‘Anything’ goes for MHS
Schifano scores 26 in Mohigan’s victory
BY TODD MURRAY The Dominion Post
Anthony Schifano was the least concerned person in Morgantown High’s gymnasium when his shots weren’t falling in pre-game warmups Wednesday night. “I’m not really superstitious,” MHS’s senior center said, “but if I’m not doing too good in warmups I generally think it’s going to be a pretty good night.” That it was against East Fairmont. Schifano sank 12-of-16 shots from the floor and finished with a season-high 26 points in the Mohigans’ 74-44 North Central Athletic Conference rout. “He was on fire,” said MHS head coach Tom Yester, who earned his 501st career victory as his team improved to 2-1. “Great. Let’s keep it that way.” The 6-foot-2 Schifano is one of the Mohigans’ most versatile players, capable of playing any position on the court but point guard. Schifano, who scored 16 points in this past Friday’s 65-56 loss to Capital, is as comfortable popping out for a 3-pointer as he is making a move under the basket. For his part, Schifano isn’t big on labels. “I just go out there and play,” he said.
In fact, Schifano is fine with being called anything, which, coincidentally enough, is what Yester refers to him as.
“He’s an ‘anything,’” Yester said. “Anthony is smart. He made a couple nice little post moves. He pulled up and hit a 3. He had transition. They took away the pass on transition, and he made a layup. He did a lot of nice little things and had a very consistent night.”
The Mohigans’ play in the post was one of the most satisfying aspects of Wednesday’s victory for Yester. Schifano and Ben Hewitt combined for 40 points and 12 rebounds. Hewitt registered 14 points and grabbed six rebounds.
“Getting points at the rim is really a priority of ours,” Schifano said. “We’ve been working on that a lot this year. A lot of that goes to [point guard] Craig [Carey], too. He set us up really well tonight, so it’s not always us.”
MHS scored the final 11 points of the first quarter and never looked back in handing East Fairmont (0-2) its second loss of the young season. Carey and Jay Fletcher scored nine points apiece for MHS. Zack Cooke contributed five points.
The Mohigans’ defense hounded East Fairmont into a horrendous shooting night. The Bees made just 28.5 percent of their shots from the field. East Fairmont went through frequent stretches where it could not find the basket.
“We’ve been working on defense all year,” Schifano said. “Defense is our pride this year. That’s what we want to do: shut teams down and score layups.”
Carter DeVault, the quarterback for East Fairmont’s football team, paced the Bees with 12 points. Trey Stoller and Nick Bonnett scored nine points apiece.
“They did not shoot very well,” Yester said. “I hope we were part of the reason. At their place, they’ll shoot a lot better than that. We’ll take this one. We’re glad to get back on the right track. Hopefully we learned something from it and move on to the next one.”
The Mohigans return to action next Thursday against Ripley in the Parkersburg South Tournament.
Bob Gay/The Dominion Post Morgantown’s Craig Carey (15) goes to the basket against East Fairmont’s Nicholas Bonnett during Wednesday night’s basketball game.