POCA, W.Va. — Slow starts have been a cause for concern through the first half of the season for Chapmanville head coach Brad Napier.
After the Tigers had their 54-game in-state win streak snapped Tuesday with a loss at Logan, they were anxious to take the court for Friday’s meeting with Poca.
It certainly showed as Chapmanville scored 17 of the game’s first 20 points, then held off multiple rallies from the Dots for a 45-40 win in a Class AA showdown.
“This is a tough place to come in and win,” Napier said. “They have a great team and they’re coached really well. Our kids were gutty tonight. Our defense is what won the game.”
Six-foot-9 senior Obinna Anochili-Killen helped set the tone early with six straight points, including a transition dunk, to give the Tigers an early 11-3 lead. Phillip Mullins and Isaiah Smith followed with 3-pointers to up the Chapmanville (10-2) lead to 17-3, before Poca’s Isaac McKneely made his second of six triples to cut the Dots’ deficit to 11 after one quarter.
“We’ve been an extremely slow starting team all year and we were ready to go when the ball went up tonight,” Napier said. “You could see it by the way we started.”
By the 5:44 mark of the second quarter, however, Poca (9-2) was to within two points and had already scored 11 in the frame, including eight from guard Noah Rittinger.
Anochili-Killen accounted for the Tigers’ next five points, before McKneely stuck a triple to send Poca into halftime with just a 24-22 deficit.
McKneely and Rittinger combined for all but two of the Dots’ points in the opening half.
But Poca went cold again in the third quarter, missing all nine of its field goal attempts and being held scoreless for the period.
Anochili-Killen, meanwhile scored the first seven points of the third, including a top of the key 3 at the 5:08 mark. Andrew Shull’s jump shot capped the scoring for the quarter and sent Chapmanville into the fourth with a 33-22 lead.
“Obinna makes them really good defensively,” Poca head coach Allen Osborne said. “You can beat them off the dribble and he’s there to block shots. He’s really good. He’s as good of a high school defender around the bucket as I’ve seen in my coaching career.”
Yet Poca started the fourth quarter much like it did the second, and when Rittinger connected from behind the arc with 4:40 remaining, the Dots trailed 33-30.
Anochili-Killen answered yet again with a basket in the post followed by two free throws, though McKneely’s triple and a Nate Vance layup enabled Poca to get to within 37-35.
But without an answer for Anochili-Killen, the Douts couldn’t get over the hump. He scored inside down the stretch to double his team’s lead, and Shull made a short jumper with 1:30 remaining to up the advantage to six.
Chapmanville led by at least four the rest of the way in a game it never trailed in following an early 3-2 deficit.
“Our defense was phenomenal the whole game. McKneely made some incrediby difficult shots, especially in the fourth quarter,” Napier said. “When he’s coming off a screen running full speed, catches it and we have a 6-3 guard right in his face, he’s falling backwards and still hitting shots. Those are shots that NBA players make. We did about as good as we could do.”
Anochili-Killen, a Marshall signee, was impressive in front of his future Thundering Herd coaching staff. He finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds and made nine of his team’s 16 field goals. Shull added 10 points in the win.
“Obinna had it going and was really feeling it tonight,” Napier said. “We really looked for him and our ball movement was really good.”
McKneely had a team-high 20 points for Poca, while Rittinger registered 11 points and eight assists in the loss.
Thirty of Poca’s 40 points came on 3-pointers and the Dots did not score at the free throw line as their eight-game win streak was snapped.
“We had a chance going down the stretch and that’s all you can ask against the No. 1 team in the state,” Osborne said. “I’m proud of our kids and the effort, but we’ll work and try to get better.”