‘Off-and-on’ Mohigans overrule the Monarchs

MHS boys pull away to victory in fourth quarter

BY JOSH STROPE The Dominion Post
PRESTON’S inside game overcomes hot-shooting Polar Bears. Page 2-B 
    Nothing can scare a coach more than a winless team. It comes into contests after many tough losses, desperate for that first victory.
    Most importantly, it has nothing to lose.
    John Marshall traveled to Morgantown High on Thursday with thoughts of an upset. Luckily for MHS coach Tom Yester, his Mohigans were up for the challenge and held off the Monarchs, 83-64.
    “This is a team that had something to prove,” Yester said. “They played some solid competition all year and they are going to be a team that is going to knock someone out at the end of the season.”
    The Monarchs (0-8) played evenly with the No. 6-ranked team in the state, only trailing by two points at the end of the first quarter.
    The second quarter is when things started to slip away.
    The Mohigans (6-2) outscored John Marshall by 13 points to separate the teams at the intermission.
    John Marshall was able to outscore Morgantown in the third but the Mohigans defense was up to the task in the fourth, holding the Monarchs to eight points.
    Chris Carey was the leading scorer for Morgantown, with 16 points, but the surprise of the night came from Quinn Law.
    Law scored 15 points in the best game of his career. Law played aggressively, diving on the floor for loose balls. His highlight was when he came from nowhere to block a Sean Freenland shot.
    “Quinn is going to be the key,” Yester said. “He’s the only legitimate big guy for us.”
    Marlan Robinson and Jeff Lindsay joined Carey and Law in the double digit category. Lindsay had 12 points, while Robinson collected 15 and a team-high eight rebounds.
    Zach Amedro was the leading scorer for John Marshall, with 19 points. Bryan Berger had 18 points.
    “(Jeff) Lindsay and (John) Hatfield came off the bench for us tonight and were huge,” Yester said. “They stepped up and balanced out some of our players that struggled tonight.”
    While Yester thought his team ran the ball well and his scoring was consistent, he still only gave his team a “B” grade.
    “We were very off and on,” Yester said.
    The Monarchs cutting the lead to nine at the end of three quarters, but Morgantown didn’t allow them to get any closer, a “step-on-thethroat” mentality Yester desperately needed to see from his team.
    “Every year a team goes through a period where they are trying to find their identity,” Yester said. “I think we are finally starting to find ours.”
    The Mohigans next play East Fairmont, on Jan. 18.

Bob Gay/The Dominion Post Morgantown’s Marlan Robinson eyes the basket while John Marshall’s Aaron Kesener (left) and Anthony Montes throw up a defense. Robinson scored 15 points to lead the Mohigans to victory.