Robinson, Lindsay combine for 51
BY JUSTIN JACKSON The Dominion Post
JUSTIN JACKSON is a sports reporter for The Dominion Post. He can be reached at sports@dominionpost.com
FAIRMONT — Sooner or later, there will come a time when the Morgantown High boys’ basketball team will need scoring from players other than Marlan Robinson and Jeff Lindsay to survive.
MHS coach Tom Yester knows it. He’s talked about it and has worked on it in practice.
Wednesday night, against East Fairmont, though, was not one of those times.
Robinson poured in a seasonhigh 30 points and Lindsay added 21, as the No. 3-ranked Mohigans ran past a gutty effort by the Bees for a 78-67 victory, at the East Fairmont gymnasium.
“Marlan and Lindsay were on the money tonight and it’s a good thing, because you have to give a lot of credit to East. They kept hanging in there and played one heck of a game,” Yester said. “It was a situation where we took advantage of a few more mistakes than they did. We knocked down our free throws down the stretch and our two guys went off, but, I’ll tell you, East Fairmont is going to be one tough team to beat at the end of the season.”
The Mohigans (9-1) have still not lost to a team from West Virginia and had the lead throughout, but the Bees (4-7) were able to run and score with MHS for much of the game and were never outscored by more than five points in any of the four quarters.
The Bees had four players in double figures, led by point guard Adam Leonard, with 19. The miniature but pesky point guard kept sliding between and around MHS defenders and somehow continued to get off good shots or dish to an open teammate.
Derek Sevier, Brandon Cleveland and Jacob Janicki each scored 12 points for East Fairmont.
“What makes them tough to defend is the little guy [Leonard], and then you throw in Sevier, who can jump with the best of them,” Yester said.
Elliott Law added 10 points for the Mohigans, who travel to Fairmont Senior on Friday, and Yester said it’s becoming crucial for the Mohigans for Law and others to keep chipping in.
“They began to play some triangle-and-two defense on us tonight,” Yester said. “I’m sure a lot more teams will take a look at that. If teams do that, I’ll probably use [Jamie] Karraker more off the bench. He’s our best shooter.
“I think this was the first time in double digits for Eliott all season. I’d like to see more of that. I’d like to see him and [J.T.] Lewis take more shots or at least go to the basket with it and use their athleticism more.”
Robinson’s scoring output pushed his season average up to 20.2 per game. The Bees couldn’t stop the 6-foot-5 swingman when he decided to put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket.
Lindsay is second on the team in scoring, at 13.7 ppg.
“Marlan and Lindsay were tough tonight,” Yester said. “They were able to get out and run and score some points in transition, but we gave up our share of easy baskets on the other end, too.”
