BECKLEY — As with most other state basketball teams during an unusually harsh winter, Greg Crist would have liked to have seen his squad log more court time.

As it was, the Midland Trail Patriots, the No. 6 seed, will have played just 19 games (a 14-5 record) when they take the court against No. 3-seeded Tucker County (16-1) at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the first round of the Class A boys state basketball tournament. The winner plays either No. 2 Parkersburg Catholic or No. 7 Fayetteville at 11:15 a.m. Friday, and the single-A championship is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Saying his team isn’t at its most effective on the offensive end of the floor, Crist felt his players needed as much time as possible to improve that efficiency. Persistent snow didn’t help the cause, as several games were postponed or eventually canceled, and practice time was curtailed.

“From Dec. 30 (the finals of a tournament in Wirt County) it was Jan. 15 before we played again, and we might have had two practices during that time,” he said.

The Patriots did manage to regain some momentum — both in court hours and wins posted — as tournament time drew closer, and that’s one of the reasons they’ll be in Charleston this week in the eight-team Class A state tournament field.

“We don’t have a high-scoring, potent offense,” Crist said. “We have to be concise on offense, and you learn what the good shots are and who should shoot them by playing games.

“You can’t always learn it in practice. We just never got any continuity and rhythm; of course, most everybody else faced the same situation. But now it seems like we’re playing a lot better offensively.”

“Defensively, you’re all right if you go out there and play hard, and we do play hard,” he added.

Trail is averaging 56.3 points per game while yielding just 44.8 an outing.

The Patriots’ five losses, including a pair to Gilmer County, were by five points or less. Midland enters the tournament winning 10 of its last 12 outings, including section verdicts over Pocahontas County (62-61) and Fayetteville (43-39) and a region win over Iaeger (72-34).

Crist recalls his team stumbling to Greenbrier West in its season opener, then righting the ship somewhat. “We started off losing to Greenbrier West, and I didn’t think we played well. I remember thinking it was going to be a long season.

“But we won the Flournoy tournament (at home, during which they avenged the setback to West) and won the Wirt County tournament (where they defeated Hundred and Wirt). We actually played very well up there.”

At one point in the early going, Trail stood at 4-3.

Crist, in his fifth year, says the past few days since the qualifying win over Iaeger “have been real exciting. “

“I’m happy and looking forward to it, but I’m more excited for the kids, the school and the town than for myself,” he said. “These kids worked hard.

“A lot of kids don’t get the opportunity to play in the state tournament.”

“Having Sidney (son Sidney is a reserve sophomore guard on the squad) playing is another special aspect,” he added.

Midland Trail advanced to the state tourney for the first time in school history under Steve Spicer in 1987-88, losing to Williamson in the Class AA semifinals. The late John Flournoy advanced squads to Charleston in 1989-90, 1990-91, 1995-96 and 1996-97, with the first team losing to Man in the double-A semifinals and the others experiencing first-round exits (the first two in Class AA and the last one in Class A).

“Steve started a great program and laid the foundation, and John took it to another level,” said Crist.

Of Flournoy, who passed away in November 2007, Crist said, “I feel like he’s a big part of this.”

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