By Stephen Smoot
Well before they started their own game, the Pendleton County varsity basketball squad cheered on the sidelines. They hollered encouragement and jumped in excitement after key plays.
One can understand their excitement as they awaited the start of their own contest. The junior varsity fought back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to tie their Viking counterparts on a Cameron Wyatt three-point shot, then edge ahead in overtime for the win.
Little did the varsity version know that their game would end very similar, but even in more dramatic fashion.
The Vikings took the opening tip and quickly pushed ahead, hitting a layup seven seconds into the game, then a free throw to complete the old fashioned three-point play. Over a minute later, they knocked down a three-point shot to go up 6-0.
Cashton Kisamore took a pass from Henry Warner and scored a layup to open scoring for Pendleton County at the 6:08 mark.
First quarter scoring for both teams came erratically. Both teams went to the fast break a lot, but often due to opposition mistakes. This created a lot of action, but little scoring in the first five minutes. Pendleton County got its second basket when Warner attempted a three, missed, tracked down his own rebound, and hit a three-foot jump shot. This made the score 7-4, an advantage for Petersburg.
The Vikings hit a three with 1:12 in the quarter to give themselves a five-point lead, but Warner responded with his own three with 58 seconds to narrow the gap to two. Josiah Kimble shortly after got the ball on the outside, took two jab step fakes, then buried a three to give his team their first lead at 18-17.
With 5.8 seconds left in the quarter, the Vikings hit a layup, drew a foul, and retook the lead 20-18.
Kimble drew a foul 10 seconds into the second quarter that put him on the line. There, he hit two free throws to pull the Wildcats within one.
Pendleton County spent much of the first half in a three – two zone, using outside defenders to keep pressure on Petersburg’s outside shooters and limit their three-point shot. The downside of committing to the outside lies in giving up spaces near the basket for opposition offensive rebounds.
In the last four or five minutes, however, Jeremy Bodkin, head coach, opted for a small lineup and a man-to-man defense that frustrated the Vikings. Petersburg has no obvious post player and all five players on the floor, usually, can handle the ball and score. Wildcat defenders, however, kept them in check in the last several minutes of the first half.
Kimble poured in points in the second quarter to help the Wildcats keep pace with the Vikings. He drew fouls on drives to the basket and hit most of his free throws.
Petersburg extended to a five-point lead with 1:32 in the first half, but Colton Roberson’s pass found Kimble open for a 10-foot basket. Jaydon Hess hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to 26-24 with just over a minute left.
With 42 seconds left, Chase Owens drove to the basket and kicked the ball over to Kimble for a layup to knot the game at 26. Kimble then drew a foul on a drive to the hoop, hit one of two free throws, and gave his team the most slender of margins to lead at the half.
When the third quarter started, the rivals battled almost a full minute until Petersburg scored a go-ahead basket. They went to an aggressive half-court man-to-man defense and also used opportunities near the basket to open up a seven-point lead at the 3:47 mark.
Pendleton County started to eat into that lead at three minutes in the third. Hess drove toward the basket, pulled a defender out of position, and slipped the ball to Zykijah Wright for a layup to cut the Viking lead to 38-33. Petersburg scored in close directly after, but Owens scored a layup at the 1:06 mark to slice the lead back to five.
Hess closed scoring in the third with a 17-foot pull up shot that banked in from the wing.
Around the six minute mark in the fourth, the Wildcats returned to the small lineup, which included Warner. Warner buried a three with 5:39 left to pull his team within two at 44-42. Not long after, at the 4:48 point, the Vikings hit a three and took a six-point advantage.
As late as 2:11 remaining in the game, Petersburg enjoyed a 54-47 lead.
Warner, almost 20 seconds later, scored a layup and drew a foul. He completed the free throw, putting the lead at 54-50. Travis Owens, who played much of the fourth, drove to the basket and used a spin move to get separation to score.
Petersburg followed with a layup with 1:14 left to give them four points worth of breathing room, but the Wildcats kept charging. Chase Owens used a drop step to split defenders, score a basket, and make the score 56-54, still the Vikings’ led.
The Vikings went into a full court press and man-to-man defense to blunt the Pendleton County push, but the Wildcats used defense to spark their offense when Hess stole the ball and drove in for a game-tying layup with 38 seconds left.
Petersburg, however, took the lead right back with a layup six seconds later.
Pendleton County opened the possession with just over 17 seconds left. They worked patiently as they had all game, passing the ball to cutting players until a scoring opportunity presented itself.
And that it did with six seconds left as Warner stepped in from the wing and buried a 19-foot shot to score three points and put his team up 59-58. The Vikings got the ball in and hustled down court to call timeout on their end.
Petersburg had 2.6 seconds left to inbound, catch, shoot, and try to escape with the win.
The ball, however, found the hands of Warner, who snagged it, wrapped his long, tall self around it, and secured the win for his team.
“They found a way,” said Bodkin, who saw his team take the second narrow win over Pendleton County’s Class AA rivals to the north. “That was a true team effort,” he praised, adding that he noticed all of the players, even those who could not get in the game, excited for their teammates.
He gave credit to his assistant coaches who “came up with stuff I didn’t think of.”
This week features games at Moorefield on Friday, and hosting Notre Dame on Saturday.
