The Yellow Jackets defensive strategy was working, but rebounding and turnovers erased the efforts and the first half lead disappeared in the second half as Class AAA Washington rallied in the final period for a 37-33 victory in Moorefield on Tuesday.
“That was a good defensive effort to hold Washington to 37 points is something they can be proud of,” Moorefield Coach Scott Stutler commented.
“We switched it up and played a little zone, but we play zone throughout the season and it’s nothing new. We just stayed in it longer today, because they weren’t hitting shots. We were playing it good, so we will continue to mix up our zone and man defense. In the second half we stopped rebounding the ball. They got 15 offensive rebounds and we had some bad turnovers and we shot horribly in the paint. You can’t win games like that. We’ve talked about it all year. We just rebounded better in the first half, that’s the ball game. When we give up offensive rebounds, we don’t have a chance to win. That was the difference between the first and second half.”
Opportunities were there for rebounding as the Patriots (6-9) missed 34 field goals and Moorefield (3-13) hit the rim 23 times, but the Yellow Jackets were out-rebounded 29 to 25.
Washington managed to force 15 turnovers, while committing only eight in the contest.
Moorefield won the opening tip, but couldn’t be controlled in front of the home bench.
Garett Haggerty blocked a shot for the Yellow Jackets on defense and teammate Blake Watts recovered.
Moorefield’s Brent Moran cut inside the paint and dished outside to Chase Vance for a long distance jumper for the initial 2-nil lead at the 7:00 mark.
Haggerty made a defensive rebound and Washington’s Trajon Brown collected one on the following possession which led to his own basket at 6:15 to tie the game.
Haggerty found Vance open for a go-ahead 3-pointer, one of his four perimeter shots on the night en route to a game-high 24 points for the Yellow Jackets.
“Chase Vance had an excellent game, he played a great game. He’s been coming on as of late. He hit four 3-pointers tonight and has been going hard to the basket which is what we look for him to do,” Coach Stutler noted.
After a timeout, the Patriots drew up a play for Brown scoring in the paint to make it 5-4.
Over the next two and half minutes, Moorefield missed five baskets and Washington bricked six times before Daniel Moylan hit a jumper for the Patriots to change the lead 6-5 at the 2:30 mark.
The Yellow Jackets regained the lead at 2:11 on a jumper in the paint by Vance, 7-6.
Moorefield was in a zone defense which helped to eliminate various cuts to the basket and make sure shots were altered.
Moran grabbed a defensive rebound, but Washington’s Brian Megonigal stole the ball and missed with Vance collecting the carom.
It went back and forth with missed shots before Davian Hester hit a 3-pointer for the Patriots to take a 9-7 lead.
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Moran added one free throw on the next possession for Moorefield, then Washington missed two attempts to end the first period with Lane Ours grabbing the last rebound.
The Patriots missed the first basket of the second period and a foul was called on them during the rebound attempt.
Haggerty dished to Vance, who connected on a 3-pointer to change the lead to 11-9.
Haggerty made a defensive rebound, but Washington’s Damian Berry stole the ball and scored on the breakaway to knot up the game.
Ronald Jackson blocked the ball and took the ball down the court before losing it out of bounds, then the Patriots applied pressure and the Yellow Jackets broke free only to have Haggerty slide in the paint going to the basket for a walk.
Vance swiped the ball back and was fouled leading to a pair of free throws to take a 13-11 edge.
Moran stole the ball and passed to Haggerty, who worked along the top of the key before netting a jumper inside to extend the lead to 15-11.
There was an offensive foul on the Patriots, then Isiah Hollar grabbed a defensive board and was fouled by Moorefield.
Watts snatched a defensive board and it was knocked out by the Patriots.
Haggerty launched a mid-range jumper and the ball rolled several times around the rim before falling through the net for the Yellow Jackets’ biggest lead of the game at 17-11.
Ours stole the ball, but it was snatched back by Moylan.
Ours deflected a pass and the ricochet was collected by Haggerty, but the Yellow Jackets failed to capitalize.
Vance created a steal and the ensuing shot went off the rim with Haggerty grabbing the board before the ball was knocked away.
After a field goal by the Patriots, Vance was fouled on a rebound attempt and netted both free throws.
Washington’s Hester hesitated on a jumper and drew the foul leading to a pair of free throws seven seconds later.
Vance missed a free throw with four seconds to go and a long distance shot was off the mark for the Patriots with Moorefield carrying a 19-15 lead into halftime.
“We were going to try and push the basketball and we felt we could really go after them with our full-court pressure and man-to-man defense, but they played extremely disciplined basketball,” Washington Coach Alex Feliu remarked.
“I was telling some of those kids and talking to some of the parents how proud I was of just watching them [Moorefield]. Honestly, I saw them at Paw Paw and I thought we were going to just run them off the court. They played extremely well, disciplined. They were active with their hands. They were in spots, especially within the zone. They were getting to their spots a lot faster than we were. I was just really impressed. Scott [Stutler] has done a really good job with these kids. The record does not indicate whatsoever the coaching job he has done with those kids. Those kids should be proud.”
“We just wanted to set screens against the zone after halftime and be a little more physical with them. There were gaps in the zone and if we beat them to those spots, they are open. Our guys got there a little sooner than they did and were more active in the zone. That’s what we were able to do in the zone, but the ball just wasn’t falling for us at all. The biggest turning point was when we could get the ball inside and continuously get offensive rebounds and attack the boards. It was about the five minute mark of the third period when we finally got a shot inside the paint that finally dropped for us and that is when we got more confidence with what we were trying to do. The 3-pointers helped when we were able to get shots inside, because the zone has to drop down. It opens up for dribble drive action in the gaps.”
A trap by Washington at the start of the third period forced the Yellow Jackets to burn a timeout 15 seconds into it.
After the timeout, the Patriots sandwiched two steals by Hester around a defensive rebound by Vance and the next Washington attempt failed.
Moorefield’s Ben O’Neill collected the rebound, then the Yellow Jackets missed an opportunity.
Washington missed three consecutive baskets again before a putback was made by Moylan at the 5:45 mark for the first score of the period, 19-17.
Both squads missed baskets again and Parker Jackson was fouled and hit both free throws to tie the game.
Moorefield finally widened the hoop with a 3-pointer by Vance at the 4:49 mark to regain the lead 22-19.
The ball bounced off the rim for the Patriots, but it deflected off of Moorefield out of bounds.
Haggerty collected a defensive rebound, then the ensuing attempt drew iron and Hester took the rebound and fed Brown for a layup.
The Yellow Jackets answered with a jumper by Blake Watts to go up 24-21 with 3:48 remaining in the third period.
Haggerty deflected a pass, then the Patriots fumbled the ball out of bounds and Moorefield failed to capitalize, but Brown couldn’t corral the rebound.
The Yellow Jackets missed the next shot and Berry snatched the board, but Moorefield’s John Bentley stole it back and the ensuing shot hit the rim and Berry got another carom.
Berry made an offensive rebound and couldn’t connect, then Vance jumped in the mix for a rebound and was fouled.
Washington’s Megonigal stole the ball and Hollar scored to slice the deficit to 24-23 with nine seconds left in the frame.
Haggerty attempted a shot near mid-court and it hit the top of the backboard.
The Patriots began the fourth period with a steal and score by Brown to take the lead, 25-24.
Moorefield answered with a 3-pointer by Vance at the 6:52 mark to regain the edge, 27-25.
Vance made a defensive rebound, then the Yellow Jackets missed the basket and Brown grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
Brown tied the game with a jumper at the 5:44 mark.
Moran lost the dribble driving into the paint and Hollar took the loose ball for the Patriots, but it took three shot attempts to capitalize on the initial turnover with a putback from Berry.
A pass from Moran to Vance across the paint setup a game tying jumper with 4:51 remaining.
One minute late after a handful of missed baskets, Washington took the lead 31-29 a basket by Brown.
Berry stole the ball, then missed his breakaway and O’Neill came away with the rebound.
Brown swiped it back and passed to Berry for a shot giving Washington a 33-29 advantage with 3:03 to go.
A steal by Brown led to a missed bucket and Haggerty snatched the rebound, then scored on a putback at 2:17.
Haggerty firmly blocked the ball on the ensuing possession, but the referee called a foul and Jackson added one free throw.
After a timeout with a heated discussion, Berry collected a defensive rebound.
The Yellow Jackets fouled three times in a span of 16 seconds which sent Hester to the line for the one-and-one with 30 seconds left and he hit both free throws for a 36-31 edge.
After a timeout with 18 seconds remaining, Haggerty appeared to have been held in the process of trying to reach out to make a catch during a screen and the pass went out of bounds for a turnover.
Moorefield protested to no avail and had to foul immediately with 14 seconds left and Jackson made one free throw for a 37-31 lead.
Haggerty snatched the rebound and Ours passed to Vance for a field goal with six second to go with the Patriots up 37-33.
A timeout with three seconds was called and Moorefield quickly fouled with one second left and the free throw was missed, then Haggerty grabbed the final rebound and there wasn’t enough time to release a three-fourths court shot as the horn sounded.
Washington escaped the Hive with the 37-33 win, eluding the Yellow Jackets buzzing defense.
Vance scored the game-high 24 points for Moorefield with eight rebounds, while Haggerty contributed six points and ten boards, Watts added two points and Moran made one marker.
Brown led the Patriots with 12 points, followed by Berry with eight points and Hester added seven.
In JV action, Washington defeated the Yellow Jackets 60-34.
Moorefield was led in scoring by Jaydon See with ten points and Addison Barb with six markers.
Jalyn Wright paced the Patriots with 12 points, followed by Logan Link with eight points.
“The goal is to get better. We’re excited to have a chance to knock somebody off in the section tournament. We’re excited for that opportunity. When we get that opportunity, we’re going to take full advantage of it. We are going to get better and we know the regular season is 22 scrimmage games. When we get to the tournament, we’re going to be ready to knock somebody off,” Coach Stutler concluded.
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