It was time to bring out the shovels as Moorefield planted 34 points with eight 3-pointers in the second period burying the Cougars and prevented a ferocious climb out of the hole during the Hardy Boys Hardwood Classic finishing with a 69-56 victory in Baker last Friday.
“The second period was big. It started with Thomas [Williams], then carried over to everyone else hitting shots. We knew East Hardy was going to come out and play hard the second half and knew we were in for a battle,” Moorefield coach Scott Stutler commented.
“We didn’t handle their pressure very well and got in a lot of foul trouble, but came through at big times and got the win. Thomas Williams played another great game and got a couple big shots down the stretch. It’s definitely a win that we can learn a lot from. You need games like that to prepare you for the rest of the season.”
The first period was a close battle ending in a tie at 11 points apiece and the Yellow Jackets (4-1) swarmed ahead in the second period 45-21, but East Hardy (2-5) fought back in the trenches creating a 24-8 edge in the third stanza.
A scramble ensued to commence the game as the ball ricocheted down the court after the tip-off with East Hardy’s Adam Baker and Moorefield’s Chase Vance running after it with Baker coming up with the nugget passing to Seth Smith, but the Cougars failed to connect at the hoop and Vance snatched the board.[private]
The Yellow Jackets came up empty and East Hardy’s Andrew Tharp grabbed the carom and the Cougars gained one point on the possession coming off a free throw by Baker for the initial lead at 7:20.
East Hardy’s Justin Teets collected the rebound off the second free throw attempt, but missed the shot and Moorefield’s Brent Moran hauled in the board.
Moran battled through traffic and couldn’t get the ball to drop in the cylinder, then Baker got the rebound before Christian Dove walked for the Cougars.
There was a lane violation called on the Yellow Jackets and East Hardy hit the rim again with Moorefield’s Jaydon See making the rebound before a turnover on an errant pass by Moran out of play.
Moran snatched a defensive rebound and fed See for a field goal at the 5:34 mark giving the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 lead.
Tharp was whistled for a charge and another foul was called on Smith, then a defensive rebound by Dawson Price led to a layup by Dove as East Hardy regained the lead 3-2 at 4:34.
Dove swiped the ball and missed the ending shot with Moran drawing a foul on the rebound.
See collected a pair of offensive rebounds giving Moorefield another opportunity at the hoop with Vance sinking a jumper to go up 4-3 at 3:23.
Moorefield’s Lane Ours and East Hardy’s Dawson Price snatched rebounds on the defensive sides and an assist from Dove to Smith put the Cougars up 5-4 at 2:56.
Moorefield’s Thomas Williams hit a jumper sparking the first of his game-high 27 points at the 2:33 mark for a 6-5 advantage.
Vance and Williams joined together to force a turnover, but Moorefield missed the basket and fumbled the ball out.
Moran made a steal and was fouled, then See was whistled for an elbowing foul.
Williams notched a defensive rebound and nailed a 3-pointer with 1:12 left in the opening stanza.
East Hardy’s Bryce Tharp drew a foul and made one free throw with just under a minute to go and snatched the rebound off his second attempt and dished to Teets for a 3-pointer to tie the game at 9-all at 0:53.
Moran scored a jumper for the Yellow Jackets with 17 seconds remaining, but East Hardy answered with a game-tying jumper by Price at the buzzer, 11-all.
Moorefield opened the second period with a trifecta by Moran, then Trevor Shoemaker hauled in a defensive rebound and Moran hopped into the paint creating an old-fashioned three-point play to take a 17-11 lead at 7:06.
Both teams hit the rim thrice apiece over the next minute and change before Moran fed Shoemaker for a basket at 5:45.
Vance blocked a shot and Ours deflected a pass for the Yellow Jackets, then East Hardy missed a free throw and See grabbed the board.
A 3-pointer by Moran capped an 11-0 run for Moorefield at the 5:12 mark.
The Cougars finally found the net on a jumper by Baker on the next possession at 4:58.
The Yellow Jackets went back to the perimeter sandwiching an East Hardy jumper by Dove with Williams and Yousef Malaki knocking down long distance shots in a span of 41 seconds to build a 28-15 advantage.
Malaki stole the ball and was fouled leading to one free two made, then Williams blocked a shot.
East Hardy’s Andrew Tharp was called for a charge, but the Cougars got the ball back on a steal by Smith and Brayden Ritchie scored on a putback at 2:50, 29-17.
Moran drew a foul on a rebound and scored both charity stripe baskets.
A defensive rebound and steal by Malaki setup two 3-pointers for Williams in a span of 18 seconds as the Yellow Jackets went up 37-17 with 1:51 left in the first half.
Over the next minute, the Cougars managed a free throw by Dove and Moorefield attacked twice more from the perimeter with baskets by Malaki and See to bolster a 43-18 lead with a minute to go.
Price created an old-fashioned three-point play for East Hardy with eight seconds remaining after the Cougars had missed four field goals, but the Yellow Jackets stung once more with a layup by Moran to end the half with a 45-21 score.
East Hardy’s Andrew Tharp drove to the hoop along the baseline for a layup to begin the third period at 7:45.
Dove collected a defensive rebound and drew a foul on the ensuing possession adding one free throw for the Cougars.
East Hardy applied pressure and a foul was called on the Yellow Jackets, then Dove dropped a 3-pointer at 7:07 to reduce the deficit to 45-27.
Moorefield called a timeout just before a five-second inbound violation, then Vance collided with Bryce Tharp drawing a foul and missed the extra opportunity.
Shoemaker made a defensive rebound and Williams assisted Shoemaker on a jumper at 6:34 as Moorefield went up 48-27.
Price scored on a putback for the Cougars on the next series.
The Yellow Jackets committed a turnover on an over-and-back mid-court play, then East Hardy lost the ball out of bounds.
Shoemaker was fouled after a rebound, then Smith stole the ball for the Cougars and scored on the breakaway with a foul tacked on only missing the free throw with Vance losing his shoe on the rebounding process.
Vance tossed his shoe to the side as Andrew Tharp stole the ball heading back to the hoop and drew a charge, then got the referee’s attention to put his shoe back on his foot.
Moorefield lost the ball out of bounds, then fouled twice with East Hardy’s Ritchie scoring one free throw.
After a walk, Malaki stole the ball leading to a rimmed shot and Ritchie hauled in the board.
East Hardy’s Christian Dove netted a spinning jumper, then Bryce Tharp swiped the ball and was assisted on a layup from Price closing the gap 48-36 at the 3:17 mark.
Moorefield responded with a three-point sequence by Vance, then Ritchie drew a foul and netted two foul shots answering for the Cougars.
Both teams missed several field goals over the next minute, then Vance was whistled for a charge colliding with Bryce Tharp.
Smith scored in the paint for East Hardy on the following possession, then made a steal after a missed free throw and jump ball leading to a layup with one minute and change remaining in the third period, 51-42.
Williams made a jumper for the Yellow Jackets, then a walk by the Cougars came prior to an errant pass by Moorefield being saved by Smith for East Hardy.
Price netted a basket for the Cougars on the ensuing series and Moorefield missed three field goals with rebounds by Ours, Shoemaker and Blake Funk before hitting the rim on a foul shot.
Ours made a defensive board, then East Hardy’s Bryce Tharp stole the ball and was fouled at the buzzer leading to empty court free throw attempts with one going in the hoop for a 53-45 score.
Starting the fourth period, the Yellow Jackets created a turnover on a steal by Ours and a potential jumper by Moran was negated on a pre-shot foul by the Cougars pushing through a screen with Moran still being sent to the free throw line and hitting the rim with East Hardy’s Ritchie getting the rebound.
The Cougars missed two field goals with the latter ricocheting out of play, then Moorefield’s Trevor Shoemaker was whistled for a charge.
After another missed basket, East Hardy’s Bryce Tharp made a steal and the Cougars hit the rim once again.
Smith stole the ball and fed Tharp, who drew a fifth foul by Moran and netted one free throw.
Shoemaker snatched the rebound and the ball was swiped by Smith leading to a three-point play by Tharp as See fouled out with the Cougars cutting the deficit to 53-49 at the 6:08 mark.
The Yellow Jackets lost the ball again with it flying out of bounds, then Dove made a layup for East Hardy to come within one possession at 5:50 with a 53-51 score.
“We play four quarters for a reason, right. We didn’t play the second quarter and I don’t think Moorefield would have shot that well if we wouldn’t have not been on the court. Give them credit for hitting shots, but we lost a little faith in our defense and gave them a lot of good looks at the rim,” East Hardy coach Chris Hahn remarked.
“You get a good shooting team like that and knew Thomas Williams was good, we just lost focus and lost faith in what we do. They came out with a 34-point quarter and that made all the difference in the world. Our inability to score with only 10 or 11 points in the first and second quarter isn’t going to cut it. We didn’t give up, we didn’t quit and we didn’t lay down. We put a little quicker crew in there and went back to our pressure and that got our defense sprinting places. When we picked up the tempo, it made our defense better. We were able to make turnovers. We didn’t have a good second quarter and we also didn’t have a good couple of practices. Hopefully this will wake us up. We came out playing hard in the second half, but when you play that hard you run out of gas. When we looked at the two minute mark, we couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean. We wasted so much energy on that press.”
All the energy exerted to climb back from a 25-point hole took its toll as the Cougars trek slowed down and the Yellow Jackets took flight creating a double digit lead preventing a comeback.
The next Moorefield possession resulted in a 3-pointer by Vance to make it 56-51 with 5:34 to go.
Both teams missed field goals, then a steal attempt by Teets turned into a foul and Williams went to the free throw line sinking both shots for the Yellow Jackets.
After a walk by the Cougars, Williams collided in the paint scoring on a jumper for a 60-51 advantage at 4:15.
Malaki swiped the ball for Moorefield, but stepped out of bounds in the process trying to rush up the sideline.
Price was fouled on a rebound put-back attempt, then missed the free throws.
Moorefield took a 61-51 lead on a free throw by Shoemaker with 3:43 left in the game.
The Yellow Jackets controlled the next rebound as Ours grabbed the board and was fouled leading to a pair of missed shots.
East Hardy’s Bryce Tharp snatched the ensuing rebound and fed Andrew Tharp on a layup with 3:25 to go, 61-53.
Smith stole the ball, then Ours went for a steal and kicked the ball.
Smith recovered a loose ball and dished to Andrew Tharp, who drew a foul and couldn’t connect at the line.
Shoemaker collected the rebound, but Tharp stole the ball and missed the next shot with Malaki grabbing the board before walking.
A walk was called on Dove, then Shoemaker hit a jumper to extend the lead 63-53 at the 2:31 mark.
Vance snatched a defensive rebound, then fouled out on a charging call.
Smith drew a foul and made one of two free throw for the Cougars.
Shoemaker added one free throw for the Yellow Jackets five seconds later with two minutes left.
East Hardy hit the rim and a tip by Price was hauled in by Smith, but the next shot failed to fall and Malaki grabbed the rebound before losing the ball out of bounds.
A 3-pointer attempt by Dove bounced off the rim high above the hoop hitting the wire and went back into the basket, but the score was waived off for hitting the wire.
Ritchie intercepted a pass for the Cougars, but Moorefield’s Coleman Mongold made a steal and the ensuing shot hit the rim with Teets collecting the rebound.
Dove netted a layup for East Hardy with 40 seconds remaining to create a 64-56 score.
Moorefield broke the press and Mongold added two free throws, then Mongold hauled in a defensive rebound.
Williams was fouled by Smith, who fouled out, and added one foul shot with 11 seconds on the clock.
Moorefield increased the lead as Williams netted two more free throws after making a steal with eight seconds to go and the Cougars missed a final attempt as Moorefield kept the Cougars chained up in the Den with a 69-56 final victory.
Williams led all scorers with 27 points for the Yellow Jackets with Moran adding 13 points.
The Cougars were paced by Dove with 15 points and Smith contributed 11 markers.
In JV action, Moorefield won 51-41 over the Cougars as Coleman Mongold led the Yellow Jackets with 12 points and Noah Lang guided East Hardy with 11 points.
East Hardy visits Union tonight and travels to Tucker County on Tuesday.
Moorefield hosted the Mountain Lions yesterday, greets Pendleton County this Friday and Trinity Christian comes to the Hive on Saturday for a matinee session (1:00 p.m.).[/private]
