CHARLESTON, W.Va. — North Marion spent the majority of its quarterfinal matchup with Shady Spring playing from behind before ultimately prevailing by two points.
The Class AAA No. 2 Huskies had no interest in attempting to repeat that script in Friday’s state semifinal with No. 3 Bridgeport.
Instead, North Marion led for the final 29 minutes, utilizing a mixture of stellar offensive execution and sound defensive play to record a 62-46 win over the Tribe.
“We want to play at our pace and our tempo. Sometimes, we can go on a stretch not scoring. It’s always great to get the lead early, speed people up and make them take quick shots,” Huskies’ coach Steve Harbert said. “That’s kind of our goal. The credit to our guys is that even when we missed some bunnies, we just kept going.”
Bridgeport (20-5) opened the second with a Jake Holcomb three-pointer, but the Huskies scored the next nine points and limited the Indians to one field goal over the remainder of the opening period.
MetroNews broadcast interview with North Marion’s Steve Harbert after their 62-46 win over Bridgeport in the Class AAA semifinals: #wvprepbb pic.twitter.com/v83umZWU1J
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Point guard Eli Ramsey’s eight first-quarter points were two more than the Tribe totaled and helped stake NMHS (21-2) to a 17-6 lead after 8 minutes.
“When you get up early, it takes the pressure off you,” Ramsey said. “It helps you relax and play your game and then they play a game that you’re more comfortable playing.”
After shooting 2 for 7 in the opening quarter, Bridgeport was far better offensively in the second period and made 7-of-13 shots to score 17 points and cut its deficit to 31-23 at the break.
Ramsey led all players with 15 points at the intermission, while Harbert’s team made half of its 24 field-goal attempts in the opening two quarters.
“They just took it to us. They smacked us in the mouth so to speak, especially early in the game and then we had to play a little bit different and the whole first half, we were kind of fighting ourselves,” BHS coach Dave Marshall said.
Cole Morris and Jacob Kucish accounted for the first two field goals of the third quarter to stretch the North Marion advantage to 12.
“The first 4 minutes of the second half are critical,” Harbert said. “If you’re down, you better push the tempo and really fly around and if you’re up, we still wanted to be in attack mode.”
Later in the third, after Bridgeport’s Anderson McDougal made a three to cut the deficit to nine, Huskies’ reserve Mason Parrish countered with a pair of treys over the final 2:05 of the frame, including one that left his team with a 47-34 lead through three quarters.
Bridgeport continued to battle and its deficit was 50-42 when freshman Daniel Riley made two free throws with 2:45 remaining.
“I was amazed we were down eight with 2 or 3 minutes,” Marshall said. “I told them in a timeout, ‘we couldn’t play any worse and here we are down eight to that outfit.’”
Gavin Williams’ three with 1:27 left brought the Tribe to within seven, but Conner Balwanz scored the next three points on one free throw and a bucket, before Maddox Batson iced the victory with two free throws with 47 seconds left.
NMHS shot 22 for 43 from the field 13 for 18 on free throws and turned it over only seven times.
“Our guys did a great job executing in the third quarter and down the stretch, we executed and made foul shots,” Harbert said.
Ramsey led all players with 18 points, Balwanz scored 16 and Parrish added eight while making all three field-goal attempts.
Morris’ eight rebounds were a team best and instrumental in North Marion’s 33-27 advantage on the glass.
McDougal made 7-of-11 shots and led Bridgeport with 18 points, while Williams scored nine in defeat.
The Indians turned it over just nine times but made only 16-of-42 shots.
“They did to us,” Marshall said, “what we pride ourselves on doing to other teams.”