×

Dragons use FTs to topple Pirates

WILLIAMSBURG – Good basketball teams can create turnovers, control the ball and clock offensively and make free throws.

Considering Central went 31-of-38 from the line, forced 28 turnovers and held the ball for the majority of the fourth quarter in its 64-55 win over Williamsburg Friday in the championship game of the Pirates’ holiday tournament, it’s a safe bet to assume the Dragons are poised for a good year.

“Williamsburg is so tough down here,” Central coach Reggie Nevins said. “This tournament is so important to them, and we knew they’d give a great effort, but for us it’s just another step.

“We’ve been playing real well lately and hopefully this is a stepping stone for the rest of the season.”

Central built a 26-24 lead with 1:41 left in the second quarter, but Williamsburg scored the final four points of the half and the first five of the third quarter to take a 33-26 lead.

The Blue Pirates maintained their seven-point lead until 27 seconds remained in the third quarter when the Dragons (5-3) began their free-throw barrage when Williamsburg picked up its seventh team foul of the half.

In the final 8:27 of the game, Central went 24-of-26 from the line. Zach Slagenweit, who won tournament MVP honors for the second consecutive year, went 14-of-16 from the line during that time and finished with a game-high 22 points. Eighteen of those came from the line.

“I play some of my best ball here,” Slagenweit said. “Coach Nevins tells me a lot about how important free throws are, and I stay after practice and shoot a couple hundred every day.”

The Blue Pirates managed to hold onto the lead, extending it back to four, when Bryce Young stole a pass and made a layup at the other end early in the fourth quarter, but it turned out to be Williamsburg’s last field goal until the final minute.

Following Young’s layup, Central went on a 17-2 run that locked up its third consecutive Williamsburg Blue Pirate Boosters Holiday Tournament title.

“In the fourth quarter, we made a few crucial turnovers,” Williamsburg coach Mike Farrell said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot and made ourselves have to foul. They made all their free throws, credit to them. That kind of gave them the game.”

Caleb Morrissey, a senior starter for the Blue Pirates, exited the game with a knee injury early in the fourth quarter with Williamsburg still ahead.

“[Morrissey] going down led to a little bit of deflation I guess as a team,” Farrell said. “I think if we could have just taken care of the ball better, we could have stayed ahead of the game and hung in there.”

Austin McMonagle led Williamsburg with 14 points, Mike Biddle added 12 and Peyton Brown scored 10. The Pirates fell to 3-3 and will travel to Bellwood-Antis on Thursday.

“We really picked up our intensity,” Nevins said. “We told the guys at halftime, we might have been playing at a nine on a scale of one to 10, but they were playing at a 10.

“They were playing harder and better than us and getting to the loose balls we usually get, and we talked about turning up the intensity. We played man [defense] the whole second half, and we just played harder.”

Game notes: Northern Bedford’s Blake Over, Philipsburg-Osceola’s Trentin Herrington, Williamsburg’s McMonagle, Biddle and Morrissey and Central’s Brenden Vollkommer made the all-tournament team. Slagenweit was the MVP, and the Dragons’ Austin Cunningham was the defensive player of the tournament. Central’s Alex Lafferty won the sportsmanship award. Vollkommer was the only other Dragon to score in double digits with 13.

CENTRAL (64): Cunningham 2 3-5 7, Mills 0 2-2 2, Slagenweit 2 18-20 22, Brumbaugh 1 0-0 2, Lafferty 2 3-4 8, Forshey 2 2-3 8, Vollkommer 6 1-2 13, Kensinger 0 2-2 2. Totals – 15 31-38 64.

WILLIAMSBURG (55): Shaw 1 0-0 3, Biddle 5 0-0 12, Ross 1 0-0 2, McMonagle 4 6-6 14, Brown 3 1-2 10, Morrissey 0 3-4 3, Palmer 2 0-0 4, Young 3 1-4 7. Totals – 19 11-16 55.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central 12 14 16 22 – 64

Williamsburg 9 19 15 12 – 55

3-pointers: Central 3 (Forshey 2, Lafferty). Williamsburg 6 (Brown 3, Biddle 2, Shaw)

Records: Central (5-3); Williamsburg (3-3)

Officials: Clark Adelman, Jack McDougal, Rich Gergely

Consolation game

In the consolation game, Blake Over fired in 24 points, and Kyler Diehl and Coltin Eversole chipped in with 12 and 10, respectively, as Northern Bedford took care of Philipsburg-Osceola, 66-46. Lewis Jones netted 17 points and Trentin Herrington 15 for P-O.

PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (46): Belinda 2 0-0 4, Matsko 5 0-0 10, Herrington 6 2-4 15, Jones 7 0-2 17, Fetters 0 0-0 0, Fowler 0 0-0 0, Kerfoot 0 0-0 0. Totals – 20 2-6 46.

NORTHERN BEDFORD (66): Ebersole 5 0-0 10, Snyder 1 0-0 2, Over 9 4-4 24, Diehl 5 2-2 12, Dasher 3 1-2 7, Petrou 1 0-0 2, Cherry 2 0-0 5, Gilbert 0 0-2 0, Foor 1 0-0 2, Drenning 1 0-0 2, Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Batzel 0 0-0 0, Andrades 0 0-0 0. Totals – 28 7-10 66.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Philipsburg-Osceola15 12 8 11 – 46

Northern Bedford22 14 17 13 – 66

3-point goals: Philipsburg-Osceola 4 (Herrington, Jones 3); Northern Bedford 3 (Over 2, Cherry).

Records: Philipsburg-Osceola (0-7); Northern Bedford (7-1).

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today