SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.V – It was all South from the jump in the North-South Boys’ Basketball Classic at the South Charleston Community Center as the Cardinals used an early run and furious pace to blow past the North Bears, 126-81.
“That’s how you get the most minutes out of your minutes. You run up and down the floor and three minutes feels like eight so that’s what we wanted to do tonight and get everybody to stretch their legs and with those kind of athletes, my goodness, it makes the game very efficient when you run the floor like that,” South coach Jason Westfall said.
After a back-and-forth start, the South rattled off a 9-0 run at the 15-minute mark of the first half as Tug Valley’s Braydun Ferris and Spring Valley’s Harrison Riggs turned up the tempo in transition. A three from Magnolia’s Kingston Christen stemmed the tide for a moment, but the first half remained a South showcase.
The lead hit double digits with 11 minutes to play in the half on a follow-up by Buckhannon Upshur’s Jerin Westfall while South Charleston’s Malcolm Brown bumped the lead to 15 with a stick back moments later.
After a three from Bluefield’s Jase Smith, Riggs got to work in the open floor, finishing a tough layup at the rim to push the lead past 20 and then hammering the first of several Cardinal slam dunks on his next breakaway.
With under a minute to play in the first, the South turned defense into offense and offense into highlights with a succession of steals leading to alley-oop jams for Riggs and Wayne’s Colten Heck, followed by a transition hoop for Ferris that capped a dominant 20 minutes with the Cardinals ahead, 62-34.
Westfall picked up right where the South left off to start the second half, burying a pair of three-pointers that ballooned the advantage up over 30. The game marked the last time that Westfall would take the floor with his father as his head coach.
“It’s a little surreal. I enjoy it. All these men, they’re a great group and he fits right in. It’s a great moment,” Jason Westfall said.
The dominance didn’t let up with the offensive barrage pushing the lead past 40 and then 50 as Riggs sliced his way to the hoop to put the Cardinals over the century mark at 100-48 with more than ten minutes to play.
The ensuing stretch belonged to the North, with the Bears making a 19-5 run behind Frankfort’s Jeremy Phillips and Morgantown’s Waylon Colistra. That proved to be too little too late, though, as the South rolled to its 30th win in 37 games.
Riggs earned most valuable player honors for the South, matching Princeton’s Jayce Gum for a game-high 23 points. Three more Cardinals cracked double figures, with Smith adding 17, Westfall chipping in 15, and Brown tallying 12.
“It’s a blast; genuinely awesome to play with such good players and some players that I dreamed about playing with all year long and I finally get to. It’s a dream come true to be honest,” Riggs said.
After teaming up for the first time to lead the South to victory, Riggs, Gum, and Smith will be teammates again next season at WVU Tech.
“I actually got to go to a camp with them last week and then this week to finally play with them, it’s awesome and I get to play with them all next year. There’s nothing better,” Riggs said.
Phillips was named North MVP with a team-best 22 points, supported by 16 from Colistra and 11 from Lewis County’s Jesse Kemper.