Hurricane coach Lance Sutherland talks to his team during a timeout Tuesday night at Logan.
LOGAN, W.Va. - Any time you can pick up a win as the visiting team at Willie Akers Arena, it's a good night.
LOGAN, W.Va. - Any time you can pick up a win as the visiting team at Willie Akers Arena, it's a good night.
So forget the fact that Hurricane shot 29 percent in the fourth quarter and also committed 11 second-half turnovers on Tuesday. What the Redskins will long remember is a 67-60 road victory over Logan.
Sophomore Trey Dawson tossed in 21 points for Hurricane (2-0), which took the lead for good about halfway through the first quarter, stretched it as high as 13 points and protected it down the stretch despite a few rough patches.
Redskins coach Lance Sutherland thought it may have been the program's first win at Logan since the 1980s. He said Hurricane probably hasn't played at the storied arena, home to the seven-time state champion Wildcats, since the 1990s.
"Our first road game of the year against a pretty good team and we're still able to win,'' Sutherland said, "even though we're still in the learning stages.
"We're trying to build on our success from last year, and every game's a learning experience. Friday we play Capital, so if we can survive this early-year schedule, we'll be OK. But that's what I want - I want us to be ready to make a run to Charleston [for the state tournament].''
Hurricane, coming off just its second winning season in 10 years, also got a double-double Tuesday from Henry Sorsaia (12 points, 13 rebounds) and a fine effort from point guard Rasaan Harris (13 points, six assists).
The Redskins had some success in beating the Wildcats at their own game - running the floor. Four different times during the contest - and thrice in the first half - Hurricane simply beat Logan down the floor for easy baskets. Three other potential bunny layups rolled around the rim and out.
"That's what we've been doing in practice every day, pushing it,'' Sutherland said. "This team is so athletic and everybody's about the same height. We run up and down the floor. Our press still isn't where we need it to be. We want 32 minutes of hell, the same thing Nolan Richardson had at Arkansas.''
LOGAN, W.Va. - Any time you can pick up a win as the visiting team at Willie Akers Arena, it's a good night.
So forget the fact that Hurricane shot 29 percent in the fourth quarter and also committed 11 second-half turnovers on Tuesday. What the Redskins will long remember is a 67-60 road victory over Logan.
Sophomore Trey Dawson tossed in 21 points for Hurricane (2-0), which took the lead for good about halfway through the first quarter, stretched it as high as 13 points and protected it down the stretch despite a few rough patches.
Redskins coach Lance Sutherland thought it may have been the program's first win at Logan since the 1980s. He said Hurricane probably hasn't played at the storied arena, home to the seven-time state champion Wildcats, since the 1990s.
"Our first road game of the year against a pretty good team and we're still able to win,'' Sutherland said, "even though we're still in the learning stages.
"We're trying to build on our success from last year, and every game's a learning experience. Friday we play Capital, so if we can survive this early-year schedule, we'll be OK. But that's what I want - I want us to be ready to make a run to Charleston [for the state tournament].''
Hurricane, coming off just its second winning season in 10 years, also got a double-double Tuesday from Henry Sorsaia (12 points, 13 rebounds) and a fine effort from point guard Rasaan Harris (13 points, six assists).
The Redskins had some success in beating the Wildcats at their own game - running the floor. Four different times during the contest - and thrice in the first half - Hurricane simply beat Logan down the floor for easy baskets. Three other potential bunny layups rolled around the rim and out.
"That's what we've been doing in practice every day, pushing it,'' Sutherland said. "This team is so athletic and everybody's about the same height. We run up and down the floor. Our press still isn't where we need it to be. We want 32 minutes of hell, the same thing Nolan Richardson had at Arkansas.''
After trailing 32-21 at halftime, debuting Logan began chipping away behind C.J. Williams (16 points), A.J. Reynolds (13 points, eight rebounds), Z Minnick (10 points) and Worm Street (eight points, 10 rebounds).
The closest the Wildcats got after that was 43-40 late in the third quarter, but they did get within five at 62-57 and 65-60 in the final 1:09. Harris sank two free throws with 18 seconds left to set the final score.
"At the end of the third quarter, I screwed up a little bit,'' said Logan coach Mark Hatcher. "We had cut it to five and had some momentum and I ran a play I know my guys can usually run with 10 seconds left. But I forgot I had some of my other guys in there and we ran that play a little bit early and they ended up going on a 5-0 run in 20 seconds and it should have been a five-point game. That was my fault.''
Neither team shot the lights out - Logan 42 percent and Hurricane 43 and both were saddled with 19 turnovers. The Redskins led in rebounding 39-35 as Ace Estep backed Sorsaia by grabbing nine missed shots.
"This is the most inexperienced team I've had in about 10 years,'' Hatcher said, "and it showed in the first half.
"In the second half, we played harder and we took it to the basket. But that's a very good [Hurricane] team with a point guard who made a lot of great decisions in the second half. Both teams were making bad decisions at times, but they made a lot more plays early than we did and got that lead.''
Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com">rickr...@wvgazette.com.
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