MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Cabell Midland struggled to generate offensive rhythm all night long.
Much of that had to do with the Morgantown defense, which suffocated the Knights from the opening tip and set the tone for the Mohigans in a 72-41 runaway victory Friday that was part of the G-Force Lock & Safe Holiday Classic at MHS.
“We don’t have a big, but we have big guards. It helps us because in matchups, anybody on the floor can guard the point guard and anybody on the floor can guard a big,” MHS head coach Dave Tallman said. “It’s tough for an opposing team. I like our scheme right now. We can switch a lot and really give teams matchup problems. It comes down to team defense and playing hard. I thought we played extremely hard and our team defense was awesome.”
Morgantown (3-0) held the Knights (1-1) to 3-of-13 shooting in the opening quarter, while the Mohigans were efficient offensively and made five 3-pointers to build a 20-7 lead.
MHS point guard Sha-Ron Young had seven points in the opening period and both of Morgantown’s two-point field goals.
“He works man. He honestly may work a little too hard,” Tallman said. “He cramped up the last two games, because he was leaving our practice and then going and working out again for another hour. He’s on a mission. He’s a great kid and nobody is outworking him — that’s for sure.”
Young began the second quarter by scoring on a follow-up, and fellow Morgantown guard Brooks Gage scored five straight points a short time later to help his team hold a 28-11 lead.
The Mohigans continued to take CMHS (1-1) out of much what it aspired to do, hounding Knights’ guards Chandler Schmit and Dominic Schmidt and allowing only six first-half field goals to take a 37-15 lead into halftime.
Rebounding was also a vital factor in MHS creating separation as the Mohigans held an 18-9 edge on the boards through two quarters.
Morgantown picked up where it left off to start the second half, with Brody Davis, Gage and Alec Poland each scoring inside to give the Mohigans a 28-point advantage. They were never threatened the rest of the way as Tallman’s team posted a convincing win to remain unbeaten.
Gage led four Mohigans in double figures with 15 points, while Young finished with 14 points and game-high totals of seven rebounds and five assists.
Poland added 13 points, Davis scored 12 and Goins (8) and Cameron Danser (7) were also key contributors.
Morgantown finished with a 33-18 rebounding edge.
Chandler Schmidt led the Knights with 14 points, but was held to 5-of-15 shooting.
“Jalen Goins did a really good on Chandler,” Tallman said. “Chandler is a great player and we have a bunch of respect for him. I thought our team defense was really good and we really helped each other. When somebody was guarding on the Schmidts, our team defense was very good off the ball. We played extremely hard and we dove all over the floor for loose balls and took a bunch of charges. That’s what we work for, so I love seeing that.”