MHS belts Bucs
But 19-point win not pretty
PREPROUNDUP
Bob Gay/The Dominion Post

Nick Hedges contributed 13 points and six rebounds to MHS's victory.

BY JUSTIN JACKSON

The Dominion Post

An amazing thing happened Wednesday night:

The No. 8 Morgantown High boys' basketball team committed 22 turnovers, shot just 7-of-23 (30 percent) from the foul line and couldn't hit an outside shot ... and won by 19 points.

"Usually when you win by that many points, you walk out of the locker room pretty happy," MHS point guard Bobby Prim said following the Mohigans' 63-44 victory over Buckhannon-Upshur. "I don't think anybody is too happy tonight, because that was about as ugly as a game you'll see."

The Mohigans' performance, or lack thereof, followed an 81-62 defeat at the hands of Fairmont Senior last Friday.

"I think some of the kids may still have that game in their heads," MHS coach Tom Yester said. "It looked like tonight we still haven't fully recovered from that loss."

Without much offense, MHS (9-3) relied on its full-court pressure defense. It worked.

"I was pretty pleased with the way we played defense tonight," Prim said. "We caused some turnovers and we didn't allow them to hit a lot of shots or get into a rhythm. The last couple of games, we've allowed teams to shoot the ball pretty well."

The Mohigans forced the Buccaneers (3-9) into 31 turnovers, 18 in the first half.

"The key tonight was our pressure defense," Yester said. "It pretty much had to be, because we didn't accomplish much offensively."

Prim led MHS with 15 points and Nick Hedges added 13 and six rebounds. The Mohigans' bench contributed 19 points.

"That was probably the difference, was our bench," Yester said. "We got a chance to get some guys in there and they played pretty well. I was not pleased with our starters. I thought they could have done more. Bobby Prim was probably our only bright spot of the night."

Behind a 13-5 scoring advantage in the second quarter, MHS held a 31-22 lead at halftime and closed the game with a 19-7 advantage in the fourth.

"Nobody's shots were dropping tonight," Prim said. "I think it just kind of spread through all of the guys. We were trying to pick each other up, but nothing seemed to work."

For as ugly as the game was, the Mohigans were glad to pull out the victory.

"That's the thing, we played bad and still won," Prim said. "You're not going to come out and catch fire every night. When you have a bad night, I think good teams will still find a way to win, and that's what we did tonight."

In another boys' game:

* Elkins dominated the first half and went on cruise control for a 77-57 victory over University. Nick Patella hit two 3-pointers and scored 18 points, leading four Tigers in double figures. UHS (4-10) was led by Casey Jackson's 17 points. The Hawks will host Morgantown High on Friday.

MORGANTOWN 63, BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR 44

BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR (3-9)

Davis 1 0-0 3, Koury 2 0-0 4, Kelley 1 1-2 4, Mills 2 0-0 4, Carson 2 4-4 8, Tomblyn 0 1-2 1, Burnside 5 2-4 15, Baxa 2 1-3 5, Weese 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 9-15 44.

MORGANTOWN (9-3)

Hedges 5 3-3 13, Prim 7 0-0 15, Shaver 4 0-1 8, Vidovich 2 0-2 4, Dalton 0 0-2 0, Fogarty 1 2-7 4, Murray 3 0-1 7, Rodamer 2 1-4 5, Simpson 2 1-3 5, Williams 1 0-0 2, Law 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 7-23 63.

Buckhannon-Upshur 17 5 15 7 -- 44

Morgantown 18 13 13 19 -- 63

3-point goals--Morgantown 2 (Prim 1, Murray 1), B-U 5 (Burnside 3, Davis 1, Kelley 1). Rebounds--Morgantown 44 (Hedges, Murray 6), B-U 34 (Carson 7).