CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Morgantown boys basketball coach Dave Tallman is a believer in the Basketball Gods.
They were with the Mohigans on Saturday in the Class AAAA final against top seed Spring Mills.
Faced with a two-point overtime deficit out of a timeout with 15 seconds the No. 2 Mohigans drew up a play they had yet to display in a game this season — and it couldn’t have worked out more in their favor. Izzy Everett’s inbound pass to the corner was caught by Jacob King, who found Sharron Young coming off a Marty Johnson screen, and Young drained his only three-pointer of the contest from the left wing to put the Mohigans on top with 13 seconds left.
Young’s triple proved to be the game-winning shot in Morgantown’s 35-32 victory, which gives the Mohigans a third straight state championship and allows the Akron-bound point guard to close his high school career with an 11-1 record in 12 state tournament contests — the most he could possibly appear in.
“I knew one had to fall sooner or later,” Young said. “If I had the chance to get the ball into my hands, I was going to take it and make it.”
Following Young’s go-ahead trey, the Cardinals’ Caleb Thomas quickly got the ball and launched a pass toward the other end of the court, but it sailed too far and went out of bounds, giving MHS the ball back. Everett then made two free throws for a three-point margin.
“I trust these guys to make the plays,” Cardinals’ head coach Luke Samples said.” We weren’t getting the ball in very well so we try to leak.”
The Cardinals had one final chance with a three-point deficit and Thomas’ contested three just before time expired fell off the mark.
“It’s like my buddy Billy Hahn said, ‘the Basketball Gods will take care of you if you take care of them,’” Tallman said. ”And he’s looking down smiling now.”
In a low-scoring contest throughout, Morgantown (26-1) made only 2-of-11 shots in the first quarter, but helped force Spring Mills (25-2) into 4-for-16 shooting to face just a 9-6 deficit. Thomas’ layup and a Loakkhae Uth-Smith triple enabled SMHS to close the opening frame on a 5-0 spurt.
“What an ugly game. Our defense was incredible. Their defense was incredible,” Tallman said. “They’re long and athletic and they make it hard to score, especially when you can’t make an outside shot. You win with character and this team has an abundance of it.”
Young had two of his team’s four second-quarter field goals, including a layup that left his team with a 14-11 lead, before Max Anderson scored inside for the final points of the opening half to send the Cardinals to the locker room facing a one-point deficit.
Spring Mills ran off six straight points to start the second half to hold the largest lead of the game at 19-14 following Xavier Anderson’s layup 2:15 into the third quarter.
The Mohigans countered with a 7-2 spurt over the final 4:46 of the third and pulled even at 21 when Jay Shrewsberry canned a three just before time expired.
Thomas scored his team’s first four points of the fourth around a King three, before Young’s layup left Morgantown with a one-point lead at 5:46 to play.
Neither team scored again until a triple from Akwasi Opoku-Achampong put the Cardinals on top by two, and after Brady Savage missed two free throws, Spring Mills was in position to close it out.
“I thought we lost the game six times. That’s what it felt like,” Tallman said.
However, Young’s steal allowed the Mohigans to regain possession, and they made the most of it when Everett scored on a drive to the basket.
“We ran Georgetown for me and I wasn’t really open for the three,” Everett said. “I drove it and my teammates trusted me to make a play.“
Spring Mills still had a chance to win while holding for the final shot, but a deep triple from Opoku-Achampong was no good and ensured overtime.
The Cardinals led 31-28 in the extra session after Thomas scored in the paint, but another steal from Young led to a Savage layup with 32 seconds remaining. Opoku-Achampong split two free throws with 21 seconds left, leaving the Cardinals with the two-point lead before they fell behind on Young’s winning trey.
“I wanted to get the ball in his hands and let’s get out of here,” Tallman said.
“Sometimes it’s not in the cards,” Samples said. “For some reason, it wasn’t our time. These kids did exactly what they were supposed to do and he rose up and made a tough shot.”
Both teams made 14 field goals and the Mohigans attempted 12 more on the strength of their 16 offensive rebounds that led to a 36-29 rebounding edge.
“At the end of the day, we get out-rebounded, which doesn’t happen much, so credit Morgantown,” Samples said. “Have to make free throws down the stretch and can’t make turnovers in untimely spots.”
Young finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and four assists.
“People will say they work hard and people will do work hard,” Tallman said, “but nobody works like he does.”
Savage added eight points and 10 boards.
Spring Mills, which defeated Morgantown by four points in a late December regular season matchup, got a game-best 14 points from Thomas, who added nine boards. Opoku-Achampong was the team’s second-leading scorer with nine points.
“We’re right underneath Morgantown,” Samples said. “We have to get to the top and we’re going to work our tails off to get to the top.”
Class AAAA all-tournament team
Mykel Davis, Wheeling Park
Brady Savage, Morgantown
Xavier Anderson, Spring Mills
Caleb Thomas, Spring Mills
Jayden Clark, Huntington
Tayveon Wilson, Huntington
Akwasi Opoku-Achampong, Spring Mills
Sharron Young, Morgantown
Most Outstanding Player: Sharron Young, Morgantown
(Morgantown postgame press conference)