Sports in The Dominion Post

This article appeared in the Dominion Post Newspaper on January 24, 2004.
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Polar Bears give MHS boys a chill

Torsney (19 points, 12 rebounds) comes up big

BY JUSTIN JACKSON

The Dominion Post

FAIRMONT -- It wasn't a game No. 2-ranked Morgantown won. It was a game the Mohigans survived.

While teammates around him were having an off night, MHS center Ben Torsney stepped up his play with 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Mohigans to a 67-62 victory against Fairmont Senior, on Friday.

The Mohigans (10-0) led wire-to-wire, but they could never put away the Polar Bears (5-7).

"We made more mistakes that a first-year typist," Morgantown High coach Tom Yester said. "We pride ourselves on being a defensive team. We usually give up 50 (points). Well, you see how many we gave up tonight. It was a matter of us not being focused.

"On offense, we didn't get the ball down low enough. When we did, we made some nice plays, but we didn't get it down there enough."

MHS power forward Kameron Law added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

His and Torsney's performances were desperately needed. Morgantown's leading scorer, Chris Carey, started the game well with 11 first-half points, but didn't score in the second half, while Tyler Benson was held to seven points.

"You realize when other guys are having off nights, but I try to go out there and just play my game no matter what," Torsney said. "I was able to get some offensive rebounds tonight, plus the guys did a good job feeding the ball down low."

Torsney's last two baskets helped to fend off a late Polar Bears charge. With under five minutes to play, Torsney put back an offensive rebound to give MHS a 61-53 lead, then did it again with 3:21 left for a 63-53 lead. Add in a blocked shot late in the game and some rebounds and you could see why Yester was proud of his performance.

"Ben is a competitor and he wants to win," Yester said. "If he can have some success early in the game, that usually gets him going. He got some early baskets tonight and that kept him fueled up for the rest of the game.

"He had a nice block late in the game and we certainly needed his rebounding. Ben played with a lot of confidence tonight."

Center Isaac Layfield led the Polar Bears with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Jay Carpenter scored 17 points.

"Layfield was just killing us tonight," Torsney said. "More than anything else tonight, I thought our team should have played some better defense. We got some plays down the stretch, but we should have played better defense tonight."

The Mohigans are still struggling with offense, but Torsney said the focus has to be on the defense.

"The scoring will come along eventually," Torsney said. "I don't think we have to be a team that needs to score in the 70s to win, anyway. We need to be a team that concentrates more on holding other teams down. It all starts with defense."

John Oliver came off the bench to add eight points for the Mohigans.

Morgantown 67

Fairmont Senior 62

MORGANTOWN (10-0)

Benson 3 0-1 7, Law 7 0-0 14, Jones 0 2-2 2, Torsney 8 3-7 19, Oliver 3 0-0 8, Kerns 1 3-4 6, Hall 0 0-0 0, Carey 4 1-2 11, Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 9-16 67.

FAIRMONT SENIOR (5-7)

Du. Jones 0 0-0 0, Dw. Jones 3 4-4 13, Layfield 7 2-4 16, Donato 1 0-0 3, Cimaglia 5 2-5 13, Carpenter 6 3-4 17, Tennant 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 11-17 62.

Morgantown24 10 19 14 -- 67

Fairmont Senior 20 5 18 19 -- 62

3-point goals--Morgantown 6 (Oliver 2, Carey 2, Benson 1, Kerns 1), Fairmont Senior 7 (Dw. Jones 3, Carpenter 2, Donato 1, Cimaglia 1).

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