MORGANTOWN 55, PRESTON 38
‘Colossal’ win: Price, Adrian rally Mohigans
Defense dooms Knights
BY ERIC HANLON
The Dominion Post
Back in December, the Morgantown High boys’ basketball team lost a hard-fought game at Preston. Tuesday, the fourth-ranked Mohigans hosted the second-ranked Knights and for a while it appeared as if Morgantown would suffer a similar fate.
But stymieing second-half defense and a late burst by the Mohigans’ two leading scorers changed everything, and MHS won, 55-38.
“This is huge. Colossal,” MHS senior Taylor Price said of the win. “I hope this sends a message throughout the state. We took out No. 2 and hopefully that will push us up in the rankings.”
Price and sophomore teammate Nathan Adrian entered the game scoring nearly 30 points per game combined. Four minutes into the third quarter, the two had only six.
At that point, Preston had built a 31-26 lead, forcing MHS head coach Tom Yester to call a timeout.
“How about we get the ball to the people that can score?” Yester said to his team. “Let’s get the ball to the bigger threats. Get the ball to the rim and let Adrian and Price handle it a little bit and see what they can do.”
What the two did was score 18 points during the game’s final 12 minutes.
Price talked about the effect he and Adrian had on the MHS offense during that span.
“I think we’re so much better when that can happen because it opens things up for the guards, it opens up driving opportunities and shooting opportunities for everybody,” he said. “Anytime you can work it inside to us, we can help the whole team out.”
Following Yester’s timeout, the Mohigans also made a defensive change.
“Our switch to man-toman from zone helped us out a lot. I think we’re a better man-to-man team,” Price said. “That got us back to our true identity and our true game.”
The defensive switch shut down the Knights, who scored only seven points the rest of the game.
“We were up and lost our composure,” PHS head coach Barry Sanders said. “You only score 12 points in a half, you’re not going to win. You’re not going to beat anybody.”
The win was Morgantown’s (10-1) eighth straight.
“This is what you play for,” Yester said. “You hope you have a team that knows their roles, plays the role, can sometimes expand that role and can play defense on a nightly basis.”
Price finished the game with a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds, while Adrian added 10 points and six rebounds. MHS senior Michael Keffer also had a big game, going 6-of-7 from the floor and scoring 13 points, while MHS senior point guard Evan Berryhill had eight assists and no turnovers.
Preston (12-2) was led by senior Shayne Murray, who scored 12 points. Preston plays next on Friday, when it will host Fairmont Senior.
Morgantown plays again today, at archrival University.
The Morgantown JV team defeated Preston, 65-39. Leading the Mohigans was Mark Johnson, with 17 points.
P PR RE ES ST TO ON N ((1122--22))
Thompson 1 2-4 4, Contic 3 2-2 9, Wagner 1 0-0 2, C. Goff 2 5-8 9, Murray 6 0-1 12, D. Johnson 0 0-0 0, S. Johnson 1 0-0 2, R.T. Goff 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-15 38.
M MO OR RG GA AN NT TO OW WN N ((1100--11))
Berryhill 1 0-2 3, Keffer 6 1-3 13, Drake 2 0-0 4, Adrian 4 1-1 10, Price 4 6-6 14, Lusk 1 2-2 5, Blemings 1 0-0 2, Watson 2 0-0 4. Totals 21 10-14 55. P Prre esstto on n 1133 1133 99 33 — — 3388 M Mo orrg ga an ntto ow wn n 1166 1100 1155 1144 — — 5555
33--p po oiin ntt g go oa allss:: PHS 1 (Contic). MHS 3 (Berryhill, Adrian, Lusk).
Freshman boys
University 46, Wheeling Park 40: Grant Gutman netted 14 points to lead the Hawks (11-1). Grant Robertson scored nine points for the Patriots.
Morgantown 55, Preston 35: Andre Collins and Logan Hatch paced the Mohigans (13-0) with 11 points apiece. Jared Smith led Preston with 13 points.
Freshman girls
University 38, Parkersburg 30: Cortney Mercer netted 14 points to lead the Hawks (9-1).
Morgantown 72, Preston 18: Alexa Rudolph scored 17 points and Elaina Smith added 13 for the Mohigans (11-0). The Knights’ Karlee Good scored nine points.

Jason DeProspero/The Dominion Post
MHS’s Taylor Price dunks for two of his 14 points.