BY JUSTIN JACKSON The Dominion Post
JUSTIN JACKSON is a sports reporter for The Dominion Post. He can be reached at sports@dominionpost.com
They say, in golf, the shanks are a virus and you never know when they’re going to strike. If it’s true, then slow starts in basketball might be considered in the same viral family. After surviving an unusual slow start Friday night, one that saw Brooke lead fourth-ranked Morgantown, 16-14, after the first quarter, the Mohigans blew past the Bruins, 78-47, at the MHS gymnasium. “You can’t get rattled in situations like that,” MHS coach Tom Yester said. “And tonight, we didn’t.” Instead, the Mohigans woke up and started to play the kind of basketball they’re usually known for — running, easy baskets and solid defense. “I count them for 22 turnovers and I would say most of those came after the first quarter,” Yester said. “We had about seven, so if you’re creating more than you’re giving away that’s pretty good. Our problem in the first quarter was we weren’t really creating a lot of pressure situations.” Which didn’t make Yester too pleased. “Of course not, they outscored us,” he said. “I look at the other three quarters, though, and I see 21, 18 and 25 points. I’ll take that.”
The Mohigans (6-1) have had a few slow starts in recent seasons, but they usually came at the wrong time — during state tournament play.
“It’s a whole different ballgame at that point,” Yester said. “At that point you know you’re playing a team that’s high up on the ladder, which makes it difficult.
“You hope you get things corrected and move on and I thought the guys did a great job of picking up the intensity after the first quarter.”
It was a night of balanced scoring for the Mohigans. Marlan Robinson led the way with 18 points and Jeff Lindsay and J.T. Lewis each added 11 points.
Jamie Karraker came off the bench to score eight points and John Hatfield also scored eight.
“That’s what you want to see,” Yester said. “We’ve got to be able to get a lot of people involved. This team can run, but we also have to be able to get points from more than one or two players.
“I think our depth kind of wore on them and we started to break away in the second half. A lot of that came from our defense and our depth and we have to be able to keep that up.”
