By Stephen Smoot
The Wildcats engaged the Pirates of Paw Paw in a rare Saturday afternoon game, last week. The game came after a difficult stretch in which Pendleton County played three games against the best teams in West Virginia single A, but also dealt rival Moorefield a stinging loss.
Pendleton County’s successes of late also pushed the team to a seventh place ranking in West Virginia single A, according to Max Preps.
Paw Paw took the opening tip and their feisty defense kept the Wildcats off of the scoreboard for more than a minute and a half. Chase Owens took an offensive rebound back up for a layup, giving his team a 2-0 lead.
Dusty Smith helped to double that lead 30 seconds later by using a drive to pull a defender of Cashton Kisamore, dropping the pass to him for an easy score. The same player hit another layup shortly thereafter for a 6-0 lead.
At almost the four minute mark, Josiah Kimble tossed a pass to Zykijah Wright, who made a move on his man and scored. Three minutes later, Kimble hit a three to give his team a 15-5 advantage. A seven-foot shot by Dusty Smith ended first quarter scoring at 17-5.
Bradey Bowers helped his team to open scoring in the second, hitting Kisamore with a pass. He scored the layup, drew a foul, then completed the old time three-point play, setting the lead at 20-7. Owens added two more with 6:30 left in the half. He tried a drop step at the post, but was bodied by the Paw Paw defender. Owens hit both and set the lead at 15.
Wyatt Franklin may play guard, but he owned the paint that day. With 5:09 left in the first half, he snagged an offensive rebound and put it back for a score. He completed that same play four times on the day and scored more shots near the basket.
Wright came up big in the second quarter wound down, taking a pass from Jaydon Hess and scoring inside, putting the score at 32-13 with 2:18 left. Hess followed that with an assist to Frankin 20 seconds later.
Head coach Jeremy Bodkin substituted freely the entire game. “We put a lot of people in tonight,” adding that is what a coach always wants to do in a game like this. He added that “we passed the ball really well, shared with everyone.”
In the last minute of the second half, the Wildcats on the floor put on an offensive clinic. Franklin, Wright, Hess, Caleb Armentrout, and Henry Warner held the ball for nearly a minute, executing passes and cuts precisely. Their crisp passing eventually led to an easy bucket and a 36-15 score.
Franklin closed first half scoring when he put an offensive rebound in and set the score at 38-15.
The Wildcats cruised in the third. Paw Paw cut into the lead somewhat early, but gave up a Wildcat eight to three run through the end of the quarter.
Pendleton County took a 58-34 lead into the fourth. A Kimble layup, followed by a Justus Kuykendall three extended that to 29. Warner followed that with a layup and then a 15-foot jumpshot, courtesy of an Armentrout assist.
At the 3:50 mark, Hess took an open lane from the top of the key toward the basket, used a ball fake to freeze a defender, then contorted his body to hit a shot. That ended Wildcat scoring on the night. Paw Paw scored twice more, leading to a 71-43 win for the Wildcats.
“Overall, lately, we’re playing pretty well,” Bodkin said. He exempted the home game against East Hardy from that analysis, but said, “All in all, we’ve gotten better from day one.” Bodkin state that the 21 day layoff due to inclement weather had set the team back, but said, “We are going to be okay by the end of the year.”