Prep boys basketball state tournament roundup: 'Good' day for E. Hardy vs. Cee-Bees

East Hardy also got a big boost from 6-foot-6 forward Gideon Good. Good didn’t pour in the points like Hamilton or Teets. However, Good made his presence known on defense by swatting all 11 shots, tying a Class A tournament record, which was previously set by Bishop Donahue’s Ken Barrows in 2007.

“I thought we came out and executed pretty well,” East Hardy coach Chris Hahn said. “I was a little worried there in the first quarter. We weren’t quite as aggressive defensively as we’d like to be. Once we made that switch, we were a different team out there. We did a really good job of managing the game and taking what was given.”

The Cougars took a 30-16 advantage to halftime after shooting 11 of 33 from the floor. East Hardy’s scoring cooled off in the second half, connecting on 7 of 21 shots.

Clay-Battelle was led by an 11-point performance by Preston Luzader. Brock White cleaned the glass for the Cee-Bees as he grabbed 14 rebounds.

EAST HARDY 13 17 11 10 — 51: E.Hamilton 20, Teets 14, Price 9, M.Hamilton 4, Good 2, McCullough 2.

CLAY-BATTELLE 11 5 8 10 — 34: Luzader 11, B.Ponceroff 8, White 5, Payton 5, Morgan 3, D.Ponceroff 2.

TUCKER COUNTY 59, MAGNOLIA 47: The second-seeded Mountain Lions pulled away Thursday to prevail over the Blue Eagles in the Class A quarterfinals.

“I thought Magnolia played harder than us,” Tucker County coach Daniel Helmick said. “We played them early and jumped on them pretty good at their place. We talked about not giving them any confidence and coming out and playing hard, and we didn’t. I’m not happy with our effort at all, but I give them total credit. I knew they would compete.”

The contest was deadlocked at 15-15 following one quarter and 23-23 with 3:15 left in the first half before the Mountain Lions closed the stanza on an 11-0 run to lead 34-23 at the break.

That run at the end of the first half ultimately proved to be the kill run as Tucker County’s advantage never shrank below seven points the rest of the way.

Trevan Bonner paced the Mountain Lions with 15 points, while Mikey Mitchell also scored in double figures with 11 points.

Kingston Christen led Magnolia with 19 points and Dubale Greathouse reached double digits in scoring as well with 16 points.

Tucker County advances to Friday’s semifinal at 9 p.m. against third-seeded East Hardy.

MAGNOLIA 15 8 11 13 — 47: Christen 19, Greathouse 16, Shimp 5, Hood 5, Midcap 2, Oates 0, Byers 0, Bailey 0, Tallman 0, Werkau 0, Coulter 0, Loy 0, Wade 0, Fluharty 0.

TUCKER COUNTY 15 19 14 11 — 59: Bonner 15, Mitchell 11, Marks 8, Wilfong 8, Lambert 6, Arnold 6, Cummings 3, Carr 2, Dearborn 0, Ricotilli 0, Felton 0, Simmons 0, Davis 0.

WHEELING CENTRAL 57, WESTSIDE 38: Wheeling Central advanced to Saturday’s Class AA state title game behind Eli Sancomb and Max Olejasz’s 20-point performances in the semifinals on Thursday.

The Maroon Knights will play in their 19th state title game and first since 2021.

Sancomb led all scorers with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Thirteen of the junior’s rebounds came on the defensive boards. Olejasz was effective as well as he poured in 20 points, including 14 in the first half, and grabbed nine rebounds.

Wheeling Central led for 30:23 of Thursday’s contest, while Westside was never ahead.

“We came out and got off to a good start,” Wheeling Central coach Mel Stephens said. “Westside is a very good team. We felt with the [way they] could shoot the ball from the perimeter, we basically had to be there on the catch and make it a little tougher for them. Offensively, we did what we needed to do. [There were] a couple of rough spots where we took some not really good shots and let them get into a couple of runs.”

The Maroon Knights used a 12-2 run to end the first half to go into the break up 38-26, with Olejasz, Sancomb and Troy Anthony helping down the stretch.

Wheeling Central held the Renegades to two points in the fourth quarter, both coming at the charity stripe.

Westside saw two players finish in double figures, with Bradyn Waldron leading the Renegades in scoring with 12 points. Kaiden Vance was the other double-digit performer with 11 points.

WHEELING CENTRAL 16 22 11 8 — 57: E.Sancomb 24, Olejasz 20, Anthony 7, L.Sancomb 4, Kusic 2.

WESTSIDE 13 13 10 2 — 38: Waldron 12, Vance 11, Lester 5, Blankenship 4, Kenneda 3, Bishop 3.

WILLIAMSTOWN 61, WYOMING EAST 51: The top-seeded Yellowjackets punched their ticket to Saturday’s Class AA state championship game by edging the fourth-seeded Warriors in the semifinals on Thursday.

Wyoming East led 26-24 at intermission thanks to a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the second period by Talan Muscari.

The game was tied 30-30 with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter after a basket by the Warriors’ Konnor Fox, but Williamstown closed out the frame on a 12-3 run to take a 42-33 advantage into the game’s final act.

The Yellowjackets held serve in the fourth quarter, building a 12-point lead.

“I thought the first half was a little bit uneven for us, and I think you have to credit Wyoming East for a lot of that,” Williamstown coach Scott Sauro said. “I thought we weren’t really attacking too well in the first half. In the second half, I thought we got downhill a lot better.

“I thought guys were really picking the right spots. They weren’t trying to do it too early. They were doing it off reverses when somebody was closing out, and we were able to get downhill, so that was huge for us.”

Parker Schramm paced the Yellowjackets with 20 points, while Jayden Bryant tacked on 18 points with five boards, four assists and two steals.

Muscari (15 points), Fox (12 points, six boards, two blocks) and Broc Johnson (11 points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks, one steal) all scored in double figures for Wyoming East.

WYOMING EAST 12 14 7 18 — 51: Muscari 15, Fox 12, Johnson 11, Morgan 6, Hunt 5, Hodges 2, Hoosier 0.

WILLIAMSTOWN 16 8 18 19 — 61: Schramm 20, Bryant 18, Isaly 7, Joy 6, Powell 6, Keiser 4, Hill 0.

GREATER BECKLEY CHRISTIAN 60, HUNTINGTON ST. JOE 52: The No. 4-seeded Crusaders led for more than 28 minutes in a dogfight with the No. 5 Irish on Thursday night in the Class A quarterfinals.

The Crusaders were paint beasts, scoring 36 inside and holding St. Joe to 22.

The Irish were led by Isaiah Sanders’ 20 points. He added five rebounds. Micaiah Ehirim was close behind with 18 points, four assists and five rebounds.

“Greater Beckley is a tough matchup and a great team,” St. Joe coach Todd Maynard said. “That’s a tough 4-5 matchup. We didn’t do enough to get it done. We gave up too many second-chance opportunities.”

Greater Beckley got its juice from center Drew Fitzwater, who totaled a 22-point, 14-rebound double-double. The Crusaders assisted 16 of 22 made shots.

“It wasn’t just Drew putting his butt into someone and posting up all night,” Greater Beckley coach Justin Arvon said. “It was them hitting him off drives, reposting across the lane – there was a variety of different angles and passing the ball into the post.

“Our team stepped up tonight. Drew is a beneficiary of that, and he worked his tail off.”

St. Joe was the better shooting team through three quarters – 14 of 32 from the field and 4 of 15 from deep. But volume lifted the Crusaders ahead as they capitalized on 13 turnovers from the Irish in three quarters, all leading to shots.

A 9-0 run for the Crusaders pushed them ahead late in the third quarter. A layup from Fitzwater for his 13th point lifted GBC to a 42-37 lead entering the final quarter.

Ehirim contorted through the air for a three-point play on a layup on which his back nearly faced the basket. St. Joe trailed by two with 7:04 left.

That was as close as St. Joe got. A three-point play by Fitzwater secured a 20-point double-double for the big man and gave GBC a nine-point lead with 2:45 to play that proved to be the dagger.

No. 4 Greater Beckley Christian gets No. 1-seeded Tug Valley, the reigning Class A state champion, at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

GREATER BECKLEY 14 12 16 18 – 60: Woodson 4, Spencer 5, Davidson 8, Gunter 9, Fitzwater 22, Kincaid 5, Hendrix 2, Heffernan 5.

HUNTINGTON ST. JOE 9 15 13 15 – 52: Ehirim 18, Keaton 7, Sanders 20, Bryant 0, Allen 6, Runyon 0, McDowell 1, Woelfel 0.