LOST CREEK, W.Va. — Greenbrier West scored the final nine points to pull away from South Harrison and improve to 11-0 with a 70-55 victory over the Hawks.
All but two of those nine points came at the free throw line — a theme throughout as the Cavaliers outscored the Hawks 21-7 at the charity stripe after attemping 22 more free throws.
“They’ve been really good about we’re going one game at a time and we’re just trying to get better. If we win or we lose, we know March is what counts,” Cavaliers’ head coach Jared Robertson said. “But our kids are hungry. They’re looking at it the right way and that’s why our effort’s been so good each night.”
The Cavaliers had played host to South Harrison in their most recent contest before Thursday, beating the Hawks 66-44 six days earlier. They got off to a strong start in the rematch and built a 15-8 lead after one quarter.
But the Hawks (5-8) hit four of their six three-pointers in the second quarter, including one from Hunter Foster to close to within 29-23. Greenbrier West followed with a pivotal 8-2 run to take a 37-25 lead into halftime.
Although the Hawks shot a respectable 45 percent in the opening half, they had 16 turnovers that limited them to 20 field goal attempts.
“Greenbrier West does a really good job of turning teams over, so we knew that was a tough task,” Hawks’ head coach Tom Sears said. “The difference in the game was at the foul line and obviously the turnovers.”
Cavaliers’ guard Kaiden Pack, who led all players with 28 points, scored 17 in the opening half, including 12 in the second quarter.
Trailing 45-33 in the third quarter, SHHS got two straight buckets inside from Hunter Lipps followed by a Logan Langford layup to cut its deficit in half. Chase Boggs responded with a triple, while Pack scored on a pull-up to push the lead back to 11, but five straight points from Logan Ross allowed the Hawks to enter the fourth quarter trailing 52-44.
South Harrison got no closer than six in the fourth quarter, which came on its final points of the night — a Lipps three that made it 61-55.
Greenbrier West made seven of its next 10 free throws to put the game out of reach after effectively running clock on several sequences.
“They did a good job of spacing and drawing us out from the basket,” Sears said. “They forced us out of our zone, which is what we’re comfortable in.”
Boggs scored 11 and Lawson Vaughan added 10 points for Greenbrier West, which won its 10th straight by double figures.
“We have four kids that are scoring in double figures, which really helps; and we have four other kids that give great effort,” Robertson said. “Rotating eight kids lets us run three or four different fullcourt presses. We halfcourt trap more than we did tonight but we’re just trying to work to get better.”
The Hawks finished 50 percent (21-of-42) from the field, but couldn’t overcome 27 turnovers.
Lipps led South Harrison with 20 points and seven rebounds in the loss.