By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
The Yellow Jackets swarmed into Pendleton County and toppled the Wildcats for a 60-55 victory on Wednesday night.
It was a back and forth battle with the Wildcats gaining a 14-12 edge after the first period, then Moorefield responded to take a 25-24 lead entering halftime.
Moorefield was led by Shawn Reed with 22 points including 14 points in the first half, followed by Cyrus Kump with 20 points including nine points in the first half and Guyan Kahangirwe pitched in six of his eight points in the final stanza.
Pendleton County’s Chase Owens recorded a game-high 25 points including eight points in the first period and 10 points in the fourth period, followed by Josiah Kimble with 15 points.
“It has been a long three days. It was good to come up here tonight and see our team play as well as we did and as physical as we did and to play as hard as we did after three away games in a row. [Inside game] It was good. We rebounded well and found the post players and we got a lot of baskets around the hoop and that made it a good night. We passed the ball better. Diego [Taylor] did a great job against their best player. I don’t know what he helped him to, maybe four points. He did a great job on him. Our defense as a whole made the stops when we needed to and we got big rebounds tonight,” Moorefield coach Scott Stutler remarked.
The third period started with a layup by Moorefield’s Shawn Reed to extend the lead to 27-24.
The Wildcats rallied for the lead within 27 seconds as Travis Owens scored off a turnover, then Cashton Kisamore blocked a shot and Owens took the ricochet to the rim for a 28-27 edge at 6:12.
The Wildcats boosted the lead on a jumper by Travis Owens after the Yellow Jackets missed two free throws.
Guyan Kahangirwe hauled in an offensive rebound for the Yellow Jackets and made the putback at 4:48 for a 30-29 score.
The Wildcats lost the ball out of bounds, then Moorefield’s Jackson Helmick drilled a 3-pointer to regain the lead 32-20 at 4:28.
Pendleton County answered with a trey from Travis Owens to go back on top at 3:52.
Kahangirwe dished to Cyrus Kump for a bucket in the paint giving the Yellow Jackets a 34-33 edge on the ensuing possession.
Moorefield forced a turnover, but Travis Owens snatched the ball back and passed to Josiah Kimble for a layup as the Wildcats regained the lead 35-34 with 3:15 left in the third period.
The Yellow Jackets responded with a basket by Kump off an assist from Kahangirwe to go up 36-35 at 2:59.
Reed collected a defensive rebound, then Kisamore blocked a shot and Kimble hit a jumper for the Wildcats lead at 2:26.
Reed nailed a perimeter shot giving the Yellow Jackets a 39-37 edge within eight seconds.
The Wildcats missed several attempts over the next minute before Kimble knocked down a 3-pointer at 1:21 to go back up 40-39.
Pendleton County’s Chase Owens made a trey as the Wildcats entered the final stanza up 43-39.
The Wildcats continued with the momentum adding two field goals in the opening minute of the fourth period creating a 47-39 lead.
The Yellow Jackets rallied to tie the game over the ensuing three minutes starting with a jumper by Kahngirwe at 6:43
A steal by Moorefield’s Diego Taylor led to an old-fashioned three-point play by Kump coming off a rebound at 5:51 for a 47-44 score.
Brady Vetter stole the ball for the Yellow Jackets and Taylor scored on a putback to closet ht gap to 47-46 at 5:14.
Kimble made two free throws on the next Wildcats series, then Taylor added one free throw during Moorefield’s turn on the line.
“I expected a battle like this, because they have gotten better. I am not making excuses, but we are down a few players so it wasn’t the same. Give them the credit, they play hard and they deserve to win. Our kids played hard, too. It just didn’t fall our way tonight. We alway have a pretty good crowd, but it was a special crowd tonight. It was a good atmosphere,” Pendleton County coach Jeremy Bodkin stated.
A jumper by Kahangirwe tied the game for the Yellow Jackets at 49-all with 4:06 remaining.
A minute transpired with the Yellow Jackets keeping possession alive with rebounds by Taylor, Kahangirwe and Kump as the latter carom led to a putback for a 51-49 edge.
Reed hauled in a defensive board and passed to Kahangirwe, who drew a foul and made both shots on the line with 2:34 to go.
Taylor swiped the ball and netted a breakaway layup to extend Moorefield’s lead to 55-49 with 2:06 left.
The Wildcats ended the run with a bucket from Chase Owens on the ensuing series at 1:51.
Reed crashed into the paint, but a whistle for a travel was called prior to the contact.
Kisamore grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled, but missed both opportunities at the line.
A foul was called on Chase Owens during a steal attempt and Reed went to the line making both shots to put the Yellow Jackets up 57-51 with 1:06 left.
Kump collected a defensive rebound and Moorefield passed the ball around before a foul was committed and Reed added one foul shot with 26 seconds to go.
Reed snatched a defensive rebound, then Chase Owens stole the ball and scored a layup as the Wildcats cut the deficit to 58-53 with 15 seconds remaining.
Taylor was tripped and notched two more points on the charity stripe giving Moorefield a 60-53 lead with nine seconds to go.
Chase Owens scored on a putback as time expired, but that wasn’t enough for Pendleton County claw out of the hole as the Yellow Jackets caged the Wildcats 60-55.
Moorefield travels to top seeded Doddridge County in the opening round of the Class AA Region II playoffs this Friday, while Pendleton County hosts Union in the Class A Region II playoffs.
