CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Wyoming East sophomore Broc Johnson felt he had very little to do with the Warriors’ two-point win against Logan in a state quarterfinal a year ago.
Given a second chance on the same stage, Johnson made sure his impact was far greater, and his performance was a critical part of Wyoming East’s 81-56 victory over the Wildcats at the Charleston Coliseum.
Johnson led all players with 30 points on 10-for-19 shooting, made half of his eight three-point attempts and added eight rebounds to pace the No. 2 seed, which won its sixth straight over the last two seasons against LHS.
“It was definitely something I thought about going into it and I didn’t want to do it again, because I felt like I’d let my team down,” Johnson said. “Knowing my teammates and coaches trust in me helps. Coach tells me all the time, ‘if you miss 100 open ones, I can live with it.’”
Johnson didn’t miss many open or challenged ones, and his nine-point opening quarter helped stake WEHS (21-2) to an early 18-12 lead despite the Wildcats making 6-of-9 field-goal attempts, including all three taken by Lucas Lambert.
“We played really well tonight,” Warriors’ coach Kent McBride said. “I thought we were prepared for the moment.”
MetroNews broadcast interview with Wyoming East’s Kent McBride following their 81-56 win over Logan in the Class AA quarterfinals: #wvprepbb pic.twitter.com/dRoJdb5iQn
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No. 7 Logan (11-14) did a better job on Johnson in the second, but the Warriors showcased their depth and balance and got six points on 3-for-3 shooting from 6-foot-8 Konnor Fox and five points from reserve Braedy Johnston to build a 38-26 halftime advantage.
“They have a couple different weapons and they were hitting on all cylinders,” Logan coach Mark Hatcher said of the Warriors.
Logan had the far better shooting percentage at halftime (54.5 to 43.8), but the Warriors had attempted 10 more shots as a result of four fewer turnovers and a 20-14 rebounding edge, including 12-6 offensively. In turn, McBride’s team had nine of 10 second-chance points between the two teams at the break.
“They’re a really good offensive rebounding team and that’s going to help them the next couple rounds,” Hatcher said. “They’re solid everywhere. They have great basketball players.”
Logan got as close as 10 during the third quarter, but Johnson proved too tough to handle and scored nine of his 11 points in the period over the final 4:14, including a follow-up of his own miss for the final points of the frame that allowed his team to lead 58-44 with 8 minutes remaining.
“We came here last year and he played terrible here. When we left, he got to work,” McBride said of Johnson. “When we get in these moments, our conversation is it’s not one game, but rather we’ve had 68 practices and 22 games, so he’s ready.”
The Wildcats got no closer in the fourth than what their deficit was to start it, while WEHS made 8-of-15 shots and 6-of-8 free throws to produce its highest scoring output in any quarter with 23 points.
Talan Muscari was East’s second leading scorer with 14 points, while Keegan Davidson scored 11 and Fox finished with 10 and eight boards on 5-for-5 shooting.
The Warriors made 31-of-65 shots.
“We just trust that these guys make the right play,” McBride said. “I don’t have to over-coach offense. If the quality is good, we’ll live with the result and when the quality is good, 47 percent is what you’re going to get.”
Lambert and Ben Williamson led Logan with 16 points apiece, while Ivan Miller contributed 14 points and 10 boards.
The Wildcats made 23-of-44 two-point field-goal attempts, but were 0 for 10 on threes.
“We shot some wild shots out of desperation,” Hatcher said. “Typically, we’re not a great three-point shooting team and we score most of our points in the paint. When you have a 6-8 guy down there, it makes it hard on what we want to try and do against these guys.”
With the win, Wyoming East advances to play Bluefield in a semifinal Friday.