MORGANTOWN — No. 4 Morgantown stormed from behind in the furious final minutes and handed No. 1 Martinsburg its first loss of the season on Saturday night, 64-59.
“That’s a pretty big one,” said Morgantown coach Tom Yester. “That’s as good of a team that there is, I think, for the last two years. We were fortunate — we had a lot of turnovers, but good composure. Also, I think you saw why Nathan Adrian is a pretty good player, and Dean Marshall had some beautiful moves to the bucket.”
Adrian finished with 23 points and Marshall added another 18 for the Mohigans (10-1). Morgantown also got a huge boost from senior Mark Johnson from beyond the arc with a couple of late 3s.
“It feels great,” Adrian said. “Dean and Mark combined for 30-some points and we couldn’t have done it without those two.”
With the win, Morgantown avenged an early-season, 16-point loss to the Bulldogs (11-1).
“Being at home helps a little bit with the crowd,” Yester said. “Our kids were composed and we knew what we were going to have to do if we were going to have a chance to win, and they did it.”
Donte Grantham led Martinsburg in the loss with 17 points.
“We didn’t rotate on defense and got beat at half-court,” Grantham said. “We’ll get back to practice, watch film and correct our mistakes in practice.”
WVU assistant coach Ron Everhart was in attendance on Saturday to watch Grantham. Adrian, meanwhile, is still working on his individual game before he makes the transition to college next season at WVU, where he signed in November.
“I’m not shooting as well from the outside, but my post game is getting better,” he said. “Hopefully that will help me become a better all-around player.”
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