CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Martinsburg's Donte' Grantham is a lot closer to a Class AAA championship than he is making up his mind about his college future.
Going out in style
Hurricane's players were thankful for the outpouring of support they received in Wednesday's morning session, as the cheering section behind their basket was crammed with fans.
It was but a continuation of the fervor that followed the team this season as it reached the state tournament for the first time.
"It wasn't just our school,'' said senior guard Rasaan Harris, "it was everybody, the whole community - the city of Hurricane and Putnam County in general.
"Just the signs and banners and everything throughout the whole community. We did that for them and they did it for us. We made history, and it feels good. We gave back to them and they gave back to us. They appreciated it.''
Guard play carries Tug, too
Tug Valley's guards sliced and diced Notre Dame to the tune of an 87-62 defeat in the first round of the Class A tournament.
"Anytime you have a team that has two or three good guards, you have your hands full," said ND coach Jarod West, the former West Virginia guard. "They did a very good job in their 2-2-1 of getting deflections, which leads to transition and layups. They do a good job of penetrating to the middle, which collapses the defense, and kicking out to shooters. The reason they won a [Class AA] state championship last year and are the favorites this year is because they are a very, very good team."
If the Panthers are to win another state crown, it will be on the shoulders of guards Mikey Newsome, Austin Brewer and Aaron Muncy, who have led Tug to a 23-3 record and have averaged 23.2, 20.8 and 12.1 points per game, respectively.
Good news travels fast
So stunningly unexpected was Wheeling Central's 31-12 halftime lead over Magnolia that Central's cheerleaders sprinted for their cell phones as soon as the second-quarter buzzer sounded. "OMG! We're winning!" reportedly was the girls' message of choice.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Martinsburg's Donte' Grantham is a lot closer to a Class AAA championship than he is making up his mind about his college future.
The Bulldogs' all-stater said following Wednesday's state tournament quarterfinal win over Huntington that he hasn't even narrowed his list of potential suitors to a workable number.
"No, not yet. Not yet,'' he said.
"I'm going to wait until after the season. I'm focused on winning a championship right now. After the season, [I'll decide].''
The only Division I programs to offer a scholarship to the 6-foot-7, 200-pound senior so far are Clemson and smaller schools such as Radford, VMI and Quinnipiac. Also considered in the mix, however, are West Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown, Nebraska and Wake Forest.
Grantham had 16 points and 13 rebounds in Martinsburg's 60-50 victory over the Highlanders.
Even though he was 0 of 6 on 3-pointers Wednesday, he wound up hitting 8 of 15 shots overall, an improvement on last year's 4-of-14 effort against Logan in the quarterfinals.
"My 3 wasn't falling much,'' Grantham said, "The next game, I'm going to go inside out and see how that goes.''
Taking it to the rim
Charleston Catholic got a lot of production out of its guard tandem of Garret McCarty and David Godwin in Wednesday's 61-48 Class A win over Buffalo, as each scored 16 points to support forward Zach Casto's 17.
The output for McCarty, Catholic's second-leading scorer on the season, wasn't all that surprising, but Godwin's was. He came into the game having scored no more than eight points in all but one of his last eight contests.
It was the manner, though, in which the Irish guards did their work, often using the dribble to create open lanes to the basket.
"In the open-court situation, the spread situation, one-on-one, I trust their ability to get around people,'' said Irish coach Bill McClanahan, "and trust their ability to make better decisions with the basketball.
"When Buffalo got behind, they had to start creeping out. In the first half, they were able to contain it and keep it compressed and it caused us some problems. In the second half, we got some transition and opened up the lead and they had to start inching out to get us, and when they did that it opened up the court for David and Garret and they attacked smartly."
Going out in style
Hurricane's players were thankful for the outpouring of support they received in Wednesday's morning session, as the cheering section behind their basket was crammed with fans.
It was but a continuation of the fervor that followed the team this season as it reached the state tournament for the first time.
"It wasn't just our school,'' said senior guard Rasaan Harris, "it was everybody, the whole community - the city of Hurricane and Putnam County in general.
"Just the signs and banners and everything throughout the whole community. We did that for them and they did it for us. We made history, and it feels good. We gave back to them and they gave back to us. They appreciated it.''
Guard play carries Tug, too
Tug Valley's guards sliced and diced Notre Dame to the tune of an 87-62 defeat in the first round of the Class A tournament.
"Anytime you have a team that has two or three good guards, you have your hands full," said ND coach Jarod West, the former West Virginia guard. "They did a very good job in their 2-2-1 of getting deflections, which leads to transition and layups. They do a good job of penetrating to the middle, which collapses the defense, and kicking out to shooters. The reason they won a [Class AA] state championship last year and are the favorites this year is because they are a very, very good team."
If the Panthers are to win another state crown, it will be on the shoulders of guards Mikey Newsome, Austin Brewer and Aaron Muncy, who have led Tug to a 23-3 record and have averaged 23.2, 20.8 and 12.1 points per game, respectively.
Good news travels fast
So stunningly unexpected was Wheeling Central's 31-12 halftime lead over Magnolia that Central's cheerleaders sprinted for their cell phones as soon as the second-quarter buzzer sounded. "OMG! We're winning!" reportedly was the girls' message of choice.
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