Cameron Shannon waited nearly three years for another opportunity.

On Friday night in the Big Atlantic Classic at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, he got it.

Shannon scored 20 points — including the game-icing slam dunk — as Woodrow Wilson downed Class AAA No. 1 Martinsburg 63-60.

Woodrow, plagued by poor foul shooting, held off a furious Bulldog comeback attempt in the final six minutes to post the win.

For Shannon, who admittedly has not played as well as he had hoped in his final season, it was a long time coming.

“When I was a freshman, they beat us in the state tournament semifinals,” Shannon said. “Then when they beat us in (the Class AAA) football (playoffs in November), they said they were going to beat us in basketball. That got to me.”

And he got his payback with his dagger throwdown, when he got behind what had been a formidable press for most of the fourth quarter to give Woodrow Wilson a 63-58 lead with 24 seconds left.

“It always feels good when you get a dunk, especially in a game like this,” Shannon said.

Andrew Johnson, a quarterback in football, found Shannon behind the Martinsburg defense.

“I saw him break free and got him the ball,” Johnson said. “It felt good when he scored. They told us they were going to beat is in basketball, too. I’ve been waiting for this since we lost to them in football. I know it’s a different sport but it’s the same guys so I feel like I got my revenge.”

Ta-Ron Ayers had 14 points and seven assists off the bench for Woodrow and Johnson had 12.

Woodrow (12-2), up four at the break, went up by as many as 17 early in the fourth.

But poor free throw shooting and trouble breaking the Bulldog press allowed Martinsburg to cut the deficit to as little as two.

But Ayers made 1 of 2 free throws to push it back to 61-58 with 49.1 seconds left.

Woodrow got the ball back when Matt Potter took a charge — his second of the game — and that set up Shannon’s slam to seal it.

“We were in crunch time and we were in a situation where we needed a steal or needed a foul,” Martinsburg coach Dave Rogers said. “Unfortunately it can sometimes come back to bite you. And he got behind us.

“Beckley has a real good team. I’m proud of our kids for fighting back.”

That was made possible due in part to the fact that Woodrow Wilson was just 13 of 29 at the free-throw line.

“If we had made our free throws, (the press) wouldn’t have made a difference,” Shannon said.

Martinsburg’s Adonijah Gilmore led the Bulldogs with 20 points. Jalen Lewis had 13 and Brandon Ashenfelter 12.

“Any time you get a win over a quality team like that, it’s big,” Woodrow coach Ron Kidd said. “We knew they would make a run. They aren’t No. 1 for no reason. I just didn’t expect it to be like that. Our free throw shooting was terrible.”

Woodrow certainly didn’t get a quick start, falling behind 10-0, with four turnovers on its first four possessions.

The Bulldogs went up 15-6 on an emphatic slam by Donte Grantham.

“I thought it looked like we were playing in someone else’s gym and not our own,” Kidd said.

But Woodrow Wilson battled all the way back with a Shannon 3 and a Johnson three-point play, cutting it to 15-12.

By the quarter’s end it was 20-18 and Woodrow went up 25-20 early in the second, all part of a 16-5 run after the Martinsburg slam.

The Flying Eagles went ahead by as many as seven, 31-24, after a 3-pointer by Johnson.

It could have been worse, but Woodrow missed four straight free throws and was just 5 of 12 at the line in the first half.

“We played well overall, with the exception of our free throw shooting,” Kidd said. “We need to fix that. And we need to fix it now.”

Woodrow Wilson plays Morgantown in the second Class AAA championship at 9 p.m. today. Martinsburg meets Eastern Panhandle rival Hedgesville at 12:20 p.m. in a Class AAA consolation game.



Woodrow 63, Martinsburg 60

Martinsburg (13-2)

Jordan Robinson 1-3 0-1 2, Jalen Lewis 6-13 0-0 13, Adonijah Gilmore 7-16 2-2 20, Denzel Cole 0-3 0-0 0, Donte Grantham 3-8 3-4 9, Elijah Freeman 0-0 0-0 0, Cedric Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Ashenfelter 5-9 2-5 12, Eugene German 1-3 2-2 4. Totals: 23-56 9-14 60.

Woodrow Wilson (12-2)

Andrew Johnson 3-7 5-10 12, Cameron Shannon 9-13 0-2 20, Matt Potter 2-4 2-2 7, Larry Terry 0-4 0-2 0, Christian Day 2-5 0-0 4, Ta-Ron Ayers 4-13 4-9 14, Brent Osborne 0-0 0-0 0, Steve Lewis 2-4 2-4 6. Totals: 22-50 13-29 63.

M     20    10    6    24    —    60

WW    18    16    15    14    —    63

Three-point field goals — M: 5-22 (Robinson 0-1, Lewis 1-7, Gilmore 4-8, Cole 0-3, Grantham 0-2); WW: 6-16 (Johnson 1-4, Shannon 2-3, Potter 1-1, Terry 0-3, Ayers 2-5). Rebounds — M: 33 (Grantham 11); WW: 37 (Day 7). Assists — M: 14 (Robinson, Grantham 4); WW: 13 (Ayers 7). Fouled out — M: Cole.