From Martinsburg Journal
South hands Martinsburg first loss


2-07-04
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

Journal Sports Writer

MARTINSBURG - The last time the Martinsburg boys basketball team lost,
Parkersburg South's Matt Shamblin torched the Bulldogs for 39 points in the
Class AAA state title game in March.

There was one play Saturday night where South Hagerstown's David Miner
reminded Rogers of Shamblin, which was appropriate. Miner scored 33 points,
slicing through the Martinsburg defense to hand the No. 1 Bulldogs their
first loss since that championship game.

The Rebels, 13-2, won 75-66 at the Martinsburg Fieldhouse, never trailing
after going ahead 5-4 just more than a minute into the game. South went up
by seven after one quarter, 15 at the half, 18 after three quarters and, at
two points in time, taking 20-point leads in the fourth quarter.

Gene Johnson also came up big for the Rebels with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

The Bulldogs, 11-1, who won the first meeting 64-60 in Hagerstown back on
Dec. 30, just never seemed to get in sync after playing their first game in
15 days. Martinsburg made just 22 of 74 shots (29 percent) as it struggled
with South's zone defense.

The Bulldogs rallied to make 21 of 39 foul shots (53 percent), an impressive
statistic when you consider the Bulldogs made just 4 of 17 shots from the
line in the first half. Better foul shooting in the first half might have
made a big difference in the second half.

"We lost by nine, so if we shoot 75 percent, we're not too far away," Rogers
said. "We've been doing different drills, but we finally decided to relax in
hopes that one day it will come and we'll start shooting well.

"Basketball is a team game, but free throws are a personal thing. No one can
shoot them for you."

Miner certainly didn't need anyone shooting for him. He started off slowly,
making 3 of his first 11 shots, but he made 13 of 28 for the game,
repeatedly burning Martinsburg with an array of layups, dunks and 3-pointers.

"Our defense wasn't that good the first time," said Miner after signing a
couple of autographs. "Our defense led to fast-break points, and we got a
lot of second-chance points."

"We came out fired up for them. I didn't think it would be a blowout. I was
surprised."

Miner might have been surprised at how quickly the game got out of hand, but
there's no doubt that South felt it would win this game.

"I felt all along that we were the better team," South coach Bob Starkey
said. "We can play even better than we did tonight. We play tougher teams.
The big game around here for them is Hedgesville, and they're not even that
good.

"This was a good win for us. I thought it would be a good game."

Starkey said he felt Martinsburg would struggle if the Rebels played better
zone defense.

"We shored up some holes in the zone," he said. "I thought we rebounded
well. We executed a lot better."

Rogers said he felt his team executed well early with inside passing, but
fell apart after that.

"They forced us outside and our shots weren't falling," he said. "Their big
guys can spread out and cover a lot of space."

Rogers said his team will just have to regroup, as the team has a difficult
week coming up with games against three Top-10 teams in West Virginia. The
Bulldogs play Hedgesville on Tuesday, Beckley Woodrow Wilson on Wednesday
and probable new No. 1, Morgantown, on Saturday.

"I felt like we were running on a treadmill," Rogers said. "We didn't have a
single bright spot."

Jeff Horst had 20 points and nine rebounds and Durrell Johnson 19 points and
11 rebounds for Martinsburg.