By Dave Morrison
Gilmer County coach Steve Shuff would just as soon skip the first round of the Big Atlantic Classic.
Nothing against the tournament.
“I don’t know what it is about this armory in the first round,” said Shuff, a former star at Midland Trail and Glenville State. “For whatever reason, we just don’t show up. The same thing happened last year.”
What happened Tuesday night he’d rather forget.
His Titans went long periods without scoring, were held to single digits in three of four quarters and had no player score in double figures in a 38-27 loss to Trinity Christian of Morgantown.
Trinity, which enjoyed a sizable height advantage, employed that enough to take a 9-2 lead — all those points from big center Chris Martinez — and wouldn’t trail again.
Martinez, who averages 21 points, would score just two more points the rest of the night to finish with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
“He’s been a scorer for us and a lot of times people will double-team him and that still doesn’t work,” Trinity coach Herman Pierson said. “But I thought they did a pretty good job on him.”
In a strange game, 28 fouls were called but just 21 free throws were attempted and only eight were made.
Trinity scored more points in the first quarter than Gilmer did in the first half and led 18-7 at the break.
Gilmer caught fire in the third, though, as Ian Morris, Ryan Hough and Cody James had threes, James’ cutting the lead to 21-18.
A three by Justin Rosier made it 24-18, and after James made it 24-20, Gilmer had a chance to cut into that lead but missed a wide-open layup.
“That was a back breaker,” Shuff said. “But it happens. We had a lot of other chances early, we just couldn’t buy a basket. They used their height to their advantage and we couldn’t match up well.”
Trinity outrebounded the Titans 41-24.
“We did have that advantage and we used it at times,” Pierson said. “But they did a good job of keeping (the score) low.”
Shuff could only shake his head when looking at the stat sheet, which showed Gilmer shooting better from three-point land (4-of-14) than at the free throw line (1-of-7).
“We’re a lot better than we showed,” he said. “We have to learn how to compete in games like this. I told our guys that we have to come out tomorrow (in the consolation game) and play for pride.”
Trinity Christian 38,
Gilmer County 27
Gilmer County (6-5)
Ian Morris 1-5 0-0 3, Ryan Hough 1-3 0-0 3, Frank Hosey 1-4 0-0 2, Cody James 4-11 0-0 9, Joel Roberts 1-8 0-4 2, Cam Kinder 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Aviles 1-1 0-0 3, Kalil Hosey 2-8 1-3 5, Samuel Dennison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-40 1-7 27.
Trinity Christian (6-4)
Justin Rosier 2-6 0-1 6, Chris Martinez 5-8 1-2 11, Brad McLaughlin 2-9 0-2 5, Cody Triplett 1-4 4-4 6, Tyler Nagy 3-9 1-2 9, Ben Jordan 0-2 0-1 0, Sam Person 0-0 0-0 0, Red Prendergast 0-4 1-2 1. Totals: 13-42 7-14 38.
GC 2 5 13 7 — 27
T 9 9 6 14 — 38
Three-point goals: GC: 4 (Morris, Hough, James Aviles); T: 5 Rosier 2, McLaughlin, Nagy 2; Fouled out: None.
