By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
The Golden Tornado siren sounded and sent the Yellow Jackets spiraling to the ground with a 52-42 blast in Keyser.
Moorefield kept it close in the first half with rebounding, but foul trouble and mistakes loomed large in the second half causing a rift in the continuity.
“I don’t know that it was anything they threw at us in the first half. We have been doing that for about a month now, starting slow and getting down six, eight to ten points in the first period. We come out and have a game plan, then commit three, four or five turnovers and take bad shots that weren’t in rhythm or anything out of the set. You aren’t doing the stuff you were talking about in the locker room 20 minutes ago. I’m not taking anything away from them, but we aren’t doing what we needed to do. Sometimes you do things to speed them up, but you speed yourself up and not going in the right rhythm. We don’t press a lot, but we wanted to give it a whirl to test it out knowing we had it in our bag going into the playoffs. I think a lot of it was more about us. We tried to do too much. The key in the second half was going into a 1-3-1 trying to protect Braylon who was in foul trouble and needed him on both ends of the floor. We just needed to rebound better, because most of their points in the first half came off putbacks and not getting boxed off. We shot ten free throws in the first half with the third quarter notwithstanding, but we got to the line more in the second half which is what we wanted to do,” Keyser coach Scott Furey commented.
Shawn Reed scored a game-high 11 points for the Yellow Jackets, followed by Cyrus Kump with nine points and Guyan Kahangirwe added eight points.
Keyser was paced by Grayson Lambka with 10 points, followed by Ian Spiker with eight points and Braylon McGreevy with seven points.
“They made shots and we didn’t. We got into foul trouble and had kids sitting on the bench most of the game. At one point, we missed four foul shots and two layups and they came down and hit a big three which was a turning point,” Moorefield coach Scott Stutler remarked.
Both teams had a couple turnovers in the opening two minutes of the game.
Keyser took the initial lead with a free throw by Evan Ack at 658.
Moorefield’s Diego Taylor scored on a putback for the lead at 5:24.
Both teams committed turnovers, then Keyser’s Grayson Lambka netted an old-fashioned three-point play to regain the lead 4-2 at 4:27.
Moorefield’s Cyrus Kump drew a foul and added one free throw on the ensuing series.
The Golden Tornado responded with a jumper by Layton Valentine.
Kump went back to the line and made both free throws for the Yellow Jackets cutting the deficit to 6-5 at 3:28.
Taylor stole the ball and drew a foul, but missed the attempts on the line.
Keyser came up empty, then Kump collected rebounds on both ends of the floor with the latter carom resulting in a putback giving Moorefield the lead 7-6 at 2:11.
Keyser’s Kameron Samples drilled a 3-pointer to regain the lead 9-7 with 1:40 left in the first frame.
Samples and Reed traded steals, but the latter led to a charge by Kump.
Reed blocked a shot, then Kahangirwe scored on a putback as the Yellow Jackets tied the game at 9-all with nine seconds left.
Keyser missed two field goals to start the second period, sandwiching a leaping save and steal by Damarian Allen, with Kump collecting the rebounds.
Reed drew a foul and made both free throws to put Moorefield up 11-9 at 7:01.
Camden Owens netted a jumper to tie the game for the Golden Tornado on the following possession.
Moorefield answered with a layup by Kump to regain the lead at 6:25.
Both teams hit the rim, then Keyesr’s McGreevy made one free throw and Reed hauled in the board.
Ack swiped the ball and found Allen for a layup as Keyser took a 14-13 lead at 4:56.
The Yellow Jackets took the lead back just 11 seconds later on a jumper by Brady Vetter.
Moorefield’s Jackson Helmick drilled a perimeter basket for an 18-15 edge with 4:17 left in the half.
Lambka recorded an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game for Keyser at 4:01.
A steal by Lambka led to two free throws for a Golden Tornado edge at 3:18.
Ack blocked a shot and stepped out of bounds after the steal.
Reed completed an old-fashioned three-point play to five the Yellow Jackets a 21-20 lead with 2:47 remaining.
Ack netted two foul shots on the ensuing possession to regain the Keyser edge.
After a turnover, Moorefield’s Dawson Arbaugh blocked a shot and forced a jump ball before committing an offensive foul.
Keyser took a 26-21 lead with a dunk by Samples with 16 seconds left in the half.
Moorefield’s Diego Taylor garnered a buzzer beating putback for a 26-23 halftime score.
Keyser opened the second half setting a trap to force a walk, then Allen scored in the paint.
McGreevy blocked a shot after a rebound by Taylor, then stole the ball leading to a miss.
McGreevy blocked another shot before the Golden Tornado lost the ball out.
Reed scored on a layup for the Yellow Jackets at 6:11, 28-25.
McGreevy scored twice within a minute with the help of a steal to put Keyser up 33-25 at 3:34.
Moorefield’s Jackson Helmick hammered a 3-pointer on the next series.
Kump stole the ball, but the ensuing shot went awry and the Golden Tornado couldn’t connect on the other side.
Moorefield’s Guyan Kahangirwe hit a jumper to close the gap to 33-30 at 1:55.
Kahangirwe snatched a defensive rebound before being called for a charge going to the hoop.
Keyser missed two shots, then Taylor stole the ball and a technical foul was called on the Golden Tornado.
Moorefield missed the free throws and ensuing field goal attempts.
Keyser’s Ian Spiker drilled a perimeter bucket for a 36-30 lead entering the final stanza.
A steal by Taylor setup a putback from Reed as the Yellow Jackets cut the deficit to 36-32 at 7:27 in the fourth period.
The Golden Tornado answered with a 3-pointer by Spiker to spark an 8-0 run to build a 44-32 advantage with 5:12 left.
Moorefield stopped the run with a jumper by Reed at 4:02.
A steal by Kahangirwe led to a bucket from Kump as the Yellow Jackets made it 44-36 with 3:12 to go.
Keyser added three free throws over the next minute, then Kahangirwe scored off an assist from Taylor in the paint at 2:12.
After a field goal by Spiker, Moorefield responded with a layup by Taylor to cut the deficit to 49-40 with 1:43 remaining.
Keyser added a free throw, then Moorefield hit the rim and Helmick stole the ball back and dished to Kahangirwe for a basket with one minute left, 50-42.
The Golden Tornado missed six out of eight free throws down the stretch, but that was enough to seal the 52-42 win as Moorefield drew iron thrice despite a steal by Reed.
