MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Joe Schmidle is a firm believer University can succeed multiple ways offensively.
The Hawks showcased a number of them throughout Saturday’s contest with Shady Spring in the Hope Gas Holiday Classic at Morgantown High School.
University overcome a three-point deficit after one quarter by making 11-of-15 field-goal attempts in the second, and the Hawks continued their high level execution throughout much of the matchup, shooting 61 percent in an 82-57 victory.
“This team has eight or nine guys that are pretty good,” Schmidle said. “It’s just finding the right five any particular day. It’s never the same ones. I was really proud with how well they shared the ball today.”
The result prolongs an unbeaten start to the season for UHS (4-0), while the Tigers (1-2) lost for the second time in as many days following Friday’s setback to the Mohigans.
The Tigers were hot offensively to start and made 8-of-11 shots in the first quarter to lead 22-19 through 8 minutes.
But after University got consecutive three-pointers from Glenn Brown and Kyle Weaver to start the second quarter, the Hawks didn’t trail again.
A Coby Dillon trey pulled SSHS even at 27, before a game-altering stretch over the next 3-plus minutes saw the Hawks run off 15 unanswered points to take complete control of the contest. During that stretch, Brown scored six points on three close-range baskets, Jagger Barnes accounted for five points with a trey, Jack Byrer scored in the paint and KK Lewis threw down a dunk.
The Hawks went to halftime with a 44-29 lead after shooting 16 for 25 through the first 16 minutes.
“We told them in one of the timeouts, ‘if you get something easy early, take it, and if you don’t, pull it out and let’s make them play defense,’” Schmidle said. “They got tired in the second quarter and that’s when we made our run. I have to thank Morgantown High for that partially, because they wore them out yesterday. It seems like whoever we play on the second day of this thing, we have a little bit of an advantage, because they had to play Morgantown the night before and that’ll take a lot out of you.”
Shady Spring looked recharged to start the second half, which it began with seven straight points to pull to within eight. Dillon scored four of those points to go with a conventional three-point play from Charles Boggs, all of which occurred within the first 40 seconds of the third quarter.
But just as quickly as the Tigers looked to be within striking distance, the game got away from them again.
Brown’s three allowed UHS to lead 47-36 and marked the start of a 13-0 spurt that concluded with a pair of free throws from Eli Karpisnki, leaving UHS with a 57-36 advantage.
The Tigers outscored the Hawks 13-5 over the remainder of the third to trail 62-49 ahead of the fourth.
Dillon’s trey for Shady’s first points of the fourth cut the University lead to 64-52, but the Hawks responded with five straight points, including a fallaway from Brown, to put to rest any thought of the Tigers completing the rally.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Schmidle said. “We’re missing some assignments, but we’re slowly progressing.”
Brown made 10-of-16 shots and scored 24 points. Karpinski followed with 14 and made 8-of-9 free throws.
Luke Byrer scored 13 in the win and Lewis added 10 to make it four in double figures, while six UHS players recorded multiple assists and four had at least three.
“We had 23 assists and three of our games already, we’ve had at least 23 assists,” Schmidle said. “That’s a lot for a 32-minute high school basketball game. They’re starting to love each other.”
Dillon led Shady with 23, while Gabe Short and Eli Sexton scored 13 and 10, respectively, in defeat.