CHARLESTON — Midland Trail was looking to make a Cinderella run at the state tournament.

But the glass slipper didn’t quite fit.

The No. 6 seeded Patriots fell short in their upset bid, falling to No. 3 Tucker County 54-51 in overtime Thursday morning at the Civic Center.

Trail ends its season at 14-6.

Tucker County (17-1) advances to play No. 2 Parkersburg Catholic today at 11:15 a.m.

“It was definitely an exciting game,” said Midland Trail coach Greg Crist. “We had a lot of chances but mistakes cost us. But Tucker County played a good game.”

The Patriots raced out to a 13-5 lead after one period and held a 23-18 advantage at halftime.

Tucker clamped down defensively in the third quarter, however, outscoring the Pats 18-5 in that eight-minute span to take a 36-28 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We thought we had them where we wanted them,” Crist said. “We pride ourselves in playing good defense. But we struggled in the second half. In the third quarter, you have to give them credit. They got a lot of second and third shots. They hit the boards hard.”

Trail wasn’t ready for its run to end just yet.

A spirited rally to open the fourth allowed the Patriots to get back in the game in a hurry. The  13-3 run, topped by a jumper by Casey Deskins, knotted the game at 39-39 with 4:48 left in regulation.

From there, nine lead changes caused emotions to run high. Trail’s Joey Fox grabbed a miss and swished a short putback with 22 ticks left to make it 47-47.

Both squads failed to finish it with prime opportunities in the final 10 seconds before heading to overtime, however.

Tucker County drove to the lane and seemed poised to hit a go-ahead shot before Logan Snyder lost the handle and turned the ball over with 8.5 seconds showing on the clock.

Breathing a collective sigh of relief, Trail called a timeout to set up its final shot.

Caleb Carte took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court. He barreled into the lane toward the rim and struck an awaiting Tucker defender.

He was whistled for an offensive foul, turning the ball over, essentially sending it to overtime.

“I thought we re-established ourselves nicely in the fourth quarter,” Crist said. “We got back in the game.

“On that final play, we wanted to drive and look for either a kickout or a stickback and it just didn’t work out.”

Trail led just once in the extra period, as Carte hit two free throws to give the Pats a 49-47 lead.

Noah Sparks hit a shot with 2:29 left in OT that cut the Tucker lead to 52-51. But it would be the last time Trail would find the rim.

The Mountain Lions only managed to connect on 2-of-8 free throws in the final 1:33, but it was enough to pull out the win.

Snyder had the hot hand for the Mountain Lions, pouring in 27 points in just 26 minutes of play. He also managed to grab eight rebounds and add four assists, two blocks and a steal before fouling out.

Josh Poling chipped in with 11 markers for Tucker County.

Fox led the Patriots with 17 points. Kelly Minter added 13 points and nine rebounds.

“I thought Midland Trail played harder than we did,” said Tucker County coach Tom Gutshall. “But Logan (Snyder) stepped up and played a big game. We can’t expect to come to Charleston and play like we did and expect to be successful. We just found a way to win.”

— E-mail: jworkman@register-herald.com



TUCKER COUNTY 54, MIDLAND TRAIL 51, OT

MIDLAND TRAIL (14-6)

Carte 2-8 3-4 7, Fox 7-18 1-3 17, Minter 5-12 3-5 13, Sparks 2-4 0-1 4, Deskins 2-2 0-0 4, Burdette 0-0 0-0 0, Nickell 3-8 0-0 6, Crist 0-0 0-0 0, George 0-1 0-0 0, Whitlock 0-0 0-0 0, Kessler 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 7-13 51.

TUCKER COUNTY (17-1)

Rhodes 2-6 2-8 7, L.Snyder 9-13 8-9 27, Slaubaugh 0-4 0-0 0, Brusak 4-15 1-2 9, Poling 2-10 7-8 11, T.Snyder 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-1 0-2 0, Hamrick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-49 18-29 54.

MT    13    10    5    19    4    —    51

TC    5    13    18    11    7    —    54=

3-Point Goals—Midland Trail 2-7 (Fox 2-5, Sparks 0-1, Nickell 0-1), Tucker County 2-12 (Rhodes 1-3, L.Snyder 1-4, Poling 0-1, Slaubaugh 0-2, Brusak 0-2). Fouled out—Fox, Deskins, L.Snyder, Poling. Rebounds—Midland Trail 35 (Minter 9), Tucker County 39 (Poling 9). Assists—Midland Trail 11 (Carte 4), Tucker County 7 (L.Snyder 4). Total fouls—Midland Trail 26, Tucker County 14.