Published: February 10, 2008 12:01 am      

Cornett cans big three in Falcons' win

Todd Cornett isn’t a starter at MSU Academy.

And, at 5-foot-10, he is easily the shortest man on the team.

But Cornett, one of two players back from last year’s team, came up big Saturday night in Mountain State Academy’s 71-66 win over Mount Zion at the Bird Cage.

Cornett hit a three-pointer with 1:21 left to give the Falcons a 64-60 lead in a game that went back-and-forth in the final quarter.

“My job is to come in and shoot the ball,” said Cornett, who played seven minutes in the game and hit three treys. “I let my teammates do the rest of it.”

“Todd’s three was huge,” MSU Academy coach Rob Fulford said. “It was a huge momentum swing. I thought it took the wind out of Mount Zion’s sails a little bit.”

The state’s leading scorer, Noah Cottrill of Poca, was at the game as an invited guest. Twice during the game the MSU Academy crowd chanted, “We want Noah, we want Noah!”

They could have used the sophomore, who has already verbally committed to West Virginia University, early in the game.

The Falcons were a porous 4-for-20 from 3-point range — Cornett hit 2-of-3 off the bench — and that helped Mount Zion jump to an eight-point halftime lead.

“We fell in love with the three-pointer and that hurt us in the first half,” Fulford said. “As athletic as they were, we knew they weren’t going to stay in a two-three zone the entire game. We made some adjustments at the half and made a conscious effort to get the ball inside.”

But it was a pair of three-pointers — one by Jabs Newby and the other by Kofi Mensa — that provided the bookends of a 10-0 run to start the second half. That gave the Academy its first lead of the game, 36-34.

Mount Zion responded in the fourth and stretched the lead out to five twice, the final time at 59-54 with 4:33 left.

A three-pointer by Felip Melinovic and a pair of free throws and a deuce by Newby gave MSU a 61-59 lead.

After Mount Zion’s Jaralew Thorpe hit 1-of-2 free throws, Cornett hit the biggest shot of the game with his trey from the wing.

He had just entered the game prior to the shot.

“Coach told me I was going in, so I was able to get loose,” Cornett said. “It really wasn’t a big deal.”

A Josh Birchfield basket inside and a steal and lay-in by Newby pushed the lead out to eight and the Falcons cruised from there.

Newby led MSU Academy with 16 points, 14 in the second half.

Mesa added 14 and Josh Birchfield 10.

Thorpe added 13 for Mount Zion (12-6).

“It’s a lot of fun being a member of this team,” Cornett said. “These guys made me feel like a big part of the team. It’s nice to be one of the two guys (Jonathan Coleman is the other) back from last year. We’re moving up. I think we’re going to be another Oak Hill Academy.”

Mountain State plays the Oak Hill Academy Red team Tuesday at Mouth of Wilson, Va.



Mount Zion (12-6)

Jaralew Thorpe 5 3-4 13, Jonathan Kindred 5 4-5 15, Charles Blue 3 0-1 6, Kyle Cameron 2 0-0 4, Nate Fryizez 8 5-7 25, Trey Strupes 1 1-2 3. Totals: 24 13-19 66.

Mountain State Academy (28-3)

Jabs Newby 5 5-6 16, D.J. Georgievski 2 1-2 6, Kofi Mensa 6 0-0 14, Victor Ogunniyi 4 0-1 8, Felip Melenvovic 2 0-0 6, Josh Birchfield 5 0-0 10, Todd Cornett 3 0-0 9, Milos Jerotijevic 1 0-0 2, Jonathan Coleman 0 0-0 0, Lazer Milinkovic 0 0-0 0. Totals: 28 6-9 71.

MZ 17 17 16 16 — 66

MS 10 16 23 22 — 71

Three-point goals: MZ: 5 (Fryizez 4, Kindred); MS: 9 (Cornett 3, Milinovic 2, Mensa 2, Georgivski, Newby). Fouled out: MS: Mensa.