The Yellow Jackets shook off a chilly start to take an early advantage riding the student section hype on senior night before Pendleton County hushed the crowd with a rally and staved off a late comeback to crash the ceremony with a 56-48 victory in Moorefield on Friday.
“They hit some shots. We made some mistakes defensively and offensively. In a game like that, you can’t make mistakes and it cost us in the end,” Moorefield Coach Scott Stutler remarked.
“They made shots and we didn’t, they made a lot better percentage. We didn’t hit many shots in the second half and that hurt us. We were inconsistent. We couldn’t get the ball underneath when we needed to and we just couldn’t make shots when we needed to. We’ll keep getting after it.”
After honoring seniors Garett Haggerty and John Bentley, Moorefield (3-13) was left picking up the party favors as the Wildcats (5-8) notched a steal and score by Marcus Sites to start the game.
A deflection by Pendleton County’s Laird Sweet created a turnover with the ricochet falling in the hands of Sites, who drilled a 3-pointer to take a 5-nil edge at 6:37.
Having split the two earlier season contests, this game had the potential to be a classic.
On the ensuing possession, Moorefield’s Brent Moran knocked down a 3-pointer and Haggerty stole the ball as the Yellow Jackets student section shouted with excitement and lifted their yellow shakers.
Moorefield missed the next three attempts, despite two rebounds by Ben O’Neill before the Wildcats took over with a board by Bailey Thompson.
Blake Watts made a defensive rebound, but the Yellow Jackets failed to score again and Sites snatched the rebound before being fouled.
Watts went up for a defensive rebound and was fouled in the process.
Moorefield’s Chase Vance netted an old-fashioned three-point play at the 4:04 mark to take a 6-5 lead and Draven Roberts kicked the ball without repercussion.
On the next series, Roberts cut through the paint for a layup to put Pendleton County up again.
The lead changed again at 3:15 as Vance hit a pair of free throws, 8-7.
Moran pressured the Wildcats to lose the ball out of bounds, then Haggerty nailed a jumper at the top of the key.
Watts collected a defensive carom, then Vance was fouled gathering an offensive board and sank both free throws to give the Yellow Jackets a 12-7 lead at 1:51.
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After a free throw by Thompson, Haggerty leapt above two defenders for a jumper at 1:03 for a 14-8 edge.
The Wildcats responded with a 3-pointer by Sites 30 seconds into the following possession, then Moorefield added a field goal by Vance to create a 16-11 score heading into the second period.
Watts deflected a pass and Moran snatched a defensive rebound to begin the second stanza, then Haggerty made a crisp pass to Vance, who drew a foul and netted two free throws for the Yellow Jackets going up 18-11.
Pendleton County countered with a jumper by Roberts and Ridge Liggett collected a defensive board leading to a 3-pointer by Roberts to close the gap to 18-16 at 5:48.
Vance hit a jumper in the paint on the next Moorefield series, then the Wildcats lost the ball out of bounds.
The ensuing shot missed and the rebound went off of Liggett out of play and timeout was called, then Moorefield hit the rim again and Josh Wagner snatched the board.
Josh Alt received a pass in the paint and lifted a shot into the hoop.
A defensive rebound by Roberts led to a layup by Alt which enabled the Wildcats to tie the game with 3:14 left in the first half.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge coming in here. We came in here with four wins and they came in with three wins. They play a pretty rough schedule and so do we, then on top of that they are young and we are young. We are both trying to find our roles on the team with young guys,” Pendleton County Coach Ryan Lambert commented.
“The biggest advantage for us defensively was limiting to one shot and doing a better job of boxing out. We switched between some zone and some man and it paid dividends for us. The kids were very active defensively and that was the biggest difference on top of offensively in turn Moorefield kind of unorthodox was playing a bit of zone and usually they are a man team. When you prepare for man and you see that zone, we came out and struggled against it. Probably four minutes into the first quarter, we made an adjustment and did a much better job in the high-low game and the overload against their zone. When you can have four guys in double figures it means you are moving side to side and the guys are sharing. I’m thrilled with the effort, but I am more thrilled with the execution.”
The Yellow Jackets next attempt turned into an icicle as the fifth try in the last three minutes dropped off the rim.
Pendleton County took a 23-20 lead on a 3-pointer from Sweet at the 2:32 mark.
Moorefield equalized the contest on a 3-pointer by Thomas Williams at 2:10.
Sites just avoided a block by Haggerty in the paint for a score to regain the Wildcats edge.
Two fouls by Pendleton County created one-and-one for Haggerty sinking both free throws on the following possession knotting up the game at 25-all at 1:17.
The Wildcats ate 40 seconds off the clock before Thompson netted a jumper for the 27-25 lead entering halftime with Moorefield drawing the rim to close out the half.
Both teams missed a pair of field goals to begin the third period before Pendleton County’s Thompson made a putback at 6:29.
Haggerty grabbed two rebounds and was assessed an over the back penalty on the second try which led to an exchange of words and a technical foul on Haggerty at 5:31 sending him to the bench.
Sweet hit both free throws for the Wildcats and strutted away from the line, then a walk was called on Pendleton County.
Moran sliced into the paint and created a circus style layup in traffic to make it 31-27 at 4:59.
Thompson passed inside to Sweet for a Wildcats basket.
Moorefield answered with a 3-pointer by Watts off an assist by Vance, 33-30.
Moorefield’s Thomas Williams collected a defensive rebound and the Yellow Jackets missed, then Alt hauled in the board and scored on the upcoming series.
Vance garnered an offensive rebound and was blocked by Liggett, but the Wildcats fumbled the ball and Moorefield executed with a pass from Watts to Moran at 2:10 to cut the gap to 35-32.
Pendleton County missed twice and the Yellow Jackets hit the rim thrice over the next couple of minutes prior to a score by Alt.
Williams drilled a buzzer-beater 3-pointer for Moorefield to slice the deficit to 37-35 entering the final period as the crowd went wild and Williams jumped up and pumped his fist in enthusiasm.
Pendleton County’s Alt was fouled during a rebound and netted one free throw at the start of the fourth period.
After a walk, Moran stole the ball and passed to Williams for a game-tying trifecta at 6:47.
Haggerty came back to the floor with three fouls after the timeout.
Moran collected a defensive board and passed to Williams for a the lead changing layup at 6:17.
Moran grabbed another board and launched a pass to Watts, but it was just out of reach and a diving attempt to save it came up short.
Thompson scored inside the paint at 5:32 to tie the game at 40-all for the Wildcats.
Roberts garnered a defensive board and assisted Thompson on the go ahead basket at 4:50.
Haggerty stepped out of bounds along the baseline fielding a pass, then smacked the ball for a block and was whistled for a foul and Alt hit both free throws.
Roberts made a defensive rebound and Pendleton County played keep away from Moorefield for nearly a minute before Alt netted a jumper at 3:14 for a 46-40 edge.
The Yellow Jackets missed and Haggerty tipped the ball to Vance, who found Lane Ours for a 3-pointer at 2:35 to cut the deficit to 46-43.
Vance hauled in a rebound off the second miss by the Wildcats, then Alt went up for a defensive rebound with Haggerty reaching behind his head for the ball which was determined to be his last foul on senior night at 1:41.
There was a lot of yelling during the timeout and afterwards a hand check foul by Williams was called at 1:27 sending Thompson to the line making the first attempt and Moran collected the rebound.
Thompson stole the ball and passed up to Sites, who was fouled approaching mid-court by Moran and added two free throws for a 49-43 edge with 1:15 remaining.
Thompson collected a defensive rebound and Moran slapped the ball which made a loud sound, but a foul was assessed and one more foul shot was made and the second try went off of Watts out of bounds on a scramble for the loose ball.
A quick foul by Moran with 58 seconds left sent Sites to the charity stripe and both coins were donated for a 52-43 Pendleton County advantage.
Vance made an offensive rebound and was nudged out of bounds by a falling defender creating a turnover.
Moorefield called a timeout and protested the call to no avail, then applied full court pressure which was broken with a long pass resulting in a three-point play by Sweet with 32 seconds to go for a 54-43 lead.
The Yellow Jackets chipped away at that margin with a 3-pointer by Ours eight seconds later.
Pendleton County moved the ball around away from the Yellow Jackets before Ours was able to reach out and make a foul with six seconds on the clock, then Sweet iced the game with two free throws 56-46.
Moran went in for a layup in the final second of the game for Moorefield, but the Wildcats denied the celebration with the 56-48 win.
Sites scored a game-high 14 points for Pendleton County to lead three others in double figures as Alt netted 13 points, Sweet made a dozen and Thompson made ten markers.
Vance paced the Yellow Jackets with 13 points, followed by Williams with 11 points, Moran contributed nine markers, then Haggerty and Ours pitched in six points apiece.
In JV action, the Wildcats cruised to a 52-30 victory over Moorefield.
Isaiah Gardiner netted 20 points for Pendleton County, while Hayden Baldwin guided the Yellow Jackets with seven points.
Moorefield finishes the regular season with five road games against Keyser (Feb. 6), Tucker County (Feb. 9), Petersburg (Feb. 13), East Hardy (Feb. 13) and Frankfort (Feb. 20).
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