MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Playing on back-to-back nights for the third time in the last three weeks, Morgantown created distance on the scoreboard in the second quarter to defeat Martinsburg, 79-63.
After defeating Buckhannon-Upshur, 74-73 on Wednesday night, Morgantown head coach Dave Tallman backed off of the team’s customary pressure defense, opting for more zone than his team usually employs.
“I am not an excuse guy. But we had a long one last night. I think we have had three doubleheaders in the last two weeks. We’ve got tired bodies. Everybody is fatigued, including the coach. I knew tonight was a game we had to fight and grind out. We went to some zones, which we haven’t done all year. We haven’t really worked on them much. But just to kind of keep Max [Frey] and Waylon [Colistra] in the game in longer stretches and they didn’t have to run around doing havoc,” Tallman said.
“I think it helped us today. Our defense is not where we want it to be right now. But we are starting to click a little bit on offense.”
Leading 19-15 after the first quarter, the Mohigans (18-1) outscored the Bulldogs 25-14 in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead that they would hold for the remainder of the game. Marcus Goins drained four triples in the opening half with three of those coming in the second stanza. Goins finished the game with 13 points.
“Marcus is a weapon, for sure. He had a bad knee injury last year. So I just think getting back and kind of getting his feet under him, he is a guy we are counting on.”
Waylon Colistra led all scorers with 29 points.
“Waylon was awesome tonight, man. Like I told him yesterday, ‘Besides Sharron Young, you might have played more minutes than anybody on this floor’. He has dealt with my [stuff] and I have dealt with his. We butt heads sometimes, but I love him to death. He is a great kid. He’s super-competitive. When he is a 1-on-1 matchup in the post, he is almost unstoppable. And he is really starting to make the right plays. When people start doubling, he is kicking it out to our shooters.”
Frey added 16 points for the Mohigans. Morgantown leads Class AAAA in victories. Having already secured the No. 1 seed in the North Regional, the Mohigans will face Brooke (Monday) and George Washington (Thursday) next week to close out their regular season.
“Sam Frey is out but he should be back soon. He was our leading steal and deflections guy. People kind of forget about him. That has kind of hurt our defense. We’ll get back to work. We’ve been there before. I think Quad-A is as good as it has been in many years. Who knows who is going to win it. We are not going to worry about it. We are going to go one game at a time. Coaches are going to work their tails off to get ready and so are players. These are great kids and they are a lot of fun. Hopefully we can coach them through Championship Saturday.”
Mikey Green led the Bulldogs (8-12) with 16 points. Nykeem Thompson (12), Cody Shallis (11) and Boston Todd (10) also scored in double-digits for the visitors.