Mohigans roll past B-U for eighth-straight victory
Morgantown stays unbeaten in conference

BY ERIC HANLON The Dominion Post
Win streaks come and go, but when in the midst of one everything seems to go right. The Morgantown High School boys’ basketball team is proof of that.
Wednesday night the Mohigans rolled off their eighth consecutive victory in a 73-30 mauling of their North Central Athletic Conference foe Buckhannon-Upshur.
The win pushed the Mohigans to 10-2 overall and kept them unbeaten with a 6-0 record in the NCAC.
For the life of them, the Buccaneers (4-7), couldn’t keep up with the Mohigans. But what even better news was how MHS looked in the victory.
“In every game, especially ones like this, you either get better or you get worse. I thought we got a little better,” MHS head coach Tom Yester said. “It was nice to see that the intensity was up all game long and that after we got up big, guys weren’t looking up at the scoreboards and fooling around.
In the win, every facet of the Mohigans’ game was clicking.
“Obviously we played well,” Yester said. “They rebounded well, and took good shots. We ran the ball effectively and did a pretty good job all around.”
Rebounding was particularly a strong point for the Mohigans, who limited second chances for the Buccaneers all night long.
“I’m not sure what the rebound margin was, but it was very good,” Yester said. “Any time you limit someone to 30 points that’s pretty good and a lot of that is that they were only getting one chance to shoot every time down the floor.”
The Mohigans out-rebounded the Buccaneers 14-6 in the second quarter alone while outscoring them 17-1.
Possibly the biggest reason for the Mohigans dominance on the glass was the overpowering play of senior Jay Fletcher.
Fletcher had a good game all around, scoring eight points, pulling down eight rebounds, dishing out five assists and had three devastating blocked shots that sent the ball into the crowd.
“I’m trying to be the main man out there,” Fletcher said. “I like to move it around and share the ball. I try not to be too selfish out there and keep my teammates happy.”
Fletcher’s numbers could have been even better, but with the Mohigans up as much as they were, Yester had the opportunity to get some of his bench players some experience.
And again, only good things came from having the second string in.
“The guys came in and looked really good,” Yester said. “We got a particularly solid effective effort from Lunden Ryan coming off the bench.”
Ryan, a MHS senior, may be one of the team’s best untapped resources and has played very when he has gotten his opportunities. In the game Ryan recorded nine points and five steals that all led to other points for MHS.
“We have a lot of depth on this team,” Ryan said. “Any one of us is able to play in any situation.”
One of the beneficiaries of Ryan’s solid defensive effort was senior Tyler Anderson who put up six points for the Mohigans.
Anderson had similar feelings regarding the bench play of his team.
“We played real tough,” Anderson said. “It’s good everybody is experienced because our bench should be able to come in and be just as good as the starting five.”
Friday the Mohigans will face a much tougher test as they play their archrivals, University High School.
“Now we have to get ready for the crosstown rivals and it’s going to be interesting,” Yester said. “We’re going to have to be in control of our emotions. We’re going to have to control ours and contain theirs.”