FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Bridgeport junior Aryon Dodd was scoreless in the opening quarter of Wednesday’s matchup at Fairmont Senior, though that didn’t stop the Indians from holding a five-point lead through 8 minutes.
Dodd then opened the second-quarter scoring with a three-pointer. It was a sign of things to come throughout that frame, which Bridgeport began with 17 unanswered points, nine of which Dodd scored off a trio of treys.
The sharpshooter made two more threes in the frame to give him five, the last of which left the Indians with a 37-13 lead, and they hardly looked back in handling the Polar Bears at the Fairmont Senior Field House, 69-47.
“We got in a rhythm and we can shoot the ball pretty well when we take the right shots,” BHS head coach Dave Marshall said. “We did that. I didn’t realize it was 17 unanswered, but when you shoot the ball well, it makes a lot of other things easy, and even more so on the defensive side.
“We took good shots and a lot of those shots were off paint touches and inside-out. We got the ball in the paint and kicked it out and there’s something about shooting those, the statistics show all over the place that those are your higher percentage shots. We did that and it helps to make them. Some days you get those shots and still don’t make them and it can frustrate you.”
The result gives BHS (17-4) a regular season sweep of FSHS, which fell to 11-8.
Dodd and teammate Gavin Williams combined for the first 14 points of the second quarter, 12 of which came from triples. When BHS freshman Daniel Riley scored from close range off a steal, Fairmont Senior was faced with a 31-9 deficit.
“We had nothing to lose and could play free and clear, and we weren’t,” Polar Bears’ head coach Dave Retton said. “The second half, we did a better job of competing. The first half, we didn’t compete. I didn’t have our guys ready to play and it was reflected.”
Mason Washenitz scored the first point of the period for the Polar Bears on a free throw and later accounted for the team’s first basket of the frame on a three.
A conventional three-point play from Washenitz with 1:11 left in the half allowed the Polar Bears to trail 39-20, before Bodhi Sickles’ follow-up basket with time winding down enabled the visitors to take a 21-point lead into halftime.
At the break, the Indians had more threes (8) than the Polar Bears had field goals (7).
“We know we have more than one guy that can do it well,” Marshall said of the importance of three-point shooting to his squad. “You immediately try to play to your strengths. We had a team four or five years ago that could shoot the three real well, but had less size than we even have right now, and we couldn’t get to the basket the way we do right now. We have a little bit more of the other dimensions — not just off penetration, off cutting and intelligent basketball. But it’s only going to help if you can shoot the basketball.”
Fairmont Senior standout Darrell Claybrook was scoreless through the first two quarters, but scored 11 points in the third, including the final five over a 27-second stretch to help the Polar Bears outscore the Indians by three in the frame and trail 56-38 with 8 minutes left.
“He’s at the top of our scouting report, but you can’t only guard that guy, because they have a lot of other guys that can shoot and do other things,” Marshall said. “But he’s at the top of your list. We were fortunate he didn’t score. There were things we did to try to take away some penetration, but we tried to do that the first time we played him and it didn’t do much good.”
The home team got no closer than 17 in the fourth quarter, which featured six points from Williams, who led all players with 23.
Dodd followed with 17, Anderson McDougal scored 10 and dished out seven assists and Riley also scored 10.
“When he is tuned in, moving the ball and has a high assist number, we’re pretty good,” Marshall said in reference to McDougal.
Bridgeport had only three turnovers and made 28 field goals.
Claybrook’s 15 points were a team high.
“I’m not saying the game was over, but with the lack of competitiveness in the first half, you can’t not compete against someone and then expect to come back in two quarters and put yourselves in position to be successful and win,” Retton said. “You can’t do that against a good team — and they’re a very good team.”