March 3, 2013
Rematches rule the day in AAA regional co-finals
Chris Dorst
South Charleston coach Vic Herbert thinks Tuesday's Region 3 game against Greenbrier East will be "a nailbiter."
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha Valley teams hope to make the most of their second chances this week as the Class AAA boys basketball regionals are staged across the state.

For these games, however, revenge for a regular-season loss isn't the key motivator. A spot in the state tournament is.

Kanawha Valley teams compete on four fronts Tuesday in regional co-finals at South Charleston, Beckley, Hurricane and Huntington. All games tip off at 7 p.m.

  • South Charleston (22-2), the state's No. 3-ranked team, hosts No. 8 Greenbrier East (20-4) at the South Charleston Community Center in Region 3.
  • The other Region 3 co-final pits No. 2 Woodrow Wilson (20-4) against unranked Riverside (9-15) at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
  • One Region 4 contest finds Logan (8-16) visiting red-hot No. 10 Hurricane (19-5), which has won 11 of its last 12 games.
  • The other co-final in Region 4 has Nitro (11-13) traveling to No. 9 Huntington (18-5).
  • The four winners advance to the big show at the Charleston Civic Center from March 13-16, which marks the 100th state tournament in West Virginia.

    All four regional games represent rematches of regular-season meetings.

    South Charleston, in fact, drubbed Greenbrier East 67-41 just 11 days ago at the Community Center. Black Eagles coach Vic Herbert, however, isn't expecting anything easy on Tuesday.

    "Greenbrier East is loaded with talent,'' Herbert said. "They're athletic, they play hard and [coach Jim Justice] does a good job with them.

    "The reason we jumped on them when they were here was just because Coach Justice hadn't been here in this situation - at our place with a big crowd. A lot of their kids hadn't been here. It's kind of a new atmosphere. I guarantee you one thing: The second time around, it's not going to be 26 points. They're going to figure out what they need to do and it'll be a nailbiter because a lot's on the line to get to go to Charleston. I'm looking for a real tough game.''

    The Spartans were forced into 28 turnovers the last time, leading to several easy baskets for SC.

    Senior low post Hunter Moles, who has averaged 16 points over his last four games, doesn't think overconfidence has been a problem for the Black Eagles in the postseason.

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