ELLENBORO-It may not have been snowing outside, but it was (Mark) Winters inside the Ritchie County gymnasium Thursday night as the Magnolia senior all-state performer poured in a game-high 33 points to lead the Blue Eagles to a 91-57 win over the Rebels.
The win improves the Blue Eagles mark to 2-0 heading into a road game at Monroe Central on Tuesday, while Ritchie County (1-2) will look to even its mark on Saturday when the Rebels travel to Elizabeth to take on Little Kanawha Conference rival Wirt County.
Defense was the name of the game early for the New Martinsville-based Eagles as Winters picked off a Rebels pass and tallied the game's first two points just 24 seconds into the game.
The visitors proceeded to score eight of the next 11 points-a three-point play by the Rebels' Andrew Davis being the only points not scored by the Blue Eagles-to forge a 10-3 lead. Magnolia never looked back.
Ritchie County, behind a pair of treys from D.J. Burgess, fought back to within two, 14-12, at the 2:14 mark of the opening frame. But that would be as close as the hosts would get as Magnolia closed the opening period with a 10-2 run to take a 24-14 lead to the benches.
"We've really been getting after it defensively," said Magnolia head coach Dave Tallman. "A lot of our offense comes from our defense, so we want to keep the pressure on teams and take advantage of everything they give us."
Fact Box
St. Marys 106, Wirt County 40
St. Marys 27 33 25 21 - 106
Wirt Co. 14 11 8 7 - 40
ST. MARYS (1-0)
Andrew Cosper 9 3-5 21, Austin Bayless 8 2-2 18, Jordan Whitehair 3 0-0 6, Colby Brode 5 3-5 13, Connor Lancaster 9 3-6 21, Jordan Parsons 1 0-0 2, Dylan Hupp 2 0-0 4, Adam Bills 3 0-0 6, Jessy Moore 5 5-8 15; TOTALS: 45 16-26 106; 3-point goals: None
WIRT COUNTY (1-2)
Jeremy Kerby 1 1-3 3, Kalob Bell 8 5-9 22, Austin McVey 1 0-0 3, Dylan Frazier 1 0-0 2, Dustin Garner 3 0-1 6, Kyle Windland 0 0-0 0, Luke Smith 1 0-0 2, Hunter McCoy 0 0-0 0, Brad Crouser 0 0-0 0, Austin Young 0 0-0 0, Tristan Nichols 1 0-0 2; TOTALS: 16 6-3 40; 3-point goals: McVey, Bell 1
Shooting: SM 45-72 (62.5%), WC 16-70 (22.9%); 3-pointers: SM 0-4, WC 2-35; Rebounds: SM 61 (Lancaster 15, Bayless 10), WC 30 (Kerby 7); Assists: SM 25 (Cosper 10), WC 7 (McVey 3); Steals: SM 17 (Cosper 5, Brode 4), WC 6 (Garner, Nichols 2); Turnovers: SM 22, WC 27
JV score: St. Marys 60, Wirt County 37
JV scoring: St. Marys - Saul Berish 4, Robbie Harper 5, Parsons 13, Hupp 5, Bills 10, Michael Stout 9, Trent Barnhart 6, Coleman Lamp 6, Wirt County Team 2; Wirt County - Windland 2, Smith 6, Ricky Conley 4, Jake Brannon 9, McCoy 2, Devin Wilson 2, Robbie Jackson 1, Young 4, John Fields 4, Nichols 2, Crouser 1
9th-grade score: St. Marys 66, Wirt County 45
St. Marys scoring: Anthony Johnson 6, Brendon Miller 4, Michael Fox 8, Zach Davis 9, Wes Bayless 6, Riley Bennett 8, Drew Wells 5, Chase Mercer 4, Cody Rae 12, Will Rankin 4
Wirt County scoring: Jason Ellison 26, Brady Perkins 2, Trace Copen 8, Jon Hudkins 3, Jakob Knicely 6
Next games: Ritchie County at Wirt County on Saturday; St. Marys at Madonna on Saturday.
Magnolia 91, Ritchie County 57
Magnolia 24 19 28 20-91
Ritchie 14 18 13 12-57
MAGNOLIA (2-0)
Preston Boswell 6 5-6 17, Kyle Elliott 2 1-3 7, Stephen Rogalski 2 2-2 6, Mark Winters 14 3-4 33, Zach Willhoite 7 3-4 18, Drew Keller 0 0-0 0, Mike Winters 1 0-0 2, Mitch Winters 0 0-0 0, Spencer Campbell 0 0-0 0, Garrett Emch 1 0-0 2, Sam Brookover 0 0-0 0, Eric Smith 1 0-0 3, Kyle Ritz 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 35 14-19 91. 3-Point Goals: Elliott 2, Mark Winters 2, Willhoite 1, Smith 1, Ritz 1.
RITCHIE COUNTY (1-2)
Justin Sage 0 0-0 0, Jessie Hilvers 3 0-1 6, D.J. Burgess 4 2-2 13, Andrew Davis 12 4-5 29, Nathan Sipe 0 2-2 2, Seth Cottrill 0 0-0 0, Ryan Malson 1 0-0 2, Johnny Hogue 2 0-0 5. TOTALS: 22 8-10 57. 3-Point Goals: Burgess 3, Davis 1, Hogue 1.
GAME STATS
MAGNOLIA: Shooting: 35 of 69 for 51 percent. Rebounds: 41 (Willhoite 12, Winters 8). Assists: 22 (Boswell 6). Steals: 18 (Keller 6). Turnovers: 9.
RITCHIE COUNTY: Shooting: 22 of 58 for 40 percent. Rebounds: 33 (Davis 6). Assists: 13 (Sage 7). Steals: 8 (Hilvers 2, Burgess 2). Turnovers: 20.
JV SCORE: Magnolia 54, Ritchie 34
Magnolia scoring: Campbell 5, Smith 3, Taylor 3, Massey 3, Winters 13, Ritz 13, Shimp 14.
Ritchie scoring: Leggett 2, Hogue 2, Cottrill 8, Knutsen 7, Allender 7, Miller 4, Smith 2, Bolin 2.
Next games: Magnolia plays at Monroe Central at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Ritchie County plays at Wirt County at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Gilmer County 34, South Harrison 32
Gilmer 11 6 9 8 - 34
South Harrison 11 8 6 7 - 32
GILMER COUNTY (2-0)
Mitchell Hickman 0 2-6 2, Anthony Aviles 5 0-0 10, Nathan Allison 2 4-6 8, Colby Cunningham 1 2-3 4, Austin Cunningham 5 0-0 10, Reed Ratliff 0 0-1 0, Austin Ratfliff 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 13 8-16 34. 3-point goals: none
SOUTH HARRISON (1-2)
Dallas Golden 0 0-1 0, Dylan Smith 5 0-0 10, Cory Messenger 1 1-2 3, Zak Wentz 2 0-1 4, Luke Gaines 3 1-3 7, Logan Kirby 4 0-0 8. TOTALS 15 2-7 32. 3-point goals: none
JV score: Gilmer County 33, South Harrison 28. Gilmer: Colby Cunningham 16. South Harrison: Cody Wright 10.
Next game: Gilmer County at Herbert Hoover, 6 p.m. Saturday
Braxton County 58, Calhoun County 41
Calhoun 7 8 7 19 - 41
Braxton 9 23 8 18 - 58
CALHOUN
Ryan Slider 7 3-5 17, Luke Moore 2 7-8 13, Ethyn Miller 0 0-0 0, Sam Brady 0 0-0 0, Lucas Wilson 0 0-2 0, Derek Dawson 0 0-0 0, Tyler Gerwig 0 2-4 2, Mason Sheldon 0 2-2 2 Trent Phillips 1 0-1 2, Ricky Hall 1 3-4 5, Tucker Tanner 0 0-0 0, TOTALS: 11 17-26 41. 3-point goals: Moore 2
BRAXTON (1-3)
McKinley Moore 2 4-4 10, Dannny Mosley 4 0-1 9, Austin Rhodes 7 0-2 16, Thomas Pritt 3 1-2 7, Derek Barnett 3 4-8 11, Greg Bly 1 2-4 4, Nevin Rollyson 0 0-0 0, Wes Skidmore 0 0-0 0, Josh Skidmore 0 0-0 0, Trae Stout 0 1-2 1, Ryan Hart 0, TOTALS: 20 12-23 58. 3-point goals: Moore 2, Mosley 1, Rhodes 2, Barnett 1
JV game: Braxton 50, Calhoun 46
And the Rebels gave their guests a lot as the blue and gray committed 20 turnovers en route to the 34-point loss.
Joining Winters in double figures for the Blue Eagles were Zach Willhoite, who hauled down a game-high 12 rebounds to go with 18 points, and freshman Preston Boswell with 17 points. The Rebels were led by Davis' 29 points, while D.J. Burgess chipped in 13.
Ritchie did make a run at their visitors during the second eight minutes of action, scoring 14 of the period's first 22 points to pull to within three, 32-28, on a Davis trey with 3:23 remaining until intermission.
A bucket by Winters off of a Willhoite feed ignited an 11-4 run over the remainder of the frame to send the Blue Eagles to the locker rooms leading 43-32.
The Wetzel Countians kept up the pressure to open the second half and turned the game into a rout, outscoring their hosts by a 28-13 margin in the third quarter-11-2 over the final four minutes-to head into the fourth quarter leading 71-45.
