Spring Mills snaps Morgantown’s 50-game home win streak, 57-40

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Spring Mills aspires to reach a level where it can overcome three-time defending state champion Morgantown when it matters most.

For now, however, it’s the Mohigans that have catching up to do.

The Cardinals led throughout the final three quarters of Tuesday’s showdown at Morgantown, using efficient offense and smothering defense to claim an impressive 57-40 road victory that ends the Mohigans’ home win streak at 50 games.

“We know what we can do,” Cardinals’ head coach Luke Samples said. “We haven’t done it this year. I know we’re 8-0 and have won some games big, but it’s really good to see state championship defense and state championship offense. What I’m most proud of is the selflessness of our team and being able to control tempo in the fourth quarter.”

Morgantown (5-1) had leads of 3-0 and 6-3 courtesy of an opening three-pointer from Marty Johnson and another one moments later from Max Frey. Otherwise, the Mohigans had difficulty generating offense for long stretches, and after two early triples from Akwasi Opoku-Achampong, Spring Mills (8-0) went on top for good courtesy of Caleb Thomas’ conventional three-point play with 3:09 remaining in the open quarter.

It was part of a 10-0 Spring Mills spurt that ended with the first of four triples from Loakkhae Uth-Smith, who on this night was utilized as a sixth man.

“He’s an athletic lefty that can shoot it from anywhere and dunk on people,” Samples said. “His defense was there tonight.”

Spring Mills made 5-of-8 shots in the opening frame, while Morgantown shot 3 for 12 as the visitors settled for a 15-8 advantage.

“It was a little wake-up call,” Mohigans’ head coach Dave Tallman said. “We’re going to continue to work as coaches and they need to meet us halfway if they want to win. As Billy Hahn used to say, the basketball Gods are always watching. We talk about deserving to win. I’m going to continue to deserve to win as a coach and work and they need to get in the gym and deserve it as well.”

Morgantown responded to a nine-point deficit early in the second quarter with a 7-0 run that featured a Demarcus Bandy follow-up, two free throws from Frey and a Johnson trey that allowed the Mohigans to trail 17-15.

Uth-Smith countered with a breakaway dunk, and with MHS trailing 21-18 late in the opening half, Opoku-Achampong connected on two threes, including one just before the buzzer sounded that sent his team to halftime with a 27-20 lead.

“Coach is always giving me the green light and if he calls it, I’m going to roll with it every time,” Opoku-Achampong said.

Opoku-Achampong picked up where he left off to start the second half, connecting on his fifth three to make it a double-digit margin for the first time at 30-20.

Uth-Smith’s two threes in the third allowed Spring Mills to hold a 36-24 advantage, and after Johnson and Frey countered with treys to bring the Mohicans to within 38-30, Opoku-Achampong stuck his sixth three and Thomas threw down a two-handed dunk, enabling the Cardinals to lead 43-32 with 8 minutes remaining.

After making half of its 20 field-goal attempts through two quarters, the Cardinals shot 6 for 8 in the third period.

“Morgantown is a great defensive team. We were able to expose them a little bit on what they do. The kids understood the scout,” Samples said. “They took away Caleb really well and other guys stepped up and made plays.”

Uth-Smith opened the fourth-quarter scoring with his fourth and final three, Shipley followed with a layup for a 16-point lead and Spring Mills effectively made Morgantown chase, trap and foul for much of what remained as it maintained separation down the stretch.

“I was so proud of our guys for showing the maturity,” Samples said. “Some people are like, ‘let’s blow them out.’ Let’s just beat them. It hasn’t happened in 50 games here. These guys have made a lot of history. This is pretty special. They should be proud of themselves.”

The Cardinals shot 18 for 32 from the field and finished with 10 triples.

“I didn’t think we were terrible on defense,” Tallman said. “They made some really tough shots, which is expected. They’re really good and there’s no doubt they’re No. 1 right now. Everyone else has a lot of work to do to try to nip them in March.”   

Opoku-Achampong scored a game-high 18 points, Uth-Smith added 14 and Thomas finished with seven points, six rebounds, six blocks and four assists.

Johnson scored 11 and Frey added 10 for Morgantown, which shot 14 for 37.

The Cardinals also knocked off the Mohigans in a regular season matchup last season, before Morgantown prevailed 35-32 in overtime against the Cardinals in the Class AAAA title game.





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