Sports in The Dominion Post

This article appeared in the Dominion Post Newspaper on February 7, 2003.
Mohigans come up lucky 11

Ian Benson/The Dominion Post

Morgantown's Ben Torsney gets ready to launch a shot against North Marion in Thursday night's victory.

BY MICHAEL CASAZZA

The Dominion Post

RACHEL -- Morgantown High's boys weren't going to let two bad quarters spoil 40 good ones Thursday.

No. 8 MHS trailed No. 9 North Marion 42-35 at the half, putting its 10-game winning streak in peril. But the Mohigans outscored the Huskies 24-7 in the third quarter behind nine points each from Kameron Law and Seth Fogarty as Morgantown won 70-59 and took a big step toward the NCAC championship with an 11th straight victory.

It was North Marion's first home loss of the season.

"This team is becoming mentally tough," Morgantown head coach Tom Yester said. "Mentally tough is what matters. And you better be to come in here and win. There are probably not to many teams that will come in here and get a win this year."

Fogarty scored 26 points and Law added 21. The two combined for 30 second half points.

MHS beat the Huskies 54-44 at home earlier this year, but winning at North Marion was going to be far more difficult. The Huskies' crowd was a cross between Raider Nation and the Dawg Pound -- silver and black clad fans with painted faces woofing like dog s.

The student section was on Geremy Rodamer the moment he came out of the locker room. There was a "Brandon Barrett" chant, reminding Rodamer the Martinsburg star edged him for the Kennedy award, and a rash of razzing for choosing Marshall over WVU.

Morgantown was admittedly at the crowd's mercy early on.

"We knew it was going to be a very difficult game," said Law. "It's so loud in here. You can't hear the plays being called. We're all screaming at each other. Their crowd is great. Very energetic. It took us a while to get used to it."

MHS (12-2, 9-1 NCAC) was torched by North Marion's Matt Lambert in the first half. Lambert scored 21 points from various spots on the court and was practically all the Huskies had going on offense. MHS trailed 35-28 at the half, thanks to a late push that cut into an 11-point deficit.

On the first shot of the second half, Danny Pethal hit a 3-pointer, but MHS answered with a 14-2 run. Law and Fogarty scored 11 of the points.

The offense was nice, but the defense made the difference. Lambert scored only six points in the second half and drew a crowd wherever he went. He took only five shots and made just one layup. The Huskies (10-3, 8-2) didn't have a second option.

"We finally found Lambert and followed him around the court," Yester said. "We were able to get back in the game with our defense and use it to get easy baskets."

Rodamer scored only one point and was cut on the top of his head in the second quarter. Rodamer's backup, Chad Murray, scored eight points and Tyler Benson added six. Both hit big 3s to answer North Marion rallies. Matt Simpson scored five and battled with 6-foot-7 Justin Jarman for rebounds throughout.

"That's what makes a good basketball team," Fogarty said. "We don't have one individual. We have a number of individuals who blend together and form a team. That's what it takes to be successful."

Box score

MORGANTOWN 70, NORTH MARION 59

MORGANTOWN (12-2, 9-1 NCAC)

Rodamer 0 1-2 1, Fogarty 8 9-14 26, Law 6 7-8 21, Benson 1 3-4 6, Simpson 2 0-3 4, Murray 3 0-0 8, Torsney 0 4-6 4, Dalton 0 0-0 0, Minutelli 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0, Holt 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0-0 0, Kerns 0 0-0 0, Totals 26 24-36 70.

NORTH MARION (10-3, 8-2)

Sell 3 0-0 7, Lambert 8 9-12 27, Jarman 3 2-4 8, Sturm 2 0-0 5, Pethal 1 0-0 3, Martin 0 0-0 0, Demus 3 0-0 8, Hahn 0 0-0 0, Swiger 0 1-2 1, Offutt 0 0-0 0, Myers 0 0-0 0, Totals 20 12-18 59.

Morgantown 11 17 24 18 -- 70

North Marion 16 19 7 17 -- 59

3-pointers: Morgantown 6 (Law 2, Murray 3, Fogarty, Benson), North Marion 7 (Lambert 2, Demus 2, Sell, Sturm, Pethal).