Gallery courtesy of Karen Akers
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Shady Spring – Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson had contrasting defensive and offensive strategies in mind heading into a rematch of the last three Class AAA title games Saturday.
On defense he wanted Fairmont Senior to settle and on offense he wanted to attack the rim. Both played out the way he hoped.
The host Tigers shook off a slow second quarter Saturday afternoon to secure a 62-51 victory over the Polar Bears in Shady Spring.
Fairmont Senior head coach Dave Retton took one look at the shot chart after the game and knew exactly what the difference was. It was reflected in the box score as well with the Polar Bears converting on just 32 percent (6 of 19) of their shots from beyond the arc while Shady attacked downhill, firing 37 of its 45 attempts inside the arc, mostly in the paint.
“That’s what I told our guys, dribble penetration hurt is,” Retton, a four-time state champion head coach said. “When we got behind we had to play man. They did a good job, they executed. We had one good quarter and it’s hard to beat a really good team with one good quarter. I felt we played really good basketball in the second quarter. Hats off to them. It’s a hard-fought game.”
The second quarter proved key as it allowed the Polar Bears to catch up after digging a hole. In the first five minutes of the game the visitors couldn’t buy a bucket, falling in an 8-0 hole to open the game
Darrell Claybrook finally broke the ice for Fairmont with a layup but a 3 from Eli Sexton and a layup from Jalon Bailey put the Tigers ahead 13-2.
But the shoe found itself on the other foot in the second quarter.
After turning the ball over seven times in the opening frame, the visitors tightened up in the second, giving the ball away just once while holding the Tigers scoreless over the first four minutes.
Back to back buckets from Landon Morris trimmed the deficit to three points at 14-11, keying what became a 10-0 run and Fairmont lead at 15-14. Khi Olson stemmed the tide with Shady’s only field goal of the quarter, putting the Tigers up 16-15 at the break.
“We punched them in the mouth to start the game and they punched us in the mouth in the second quarter,” Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson said. “We were getting them off their spots, we were being physical and they started doing that to us. They started getting in our stuff, they started pushing us off our spot and they started being physical. A lot of was Fairmont Senior, what they did in the second quarter and we couldn’t score it. You literally flip-flopped the quarters. We held them to two, they held us to three.”
Khi Olson’s final layup foreshadowed the third quarter. After Bailey opened the third half with a layup off an Olson assist, Jack Williams later added a pair of layups and a 3.
From there it was all Olson who scored 11 of his 19 points in the third quarter on 5 of 6 shooting from the field. A 3-point shooter by reparation, seven of Olson’s field goals came in the paint.
“I actually talked to Khi about this but Michael Jordan, LeBron James, those guys, the greats, when they get older, they’re still great, but they change the way they play,” Coach Olson said. “Michael Jordan he was one that would just use his athleticism to fly over people, and then when he got older, people didn’t realize when he was in his 30s, he still dominated, but he dominated in a different way. And I think Khi was having to play through his (leg) injury, which was being a facilitator, getting into paint, using his body and now his body’s starting to feel better and he’s getting in shape, and I think now he’s playing the way that he did before before he had his injury.
“ So I think that really helped him, and I think he’s adjusted, We talked about that for him to get in the lane like that and finish and he played with a lot of energy. Guys found him and we’re gonna have different guys each night, but I’m really proud of the way that he stepped up and I think that’s a big reason why.”
Olson’s final shot of the frame, a layup before the buzzer, gave the Tigers a 38-31 lead heading to the fourth but the Polar Bears hung around. Despite falling behind by 10 points Trae Cumberledge helped cut the deficit back to six with a 3 in the final four minutes but the Polar Bears were never able to cut it closer.
With two weeks to go until regional play begins Olson saw the matchup as a statement game and measuring stick for where the defending champions stand.
“I felt like this was a game that we wanted not just our area, but for the whole state of West Virginia,” Olson said. “I know people have kind of wrote us off. I do feel like we’ve had some close games. This was a big game as far as in our classification. We wanna be the No. 1 seed in the region, and I think this helps us. Obviously, win your regional games and you should be the one seed. That’s what we’re working on this next week but we have proved to our guys, man, we’re not going anywhere, and we’re not resting on last year. We’re not gonna sit there and just talk about what we did, we wanna talk about where we’re gonna go. It’s gonna be hard, and we got a long ways to go. But to beat Fairmont, a physical team – people have to realize they have three starters back from a state runner-up team. That was a big gang for us and we don’t hide from big games. It’s not gonna win us the state championship, but you want that on your resume. You want your guys to feel like all the practice and prep they’re doing is for a reason, and we did tonight.”
Williams led Shady and all scorers with 20 points while Cumberledge paced Fairmont with 17 in the loss.
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FS: 2 13 16 17 – 48
SS: 13 3 22 24 – 62
Fairmont Senior
Darrell Claybrook 5, Landon Morris 10, Trae Cumberledge 17, Julz Butler 8, Jeff Cowger 7, Brock Martin 4
Shady Spring
Jack Williams 20, Eli Sexton 9, Khi Olson 19, Jalon Bailey 14
