Sports in The Dominion Post

This article appeared in the Dominion Post Newspaper on December 18, 2002.
Makeshift MHS pulls away from Preston

Minus 2 starters, Mohigans escape early hole, 61-34

BY JUSTIN JACKSON

The Dominion Post

KINGWOOD -- Preston High boys' basketball coach Barry Sanders doesn't know how it happened or why it happened.

It just happened.

In the early moments of the second quarter Tuesday, Zach Metheny hit a jumpshot to give the Knights a 17-14 lead over Morgantown High.

Preston didn't score again until the final seconds of the second quarter, and that was all MHS needed.

A makeshift Mohigans lineup made up of call-ups from the junior varsity squad and regulars playing out of position was enough to dominate the Knights, 61-34, in the season-openers for both teams.

"We've got guys banged up and others playing in positions they shouldn't," said MHS guard Tyler Benson, who led the Mohigans with 13 points. "Basically, we're just trying to pick up the pieces and fill in holes until everyone gets back."

That includes Geremy Rodamer, who is expected to play point guard for the Mohigans but is out with a shoulder bruise from the football season. It also includes Dan Dalton, who is recovering from injuries suffered in a car accident.

Meanwhile, Seth Fogarty, normally the Mohigans' shooting guard, is now the point guard, and everyone else is just sort of filling in.

It made for a rusty outfit early on, one that looked nothing like the team that finished 22-4 a year ago.

"We were rusty tonight," MHS coach Tom Yester said. "It took us a while before we could get thing going. A lot of that credit goes to the job Preston was doing, but also some of it is credited with the fact that we had some kids out there who were nervous and weren't used to being out there."

Benson got the Mohigans (1-0) going with three consecutive 3-pointers. "Benson kept us in the game early," Yester said.

"It definitely helped me get the jitters out," Benson added.

But Preston (0-1) went stride-for-stride in the first quarter, finishing with a 15-14 advantage. The Knights worked the ball inside, hit a couple of jumpers and shook things up with a full-court press from time to time.

Then came the second quarter, and as the Mohigans began to look like they were getting used to each other, Preston fell apart.

"We're up 17-14 in the second quarter and then we just lost the momentum," Preston coach Barry Sanders said. "We never got it back. What'd we score tonight, 34 points? You're not going to win a game by only scoring 34 points."

The Knights were held to 19 points over the final three quarters.

"We got our defense going some," Yester said. "They have little guards and we put some pressure out top on them. That caused some turnovers and we were finally able to get out and run."

The question for the Mohigans now becomes, what will this team look like when everybody gets back?

"You look at our lineup a month from now, it won't look anything like it did tonight," Yester said. "When we get Geremy back, we'll have our point guard, and not too many people in the state are going to take the ball from him.

"I eventually see a team that is going to get out and run more than we did tonight. I think we'll have a team that will score at least in the 70s on a nightly basis."

Box score

MORGANTOWN 61, PRESTON 34

MORGANTOWN (1-0)

Fogarty 3 1-1 7, Minutelli 1 1-1 3, Murray 2 0-0 6, Simpson 1 0-0 2, Williams 2 1-3 5, Benson 5 0-0 13, Holt 1 0-0 2, Law 2 4-4 8, Tornsey 3 3-3 9, Hines 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0-0 0, Kerns 3 0-0 6. Totals 23 10-12 61.

PRESTON (0-1)

Burnside 1 3-5 5, Westbrook 3 0-0 6, Walls 1 0-0 2, Boone 3 3-5 9, Metheny 4 0-0 9, Waybright 0 0-0 0, Martin 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Blake 0 3-5 3, Kelly 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 9-15 34.

Morgantown 14 15 12 20 -- 61

Preston 15 4 7 8 -- 34

3-point goals--Morgantown 5 (Benson 3, Murray 2), Preston 1 (Metheny). Rebounds--Morgantown 29 (Law 7), Preston 21 (Boone 6).