All of their guys have improved,” Retton said. “Their team has gotten better. (Obinna Anochili-Killen) alters shots. They funnel guys into him and he rebounds the ball. We have the two best AA teams in the state playing for it all and it should be a great game.”
Fairmont Senior will be going for its third straight state championship and playing in its fourth straight title game.
Tip off on Saturday is set for noon.
MetroNews will have a full HD-video broadcast of the game at the MetroNews Channel of WVMetroNews.com.
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