MHS blasts Brooke

Pittsnogle, Martinsburg pay visit today

Jim Moore/The Dominion Post

Brooke's Chris Goode (right)tries to steal a shot from MHS's Chad Murray and gets a ball in the face.

BY MICHAEL CASAZZA

The Dominion Post

Morgantown's boys weren't going to worry about today's showdown with No. 1 ranked Martinsburg before Friday's game against No. 10 Brooke. Nope, because MHS had plenty of time to look ahead to the Bulldogs during its 79-50 rout of the Bruins.

Morgantown's starters rested most of the second half, a sweet reward for racing to a 16-0 lead, hitting seven of their first eight shots and using a variety of presses to force turnovers on Brooke's first six possessions.

"You're always surprised when you're that hot," MHS coach Tom Yester said. "I didn't expect that but we were determined to try a few different presses. We though, overall in the backcourt, we had an advantage. We wanted to go out and create some tempo and we did."

The Mohigans bench scored 19 points, 11 coming in the nine-plus minutes logged during the final two quarters, when the starters were relegated to towel-waving cheerleaders.

"Coach just tried to rest us for (today) after we got out to the early lead," said starter Justin Vidovich, who scored a game-high 19 points. "We subbed the other guys in and they stepped it up and kept it up. It's fun when they play good."

Yester called on the bench at the four-minute mark of the third period while holding a 24-point lead. Entering the final period, the lead was at 25 points. Up by 32 with just over five minutes remaining, Yester subbed again and watched the lead slide to a fairly comfortable 29 points by game's end.

Matt Simpson was Friday's super-sub with 11 points and nine rebounds while playing stingy defense in the paint.

"Simpson is an aggressive kid and he's highly motivated," Yester said. "He's going to go get the ball and he jumps pretty well. He's not going to back down and he didn't. That really was an excellent example of what he can do."

Vidovich started the game with consecutive layups off turnovers and, after a Ronnie Shaver steal and Seth Fogarty lay-in, rattled in a dunk for an 8-0 lead.

Vidovich then stole the ball at half-court and fed Fogarty for another bucket. Prim and Hedges followed with back-to-back 3-pointers to send the Bruins (6-3) into a timeout.

"We had to step up the pressure and that kind of bothered them a little bit," Vidovich said. "Coach said we had to get the defense and the hustle on early. We stepped up, got some early turnovers and kept it up from there. We try to capitalize of the turnovers, make them pay for it, and we did good with that."

Morgantown enters today's game with a 7-1 record against the Bulldogs. The center of attention, so to speak, will be Martinsburg's Kevin Pittsnogle, who recently signed a letter of intent to play at WVU. Pittsnogle scored 19 points in a 66-58 victory against the Mohigans last season.

"He's kind of a double-whammy for most of us, particularly at this level, because he can shoot over you," Yester said. "He's a good shooter and he may even be better than that. And of course, he can power by you. So we've got out hands full."

Hedges draws the task of containing Pittsnogle today.

"You can't let him catch it easy wherever he wants it," Yester said. "The big thing Hedges has to do is, on the offensive end, make him come out and play the perimeter of the floor and open it up inside for us."

Box score

MORGANTOWN 79, BRROKE 50

BROOKE (6-3)

Goode 1 0-0 2, Henry 5 0-0 11, Scherich 1 2-2 4, Withers 3 3-5 9, Eastham 5 2-4 12, Wargo 1 1-2 3, Dudley 0 0-2 0, Barnes 0 0-2 2, Burch 3 1-3 7, Gaglione 1 0-0 2, Prantil 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 9-16 50.

MORGANTOWN (7-1)

Prim 5 2-2 13, Fogarty 4 1-4 9, Hedges 7 1-2 16, Shaver 1 1-2 3, Vidovich 7 2-2 19, Dalton 2 1-2 5, Murray 0 1-2 1, Rodamer 0 0-0 0, Simpson 5 1-2 11, Williams 0 2-2 2. Totals 31 12-20 79.

Brooke 13 11 15 11 -- 50

Morgatown 29 18 17 15 -- 79

3-point goals--Brooke 1 (Henry), Morgantown 5 (Vidovich 3, Prim 1, Hedges 1).