The West Virginia High School Boys Basketball State Tournament tips off this morning in Charleston. Five days, 28 games, culminating with the crowning of four new state champs next Saturday.
Just making to the state tournament is an achievement. If you play in the state tournament, win or lose, you will never forget it.
It’s a unique experience. Unlike college or pro sports, high school teammates have often grown up together, been together since elementary or even longer. They have shared the journey; countless hours and years of hard work have made this dream to the state tournament a reality.
In many West Virginia communities, the local high school basketball team is a cultural cornerstone, an annual source of collective pride. Entire communities often shut down to follow their teams to this event. Will anyone be left in the town of Wayne when the Pioneers make their first ever boys tourney appearance this week?
And then, there’s the finality of the experience.
For many of these players, the state tournament represents the end of their athletic careers, in basketball, anyway. The realization that they may never wear a jersey again or play in front of their hometown fans adds a layer of emotion, as every second ticks off the clock.
As the tourney begins, how about some fun with numbers?
Keep these numbers in your mind; 50, 33, 30 and 3.
Fifty points is the record for the most points scored in a single game of the tournament. Herbie Brooks from Mullens, poured in 50 against Parkersburg Catholic in 1983. His 50-point game is more impressive when you consider three-point field goals didn’t arrive at the state tournament until the end of the decade. Brooks was among the finest to ever to play for Don Nuckols with the Mullens Rebels.
The 1968 Charleston High Mountain Lions are in the conversation for the best team ever in West Virginia. Legendary coach Lou Romano had three future Mountaineers in his starting five that season; Curtis Price, Levi Phillips and Larry Harris. And it’s Harris who still holds the state tourney record for rebounds in a single game, collecting 33 boards against Wheeling in that 1968 championship season.
Teams that find success in this week’s state tournament will likely be solid at the free throw line. Bridgeport’s Scott Hartzell was all that and more in the 1991 tournament. Hartzell made a record 30 free throws in a row in the ’91 tourney and went 17-for-17 in one game against Tolsia.
Finally, here’s an indication of how the game of basketball has changed at the state tournament over the last century. In 1923, Keyser defeated Tyler County, 14 – 3 in Class B. Three is the fewest points ever scored by a team in a state tournament game. My great uncle Henry Howard scored Tyler County’s lone bucket in that game for the boys from Middlebourne. That basket helped get him on the all-tournament team that year.
So let the games begin!