By Stephen Smoot
Pendleton County handled its business promptly in its opening regional game hosting the Warriors from Pocahontas County. The home team accomplished its goals in not only carrying away the victory, but doing so in a fashion that allowed key players to appear in fewer minutes.
The Wildcats pounced on their prey from the start. In the first quarter, the team applied a withering press and man-to-man defense to halt the Warrior offense for the most part. A minute and 20 seconds in, Henry Warner posted the first score as he worked his way in a few feet from the foul line, pulled up in traffic, and deftly scored the basket.
Jayden Hess followed by hustling up the floor on the fast break to put back a miss, setting the score at 4-0. Through five minutes, Pendleton County rattled off 17 points with no answering baskets from the opposition. Pocahontas County hit a three-point shot at the three-minute mark. Interestingly, the Warriors only hit threes and free throws until late in the third quarter.
In the first quarter, Warner was the straw that stirs the drink. He scored baskets, swiped the ball from the opponents and, most importantly, made key passes that led to assists or at least moved the ball along crisply in possessions that ended in scores. For the game, he hit six of eight from the field for 12 points
Hess brought the same impact in the same three phases. At 5:25, one of those passes found Chase Owens for his first three. Hess and Warner would both lead the team with three assists. The second came when Cashton Kisamore fired a pass to Hess outside from under the basket. He hit six of eight from beyond the three-point line on his way to a team-high 26 points.
One nifty play toward the end of the half saw Warner at the foul line extended, sending a pass to Travis Owens in the corner. He tipped and redirected the ball to Chase Owens at two o’ clock on the wing, where he hit another three-point basket.
Pendleton County entered the second quarter with a commanding 36-12 lead. At this point, the Wildcats graciously pulled back from full court pressing and a man-to-man defense. While this did open the window a bit for Pocahontas County to score, the Wildcats kept building their lead through the end of the third quarter.
At the 6:14 point in the second quarter, Tony VanMeter made an immediate impact off the bench when he scored a three-point basket for the first of his nine points in the matchup. About 15 seconds later, Warner scored on a running left-handed hook to make the score 48-15.
At the 4:44 point, VanMeter sent a pass up court to Travis Owens for a fast break layup. Chase Owens then ran off of a Ty Heavner pick, pulled up, and nailed a 15-foot basket for a 54-18 lead. Pendleton County’s zone still produced turnovers that led to scores, as at the 1:11 point when Hess took the ball and drove almost the length of the court for a score.
The end of the first half saw a Hess pass taken in by Dalton Rohrbaugh for two of his six points in the contest.
Pendleton County went into the half leading 60-22, but brought the same effort to open that half as they did the previous. Warner took the ball from the Warriors 15 seconds in, then pulled up and hit a 10-foot basket. Hess then deflected a Warrior pass into the hands of Warner who drove the ball the rest of the way for a layup.
Heavner later scored when VanMeter drove in, pulled the defender away from the post, and slipped a pass to Heavner for a layup. Cole Harper not too long after swatted a Pocahontas County shot. Cayson Armstrong put the ball back in Heavner’s hands with 12.1 seconds left. He took the ball in, drew a foul, and went to the line.
The Warriors did hit their first two point basket, a layup, with 3:01 in the third. This showed how suffocating the Pendleton County defense and rebounding efforts were against the visiting team. Kisamore had a quiet game scoring with six on three of four shooting, but pulled in six rebounds and had one assist while locking down the middle defensively.
VanMeter opened the fourth quarter stepping in and calmly arcing in a three-point basket, following that with a steal and a coast-to-coast drive for a score and an 82-34 advantage. Defense never lost intensity as Rohrbaugh, Armstrong, VanMeter, and Knoxx Wright all recorded steals in the quarter. Braylin Hull pulled in a rebound and played aggressive defense.
Cameron Wyatt pulled in three rebounds, two on offense, while also scoring a basket.
Scoring closed on a Rohrbaugh three followed by a Warrior two with a second remaining.
Fairness demands mention that Pocahontas County’s effort never wavered. Their team gave as much effort in the fourth as they did in the first minutes. Their coaches never took them out of the press until the final minutes and the Warriors gave a good accounting of themselves despite the gap. They scored a little victory of their own by outscoring the home squad 14 to 12 in the fourth.
During the game, Chase Owens broke the Pendleton County High School record for scoring at 1,588. Since he is not done scoring for the Wildcats yet, the final tabulation is not available.
Next up came Tucker County on Wednesday, who handled Paw Paw 95-48. However, Tucker has not tasted victory against the Wildcats this year. Pendleton County has victories of 11 and nine against the Mountain Lions, but they boast a 15 and eight record.
A Wildcat win secures a trip to the state tournament in Charleston.
Pendleton County, however, last week defeated Petersburg to end the regular season. The Vikings still earned the top seed in their region despite the setback. Union also defeated Tygarts Valley, setting up a contest between them and number one seed East Hardy.
