Sports in The Dominion Post
This article appeared in the Dominion Post Newspaper on December 18, 2003.
Return to the listing of articles of December 18, 2003.
MHS boys overpower PHS, 68-49
Mohigans' shooters torrid from the start
Bob Gay/The Dominion Post
MHS's Ben Torsney launches a shot over Preston's Cameron Walls (left) and Josh Boone.
BY JUSTIN JACKSON
The Dominion Post
Morgantown High's run for a state championship began Wednesday with an athletic display of run-and-gun basketball that Preston coach Barry Sanders summed up this way:
"They are too big, too strong, too quick. What can you do?"
Very little in this case, as No. 4 Morgantown racked up a 68-49 victory, at the MHS gymnasium.
The Mohigans (1-0) came out and hit their first five shots, including three 3-pointers.
"They didn't miss anything in the first half," Sanders said. "They must have shot 80 percent. Those 3-pointers were out there. When they're on, there's just not a whole lot you can do, that's how good they are."
Tyler Benson finished with 16 points and Kameron Law, who had his own personal cheering section, added 14 points and five rebounds.
Across the court from the MHS bench sat a group of people from HealthWorks who were wearing red t-shirts.
On the back of each shirt it read: Don't mess with the Law.
"I work there after school doing odd jobs," Law said. "I recruited most of them to come out to the game. It was great that they came and I really appreciated it. The shirts were pretty neat."
In his first game in an MHS uniform, Chris Carey, son of WVU women's basketball coach Mike Carey, scored 12 points and added four rebounds. Carey's family moved to Morgantown from Bridgeport over the summer.
The trio of Benson, Law and Carey was nearly unstoppable on this night.
"When Tyler and myself are on the same side, we can be a difficult team to guard," Law said. "We can move it around or Tyler can just hit one of his 3-pointers.
"With Chris on the other side, we can skip it and (Ben) Torsney is becoming a force down low. I think we're going to be very tough to guard this year. I think a lot of teams will have to change their plans on how to play us."
As hot as Morgantown was out of the gate, Preston (0-1) hung in there and trailed just 22-14 after the first quarter and 39-28 at the half.
"I was proud of the kids for hanging in there and playing tough," Sanders said. "We got a little worn down in the third quarter and Morgantown will do that to a lot of teams this year."
MHS coach Tom Yester said he would have liked to seen his team drop the hammer in the second half.
"We had a lot of chances to really put them away and we never did," Yester said. "That and our rebounding I was a little disappointed with. Overall, I thought it was a good shooting performance on our part and I like the way we ran the fast break. We had some nice passing on some of our breaks."
Zach Metheny led Preston with 15 points, with 14 coming in the first half. Cameron Walls added 12 points and four rebounds for the Knights.
Morgantown 68, Preston 49
PRESTON (0-1)
Metheny 5 4-6 15, Walls 4 2-3 12, Boone 2 1-2 6, Martin 0 2-3 2, Waybright 1 0-1 3, Blake 1 0-0 3, Ranger 0 0-0 0, Chambers 2 0-0 5, Johnson 0 1-2 1, Myers 0 0-2 0, Greaser 1 0-1 2. Totals 16 10-20 49.
MORGANTOWN (1-0)
Benson 5 3-3 16, Law 5 2-3 14, Jones 2 1-2 5, Holt 0 0-2 0, Torsney 3 3-3 9, Oliver 0 0-0 0, Kerns 1 0-0 3, Hall 2 2-2 7, Carey 4 2-3 12, Dunn 0 2-2 2, Straface 0 0-0 0, Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 15-20 68.
Preston 14 14 6 15 -- 49
Morgantown 22 17 15 14 -- 68
3-point goals--Preston 7 (Walls 2, Metheny 1, Boone 1, Waybright 1, Blake 1, Chambers 1), Morgantown 9 (Benson 3, Law 2, Carey 2, Kerns 1, Hall 1). Rebounds--Preston 23 (Metheny, Walls 4), Morgantown 27 (Law 5).
Return to the listing of articles of December 18, 2003.