SOUTH CHARLESTON — It usually takes an opponent’s best effort to topple a No. 1-ranked team.

Class AAA No. 6 South Charleston showed No. 1 Woodrow Wilson a near perfect performance as the Black Eagles pounded the Flying Eagles 61-45 in a Mountain State Athletic Conference contest at the South Charleston Community Center Tuesday night.

South Charleston controlled the contest in all phases from start to finish.

Sophomore guard Jon Elmore, who tallied a game-high 30 points, scored the contest’s first six points and drilled a long 3-pointer late in the first quarter to give the Black Eagles a 15-6 advantage after one period.

Five of his 11 field goals came from behind the 3-point arc.

“Everything we threw up was going in,” Elmore said. “That was probably my career high. We were just clicking tonight. We played great team ball and got some open shots.”

Woodrow Wilson, which had just appeared on top of the rankings Monday, fell to 8-1.

South Charleston raised it record to 9-1.

“We proved a lot tonight with this win,” Elmore said. “We proved that we can play with the best of them.

“Woodrow wasn’t hitting the shots the way they normally do. But we just outplayed them tonight.”

“What a defensive effort that was,” said South Charleston coach Vic Herbert. “For a straight zone, that was as good of a defensive effort as you’ll see. I can’t wait to see it again on tape. That was an unbelievable effort.

“They came in as the No. 1 team in the state,” Herbert added. “To be able to bump them off, that’s special.

“And Jon played a super game. I’m real proud of him.”

A pair of long second-quarter 3s by Woodrow senior Andrew Johnson got the Flying Eagles back in it as the Black Eagles held a 24-18 advantage at the half.

But a third-quarter offensive drought by the Flying Eagles was too much to overcome. The South Charleston defense clamped down and the Woodrow offense clanked its shots in that eight-minute span.

The Black Eagles held Woodrow to only one field goal in the entire third period, a Ta-Ron Ayers layup at the buzzer, as South Charleston went into the final quarter with a commanding 40-26 lead.

The Flying Eagles didn’t throw in the towel, however.

A 12-7 run to open the fourth quarter pulled Woodrow back in contention at 47-38 with 5:11 to play.

But only three more field goals would drop in for the Flying Eagles from that point, as South Charleston answered with a 14-7 spurt to put it away.

“They’re scrappy and they killed us on the glass,” said Woodrow coach Ron Kidd. “And we shot ourselves right out of it. They played a physical game, and we didn’t step up to the challenge. We won’t beat anybody playing like that. And we didn’t get anything from our inside game. We need to get more scrappy. We have to adjust and get tough.”

Rashaud Kincaid added 11 for the Black Eagles, while Ot Elmore had nine.

Ayers led Woodrow with 12 points. Cam Shannon added seven points.

Woodrow travels to Hurricane Thursday and Wyoming East Saturday.



South Charleston 61, Woodrow Wilson 45

WW    6    12    8    19    —    45

SC    15    9    16    21    —    61

Scoring

WW - Ayers 12, Johnson 6, Hancock 2, Nabors 6, Shannon 7, Lewis 6, Terry 6.

SC - J. Elmore 30, Kincaid 11, Williams 4, Reese 5, Moles 2, O. Elmore 9.