(Game highlights)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — South Charleston’s boys basketball program hadn’t been in the state tournament since 2014.
The way the No. 4 Black Eagles played against fifth-seeded George Washington, you’d have never known.
South Charleston led for the final 23:23 of its Class AAAA quarterfinal and withstood a late rally from the defending state champions to prevail 53-49 at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
“A typical South Charleston-George Washington game,” SC head coach Josh Daniel said. “We knew they weren’t going to go away. Our kids competed their tails off tonight. They made some plays at the end to keep it close. We responded well down the stretch and made enough free throws. Our defense was really, really good tonight.”
The win allows SCHS to advance to a semifinal Friday against top seed Morgantown.
The Black Eagles (21-5) carried a 37-31 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Patriots (20-6) cut their deficit in half immediately on a Ben Nicol 3-pointer.
However, Bryson Smith answered with a triple to double the South Charleston lead, and after Nicol’s triple to start the period, GW managed only three points over a nearly 6-minute span. After SC sophomore guard Wayne Harris made two free throws with 47 seconds remaining, the Black Eagles’ lead was 47-37.
“They stuck to what they wanted to do and that was the main thing,” GW head coach Rick Greene said. “No matter runs or whatever, they did a nice job of sticking to what they wanted to do.”
But GW didn’t give in and Zane McCarty canned a triple to make it a seven-point game. After Harris split two free throws, Brendan Hoffman provided a conventional three-point play, trimming the Patriots’ deficit to 48-43 with 25 seconds left.
Hunter Castlberry’s trey with 18 seconds left made it 50-46, and after a Nicol triple with 9 seconds remaining, GW was to within one possession at 52-49.
Harris, who made two free throws between the triples Castleberry and Nicol hit, made 1-of-2 foul shots with 6 seconds left to seal the outcome.
“We struggled offensively,” Greene said. “Some was South Charleston, but a lot was self inflicted. I didn’t do a good enough job. It’s not on the kids. That’s a coaching thing. I didn’t do a good enough job preparing them for tonight and Josh did a great job with his team.”
Both teams executed at a high level offensively in the opening quarter, with SC making 6-of-10 shots and GW 6 of 11 as the rivals battled to a 14-all tie.
“From the tip to the end of the game, we did not flinch,” Daniel said. “They were locked in from start to finish.”
GW took its first and only lead at 16-14 on Taran Fitzpatrick’s second-chance basket, but the Black Eagles outscored the Patriots 13-6 over the remainder of the half to lead by five at the break.
Smith and Harris combined for the first eight of those 13 points and Mondrell Dean provided the last five, including a triple 47 seconds before the quarter ended.
Smith scored eight of his team’s 10 third-quarter points, including two 3s, helping South Charleston hold a 37-31 lead through three quarters.
“You could tell they knew what they wanted to do and they did that about as consistent they could,” Greene said. “We did a great job on [Cayden] Faucett, who’s a great shooter, but then they’re floating Smith out in the corner. We couldn’t guard all of them.”
Harris led all players with 25 points and made 7-of-12 shots, while adding three assists and three steals.
“I have a lot of shooters around me so when I attack, they have to go out to the shooter or I finish the layup,” Harris said. “I’m proud of my guys tonight. We had high intensity early and it was everybody’s first time playing in the Civic Center, so we wanted to get out to a hot start and we did that.”
Smith added 17 points and drained 4-of-6 treys.
“I saw that first one go in and it was over from there,” Smith said. “I haven’t shot the ball as well as I wanted to this year, but all the work I’ve put in, I know I’m a shooter at heart. It’s what I do.”
Dean contributed seven points and nine boards in the win.
Castleberry made five triples and all six shots he took to lead GW with 17 points.
Nicol, who made a game-winning shot late in last year’s title game against Morgantown, was held to eight points on 3-of-12 shooting.
“I’m sitting in the exact same seat that I sat in last May 8,” Nicol said, “with a lot of different emotions than what I had a year ago.”
(South Charleston postgame press conference)