The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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  • Wyoming East’s Marcus Schofield, right, drives around Tug Valley’s Jacob Muncy in the Warriors’ 53-50 win over the Panthers in the Big Atlantic Classic Class AA championship game Saturday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. Wyoming East is at Shady Spring at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Chris Tilley

    schofield
February 7, 2012

Shady looks to slow Warriors

Smith had a big night in first game at Wyoming East

By Dave Morrison Register-Herald Sports Writer

Steve Clark isn’t concerned about scoring points tonight when his Shady Spring Tigers host Class AA No. 3 Wyoming East.

His concern is stopping Wyoming East.

“We’ve been able to score points against just about everyone we have played,” Clark said Monday. “Our offense has worked pretty good. What we have to do is find a way to stop them, and we didn’t do that very well the last time.”

His point of reference was the Warriors’ 80-64 win last month in New Richmond.

Wyoming East (11-4) led 48-40 at the half and went on to slowly pull away from the Tigers on the shoulders of 6-foot-6 post man Taylor Smith, who had one of his best games of the year with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

“It’s a tough matchup for us because of their size,” Clark said. “They are big overall. But we had a real tough time matching up with Smith. We have to try to keep him from getting the ball. We have to do a better job boxing out and being more physical. He was strong on the boards for them that last time and got a lot of second-chance points.”

Wyoming East is coming off a big win over Tug Valley in the Big Atlantic Classic and has Wyoming County rival Westside Friday and sectional rival Oak Hill Saturday.

But coach Rory Chapman said his team won’t sleep on the Tigers.

“We talked about that today,” Chapman said. “They beat us in the sectional tournament last year, they have one of the best players in the state in (Chase) Connor and they have a good supporting cast, too. We won’t overlook Shady. We know they are good.

“They put up 40 points on us in the first half last time we played. We don’t give up 40 points in a half very often.”

Connor had 23 at the half and finished with 36 against the Warriors. He is averaging close to 30 points per game.

It’s an important game inside Class AA Region 3, Section I.

Wyoming East is 4-0 vs. sectional opponents and is bidding for the top seed in the sectional. Shady Spring (8-8 overall) is 3-3.

“I think we’re on a bit of a mission,” Chapman said. “We want to beat everybody in front of us, one game at a time. Losing in the sectional tournament last year was tough. We want that No. 1 seed (the top two seeds get a first-round bye) and the only way to do that is to beat sectional opponents.”

Clark believes the race is for the second seed.

“It looks more and more like Wyoming East is going to get that top seed, so a win would be huge for us,” Clark said. “You want one of those top two spots and it looks like it’s going to be a battle for that seed. Everyone else is pretty much bunched up there with a good shot.”

Marcus Schofield leads Wyoming East (17 points per game) while Luke Campbell is also scoring in double figures.

Ryan Lucas is averaging 15 for the Tigers.

Tip-off for tonight’s game is 7:30 p.m. at Shady Spring High School.

— E-mail: demorrison@

register-herald.com

 

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