Knights clip MHS in opener
Hold on for 55-53 home victory
BY ERIC HERTER The Dominion Post
KINGWOOD — For Preston High School it was memorable, while Morgantown would just as soon forget the opening to the 2006-’07 boys basketball season.
A last-second jumper, which would have tied the game, was short for the Mohigans (0-1) and the Knights (1-0) — who lost their opener, 73-46, to MHS last year — held on for the 55-53 victory.
“We handled their pressure very well early on,” PHS head coach Barry Sanders said. “And we turned that pressure into some easy baskets.”
The Knights used a 14-0 run to end the first quarter to jump out to a 19-5 lead to start the second quarter before the Mohigans were able to begin digging their way out. MHS used some stingy defense of their own as they forced seven PHS turnovers in the second quarter and held the Knights to just five field attempts.
A 9-0 MHS run cut the lead to 23-19 and a 3-pointer by guard Tyrell Rembert cut the lead to 24-23 just before half.
The game remained close the rest of the way as the Knights clung to their lead for the entire third quarter, never leading by more than six points at any given time.
Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Mohigans tied the game a 48 on a three-point play by J.T. Lewis with 2:45 left in the game. However, the Knights hit 9-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
“That’s the difference right there,” Sanders said while pointing to his stat sheet. “We were 4-of-10 free throw shooting in the first half and in the second half we hit 11-of-12. That’s just great shooting by us.”
Guard Major Meyers said the woeful first half free throw shooting isn’t normal for the Knights.
“We usually shoot the ball better than we did tonight — especially from the foul line,” Meyers said. “I guess we just needed the pressure to be on us to hit the shots.”
MHS had a chance to take the lead late in the game, with PHS holding a one-point lead, but Steve Groves stole the entry pass into the post and was fouled. He then sank a pair of free throws to finish with 13 points on the night.
“That was a big swing in momentum,” MHS head coach Tom Yester said. “We had a chance to take a lead and then they get points off of it.”
Preston pushed its lead to 55-50 with under a minute to play but the Mohigans fought their way back as Rembert hit a 3-pointer and then stole an inbounds pass.
However, the Mohigans missed two golden chances to tie the game at the foul line as they missed a pair of free throws. Still, they grabbed the rebound and had a chance to tie the game but the shot was short and Preston celebrated the win at midcourt.
“We just have to find somebody who can knock it in for us,” Yester said of his team’s shooting, which was 40 percent from the field including 7-of-20 from behind the 3-point line. “Now we have to forget about this one because we have some more tough games coming up.”
Major Meyers led the Knights with 14 points and seven assists while Josh Adams scored 12 with seven rebounds and Trapper Jennings added seven points with eight rebounds.
Taylor Dunn led MHS with 10 points and five rebounds while Cameron Taylor netted nine points.
MORGANTOWN (0-1)
Taylor 3 3-3 9, J. Lewis 2 4-6 8, Fletcher 1 0-0 2, Law 1 0-3 2, Schifano 1 1-2 6, Dunn 4 0-0 10, Carey 0 0-0 0, Long 1 0-1 2, Ryan 3 0-0 8, Rembert 2 0-0 6, Cooke 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 8-15 53.
PRESTON (1-0)
Adams 5 1-2 12, Jennings 3 1-2 7, Betler 3 0-0 6, Myers 3 7-9 14, Groves 4 5-7 13, Fike 0 0-0 0, Keenan 0 0-0 0, Walls 1 0-0 2, King 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 15-22 55. Morgantown 5 18 14 16 — 53 Preston 16 10 16 13 — 55 3-pointers: MHS 7 (Schifano, Dunn 2, Ryan 2, Rembert 2). Preston 2 (Adams, Myers). JV Score: Morgantown won.

Freshman Boys MHS 57, Preston 29
Jeff Allen scored 13 points to lead the Mohigans and teammates Nathan Colombo scored 11 and Sam Runner scored 10. Preston was led by Anthony Riley’s 10 points.

Jason DeProspero/Dominion Post Morgantown High’s Derek Long tries to shoot over Preston’s Trapper Jennings during Tuesday night’s game in Kingwood.