By Stephen Smoot
Boy that game was ugly.
Not ugly in the sense of behavior of the players and coaches. One could not have asked for a more exemplary performance from the Wildcats and Yellow Jackets alike on playing hard, with pride and intensity and within the boundaries of good sportsmanship.
The “ugly” part came when a determined Moorefield squad, fueled by senior night emotions and years of setbacks to the Wildcats in multiple sports, put everything they had into shutting down everything Pendleton County does well.
And in everything but securing the victory, Moorefield did just that. The experience and resilience of Pendleton County, however, prevailed in the end.
The Wildcats secured the opening tip. Jaydon Hess angled from the wing on a drive and scored on an up and under layup almost immediately. Pendleton County greeted the first Yellow Jacket possession with an intense press. Chase Owens swiped the ball, scored, and doubled the lead. Twenty seconds into the contest, a shell-shocked Moorefield called a time out that likely changed the course of the game.
They came out of the timeout and buried a three at the 7:10 mark in the first, sending word that they would not go quietly into the cold February night.
On offense, Moorefield usually opted to swing the ball around the three-point line, waiting for open deep shots or passes for cutters near the basket. Taking their time also meant taking time away from the high-powered offense of their opponent on this night.
The Wildcats settled into a zone early and also pulled out of the press in the first quarter, likely to save the energy of their key players. Moorefield took a brief 6-4 lead at the 6:14 mark when they scored, drew a foul, and completed the old fashion three-point play. Owens tied the game like the lead was stolen from him personally, dribbling to the post, creating space, and muscling in for a layup.
At the 4:20 point, Cashton Kisamore took a steal near the Moorefield basket that they took back immediately, then gave it back up to Travis Owens, who stood by a Yellow Jacket and a foot from the basket. With fraternal feeling, he handed the ball to his older brother, who laid the ball in for an 8-6 advantage.
Nothing came easy offensively for the Wildcats. Moorefield’s tight man to man extended far to the outside to shut down the outside game. Crisp reactions and good movement largely cut off inside passes to Kisamore. Chase Owens’ defenders looked like they would follow the Wildcat home and then to school the next day, so tightly did they stick to the visiting team’s leading scorer.
Pendleton County was forced into an unusual number of off balance attempts by the ferocity of the opponents’ defense. Most scoring came from individual players breaking down the man guarding him and finding a way to get the ball in the basket.
Toward the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats opened up some room on the scoreboard. Hess hit a three, followed by Chase Owens taking a steal the length of the court for a layup and a 13-8 advantage. Moorefield closed the gap to 13-11, but after a Henry Warner steal, Travis Owens worked his way in and lofted an eight-foot hook.
The first quarter ended with a slender 15-13 lead for the Wildcats.
Early in the second, Warner took a shot and fell to the ground with no call, but in the ensuing moments, Hess took a steal in for a layup and a four-point lead. A Yellow Jacket three pulled them within one. Travis Owens and Hess scored layups in quick succession to give a 21-16 advantage with 4:16 left in the half, but Moorefield closed the gap to three on free throws.
Ty Heavner battled inside for an offensive rebound and a score to put his team up 23-18 heading into the half.
Pendleton County went to a one-three-one zone late in the first half and remained in it the entire third quarter. Against it, Moorefield ran one play almost exclusively. They would pass the ball around the outside, waiting for a cutter to be freed by a pick on the post. The cutter would then sprint to the right corner of the court where he would either be open or not for a three-point shot.
Almost every time the player was open, they’d launch a three. They connected three times on those and scored 11 in the third quarter. Each possession eroded the clock significantly.
Chase Owens opened Wildcat scoring at 6:38 by taking the ball to the post and hitting a turnaround shot. He scored from the same spot 40 seconds later to give a 25-18 lead. At about the 5:30 point, Pendleton County took a steal and then started a three pass, no dribble, fast break reminiscent of the Showtime era Los Angeles Lakers. The ball never touched the floor, but found the bottom of the basket for a 29-24 lead.
At 3:22 in the third, Pendleton County took a seven-point lead and some momentum, but the Yellow Jackets were far from out of the game. Through the rest of the third until 3:15 in the fourth, Moorefield outscored the visiting squad 16 to six to take a 41-37 lead. With the home crowd firmly behind them, they seemed poised for the upset over their historic rivals.
Enter Warner.
Warner had played sparingly in the first half, contributing on both ends of the court. With just under three minutes to play, he seized an offensive rebound and laid it in the basket to cut Moorefield’s lead to two.
Then Pendleton County brought back the press that had pressured Moorefield so ferociously in the first minutes of the contest. A Chase Owens steal led to a game-tying basket at the 1:48 mark. The press forced a Moorefield turnover and on the next possession for the Wildcats, Travis Owens hit a three for a 44-41 lead with 55 seconds left.
The Yellow Jackets called timeout with 32 seconds left. At 16 seconds, they drove and drew a foul, completing one of two free throws. So few fouls had been called that Moorefield had to press and intentionally foul multiple times quickly to force the Wildcats to the line in the bonus.
Warner was finally sent to the line. He made one of two to push the lead to three. Moorefield raced up the court and launched a three-point attempt with 1.9 seconds remaining that went errant due to a foul.
Chase Owens scored 18, followed by Hess with 13, Travis Owens with seven, Warner with five, and Kisamore and Heavner both with two. Hess also had four assists and the same number of steals. Travis Owens and Heavner each took in five rebounds, followed by Cole Harper with four.
On Monday, they traveled to Doddridge County to take on the 13 and one Bulldogs, ranked number three in Class A by West Virginia Metro News. Pendleton County has a ranking of sixth in Class A with Tucker County at ninth and East Hardy ranked at 10.
