Monarchs eliminate Mohigans
‘Off night for everyone’ in Morgantown defeat
BY ERIC HANLON The Dominion Post

GLEN DALE — Losing is hard enough as it is, but losing the way the Morgantown High boys’ basketball team lost is just downright frustrating.
The Mohigans fell, 57-40, to John Marshall in the Region I, Section I semifinals Wednesday in what was a very trying game.
“No one wanted to see the season end the way it did, and got frustrated,” MHS junior Sam Runner said.
The Mohigans (14-8) let the Monarchs (18-5) shoot 23 foul shots while surrendering two technical fouls and making many other mental mistakes.
“I don’t know how many technicals we had, I think it was two. Take that away and that’s about one-third of their lead right there,” MHS head coach Tom Yester said. “And, it was my seniors that got them. I didn’t like that. They played frustrated and they saw it coming to an end.”
For most of the game, though, the Mohigans actually played quite well, taking a 10-7 lead into the second quarter and then trailing by only two with just seconds left in the half.
But that is when things turned for the Mohigans. With three seconds left, JMHS junior Jeremy Hays hit a 3-pointer to put the Monarchs up by five. On the inbound pass, senior Casey Defibaugh stole the ball and made another quick layup, making it 23-16 at the half. Five points in three seconds. “It all started at the end of the first half,” Runner said. “When they made that 3 then stole the inbound pass, that just took a lot of our momentum.”
The Mohigans went cold and the Monarchs extended their lead to 17 at the end of the third.
“I think this was just a microcosm of our season. Our offense just wasn’t good enough. We weren’t able to execute well,” Yester said. “We just had a lack of offensive production. I don’t know what we shot tonight, but it wasn’t very good.”
In the second and third quarters, Runner was the only bright spot, recording eight points, while all the other Mohigans combined had only seven.
“Sam had some pretty good moments, Yester said. “But that was pretty much it.”
Runner finished with a teamhigh 11 points.
A few times in the third, it appeared MHS would make some sort of comeback, but every time the Mohigans tried to make a run, Hays was there, recording a gamehigh 19 points.
“They spread the floor on you, and if Hays is shooting well you’re in for a hard night,” Yester said. “One time we got it back to within eight or nine, but then we couldn’t find anything. They call it a snowball effect for a reason, and tonight, things snowballed.”
The loss is a disappointing finish for a Mohigans team that made it to the state semifinals just a year ago.
“My hat is off to John Marshall, they’ll make it an interesting game against Wheeling Park next round,” Yester said. “Unfortunately tonight, I just didn’t coach well enough and they didn’t play well enough.”
“We had to get something going and we couldn’t,” Runner said. “It we just an off night for everyone.”
MORGANTOWN (14-8)
Anderson 2 4-6 8, Runner 5 1-2 11, Wilson 2 0-0 4, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Parsons 1 0-0 3, Simmons 1 0-2 3, Barnette 0 0-0 0, Meador 1 0-0 3, Caridi 1 0-0 2, Colombo 2 0-0 4, Price 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 5-9 40.
JOHN MARSHALL (18-5)
Defibaugh 1 0-0 2, Whitfield 1 1-3 3, Montes 4 3-4 13, Eikleberry 7 4-5 18, McClelland 0 0-0 0, Hays 4 9-9 19, Duckworth 0 0-0 0, Coffield 0 2-2 2. Totals 17 19-23 57.
Morgantown 10 6 9 15 — 40 John Marshall 7 16 19 15 — 57
3-pointgoals:Morgantown 3 (Simmons, Parsons, Meador), John Marshall 4 (Hays 2, Montes 2).