By Stephen Smoot
Last week, the Union Tigers traveled to Franklin to tangle with the Wildcats and ran into a hungry pack of Wildcats. Though they gave a strong effort through the entire game, Union struggled mightily.
Pendleton County controlled the tip off. Union played well in half-court defense through much of the game, but scoring eluded them. Jacob Beachler drew first blood by tipping in an offensive rebound with a minute gone in the game. Josiah Kimble also had a strong start in the game. After stealing the ball earlier in the quarter, he swiped a pass at the 4:43 mark and shortly thereafter hit a three-pointer to give his team a 10-0 lead.
Chase Owens then took his own steal all the way in to give his team a 12-point advantage. Later, he took a Connor Armentrout pass for a layup. At the one-minute mark, Brayden Beachler hit his own three, followed by Owens taking the ball from the Union point guard’s hands and scoring yet again. A Clayton Kisamore layup on a Dustin Vandevander assist ended scoring at 24 to 0 for the quarter.
The second quarter started with a Kimble steal two seconds in. Almost a minute later, another Armentrout pass hit gold, this time ending in a Kisamore score to lift the lead to 26 to 0. Shortly afterwards, Evan Teter kicked the ball out to Kisamore for a completed three-point shot. They teamed up again at the 5:47 mark to steal the ball. Then Brayden Beachler got a steal of his own, passed the ball quickly ahead to Teter, who again found Kisamore in scoring position, leading to a 31 to 0 score.
Wildcat defenders kept the pressure on Union ballhandlers all evening. Owens and Dusty Smith combined for a steal at the 3:03 mark. Shortly thereafter, Smith hit a three-point shot off a Brayden Beachler assist and racked up another steal with less than two minutes in the half. Smith then found Brayden Beachler with an assist leading to a layup to put the score at 38 – 6. First half scoring ended, appropriately, on yet another hustle play with Owens putting an offensive rebound back in for a layup for a 41-6 halftime advantage.
In the second half of the season, Coach Jeremy Bodkin has preached patience on offense. This has led to a significant uptick in baskets made off of assists while also opening up scoring opportunities for everyone on the floor and making the offense more formidable. The Wildcats also generate big plays through hustle and work on defense and the offensive boards.
Action started in the second half with Jacob Beachler putting back an offensive rebound for an easy score with only 30 seconds gone in the quarter. A minute later, Kimble found Owens on the perimeter for a three-point shot. Kimble then hit another three 30 seconds later to elevate the score to 52-8.
Pendleton County’s defense continued to attack the Tigers throughout the game. With 37 seconds left in the quarter, Teter tipped a Tiger shot attempt, then tracked down the rebound. Union hit a buzzer beater in the closing seconds for a 59-16 score.
The first few minutes of the fourth quarter saw the Wildcats continuing to give full effort. Vandevander took a steak only 10 seconds into the action. Cashton Kisamore and Brady Bowers worked the boards for an offensive rebound a piece. Teter, in one of his best games all year, found Vandevander for an assist and combined with Brayden Beachler for a steal. Teter later hit a 17-foot shot of his own.
Armentrout also showed his athleticism, getting two steals in the last three minutes of the game. He also scored a layup on a Vandevander pass. Scoring closed on a Union layup that left the final at 70-32.
The Wildcats hosted Tygarts Valley and Frankfort earlier this week. They play the final game of the season tonight at Moorefield.
In other action, Keyser upset Allegany in a last second shot 68-67. Pendleton County had dropped two tightly contested games to Keyser earlier in the season.
