CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Through a combination of key injuries and close losses, Scott’s boys basketball team didn’t meet its expectations for much of the regular season.
However, the Skyhawks’ story isn’t yet finished, and for the second straight season, they’ll play in a state semifinal after holding off Herbert Hoover, 68-62, in a Class AAA quarterfinal that wrapped up Thursday’s state tournament action inside the Charleston Coliseum.
“We felt like we were a lot better team early in the year last year and this year than what we were performing,” Scott head coach Shawn Ballard said. “We never doubted ourselves and continued to trust the process every day. We’ve done a good job of learning from mistakes and failures. We have a mature group. We can get on guys when they mess up. Learning from mistakes and failures has given us an opportunity to grow as the season’s gone on and allowed us to play our best basketball at the right time of the year.”
No. 5 Scott (17-9) now gets a crack at top seed Shady Spring on Friday with the winner moving to play in Saturday’s title game.
A back-and-forth first quarter saw the Skyhawks lead 5-0, trail 10-8 and use baskets from Lincoln Burnside and Isaac Setser late in the quarter to lead 12-10 after 8 minutes.
Dane Hatfield’s three-pointer for the No. 4 Huskies (18-7) allowed them to lead 23 seconds into the second quarter, and though Hoover was within striking distance throughout, that proved to be its last advantage.
Starting with a Kadin Clemons layup that gave SHS a 20-17 lead, the Skyhawks outscored the Huskies, 12-7 over the final 4:57 of the opening half.
Clemons scored the first four points of that surge and Owen Adkins added a three-pointer, before Setser accounted for the remaining five, including a layup that left Hoover trailing 30-21.
A three from Eli Robertson 32 seconds before halftime allowed the Huskies to trail 30-24 at the break.
Robertson (11) and Hatfield (10) combined for all but three of their team’s points in the opening half, including all 14 HHHS points in the second quarter.
Both players continued to shine in the second half, and each one hit a triple over the first 2:29 of the third quarter, with Hatfield’s that tying the contest at 34.
“We showed a lot of character today,” Hoover head coach Josh Stricker said. “They hit a few more shots than we did.”
However, starting with one free throw Reece Carden, the Skyhawks ran off the next six points, with Byrnside’s second-chance bucket and a Jayden Sharps three allowing Scott to lead by six.
Not long after, Carden made separate threes within 27 seconds, helping SHS take a 49-41 lead into the fourth.
“I’m really playing like myself again and playing like I’m used to,” said Carden, who has battled achilles and ankle injuries.
The Skyhawks continued to execute at a high level offensively down the stretch, and though the Huskies cut their eight-point deficit in half in less than 2 minutes, Carden countered with another trey for a 54-47 lead.
“Reece got hot in the second half,” Stricker said. “The pick-and-roll hurt us a little bit and we couldn’t find shooters when they kicked it out.”
Hatfield’s jumper with 5:27 left brought Hoover to within five, but Carden answered with a layup and Adkins made two free throws, leaving the Skyhawks in front by nine with 3:10 to play.
Sharps’ layup with 1:57 left enabled the Skyhawks to lead 61-50, though Hatfield’s conventional three-point play with 33 seconds left brought the Huskies to within five at 64-59.
Setser then helped seal the outcome 5 seconds later with a layup that made it a three-possession margin.
“I was proud of my guys for the way they handled adversity,” Ballard said. “Hoover threw some runs at us.”
Carden scored 16 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, during which time he made 5-of-6 field-goal attempts.
“My teammates really trust me,” Carden said. “It’s great having teammates that are seniors and I recouped, got ready to come out in the second half and I was ready to play. My teammates do a good job of getting me the ball in spots to score.”
Clemons added 13 points and six rebounds, Sharps scored 12 to go with seven boards and Setser had 11 points and four assists.
The Skyhawks made 23-of-45 shots to shoot 51 percent in the win.
After shooting 7 for 27 in the first half, Hoover made 15-of-26 shots in the second half.
“We were a little bit more aggressive taking the ball to the basket under control and we kicked it out and found shooters,” Stricker said. “I knew Shawn would have them ready to play and good job to him coming out.”
Robertson scored 24 points, Hatfield added 22 to go with five assists and Donovan Brown contributed nine without missing a shot.
Scott finished with a 34-18 advantage in paint points and scored 14 points off turnovers to the Huskies’ six.
“On the pick and rolls, we’re looking for that change and my man to step up on his man and looking for another opportunity,” Clemons said. “We did a good job with that tonight and it gave us opportunities to get shots around the rim.”
(Scott postgame press conference)