Six make Class AAA all-state hoop team
MHS’s Price, PHS’s Murray on 1st team
BY ERIC HANLON
The Dominion Post
THE COMPLETE Class AAA all-state team. Page 2-C.
The Morgantown and Preston High boys’ basketball teams were ranked among the top three spots in the state polls for nearly the entire season.
As two of the state’s best teams, the schools were rewarded on Sunday upon release of the West Virginia Sports Writer’s Association’s Class AAA allstate team.
Two Mohigans and three Knights earned allstate honors.
MHS senior Taylor Price and PHS senior Shayne Murray made the first team, while PHS senior Colton Goff was named to the third team.
MHS sophomore Nathan Adrian, PHS senior Cody Thompson and University High’s Alex Harrison were named honorable mentions.
Price, Adrian, Murray and Goff all are post players, which solidified the two schools as probably the most dominating inside teams in the state.
“College coaches tell me, ‘Man your boys have great post moves,’ ” PHS coach Barry Sanders said. “That’s because we teach them that every night, and I’m sure Tom (Yester, MHS coach) teaches his players that too.”
Price and Murray may have been the two best overall.
“There is no doubt,” Yester said. “Both pass well and both are good from the free throw line and both defend well. THey’re special.”
Yester gushed praise for Price and his first-team selection.
“I think we were a top level team and [Price] was our top player, so he definitely deserves it,” Yester said. “He was very consistent. He always scored between 12 and 20 points, was a good rebounder and played consistent defense. He improved so much from a year ago and I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Price had an impressive stat line, averaging 15.3 points and six rebounds per game. He was an 82 percent free throw shoot- er and shot 60 percent from the field.
As a result, being named to the first team wasn’t surprising for Price.
“At the beginning of the year, [making the first team] was what I strove for,” he said. “I knew I was one of the top players in the state to begin with. I didn’t know what the community thought, but at the end of the season I thought I had done enough and thought the team did enough.”
Like Yester, Sanders had good things to say about Murray being honored as a first-teamer.
“That’s fantastic, for him to get first team and not go to the state tournament, that’s quite an honor,” Sanders said. “By far, he was the best backto-the-basket player in the state, bar none, and he put a lot of hard work in to develop into that type of player.”
Murray was the area’s leading scorer, finishing with 17 points per game.
He grabbed 7.2 rebounds per game was a 77 percent free-throw shooter.
But unlike Price, Murray didn’t expect his place on the all-state team.
“I was a little surprised to be first team since we missed the state tournament. But, I guess we still had a good season,” Murray said. “Either way, it feels pretty good. It’s definitely an honor.”
Goff, who averaged 12.9 points and 11 rebounds, was also good around the hoop, but not in the same way Murray was.
“Colton was a different kind of post player. He was more face-to-the-basket,” Sanders said. “He went more with his speed. He was maybe a little quicker than Murray.”
Shayne Murray
Taylor Price
Colton Goff