×

Ravenswood advances to the Class A title game

CHARLESTON — Ravenswood’s seven seniors watched the final minute of Friday’s 64-48 Class A state semifinal victory against Tug Valley from the bench inside the Charleston Civic Center and it was all smiles for the Red Devils as junior big man Patrick Francis corralled the ball for the final three seconds.

The Red Devil defense held third-seeded Tug Valley scoreless for a stretch of 5 minutes, which allowed head coach Mick Price’s team to go from a 42-39 lead after three quarters to a commanding 55-39 advantage following an Isaiah Morgan three-point play with 4:08 remaining.

“Our seven seniors did a great job today and put us in a position to play for a state championship and they should be proud of the efforts they did today,” said Price, whose second-seeded 26-1 Red Devils will take on top-seeded Wheeling Central at 2:30 p.m. today.

“Isaiah decided to get back on his foul shooting streak today. It’s a good thing because I told him if he missed today, he was walking home. I’m glad he made them.”

Morgan had 22 of his game-high 31 points in the second half, which included 16 in the final stanza as RHS owned the period to the tune of 22-9.

Photo by Jay W. Bennett Ravenswood's Isaiah Morgan goes in for two of his game-high 31 points during Friday's 64-48 Class A state semifinal victory versus Tug Valley inside the Charleston Civic Center. Morgan, who went 15 of 15 from the foul line, poured in 22 markers after intermission.

The all-time career state foul-shooting percentage leader Morgan ended the day by draining all 15 of his charity-stripes tosses, which only ranks behind the 17 of 17 effort by Bridgeport’s Scott Hartzell in 1991 and the 16 of 16 showing by Brooke’s Chad Cantor in 1993.

“That’s something I always pride myself on being able to knock down free throws,” admitted Morgan, who got plenty of help from teammates Stephen Dawson (18 points, six boards) and Jayden Rhodes (12 points, six caroms).

“It’s something I’ve put a lot of time into and you know in a big moment like that, I just want to step up and knock them down.”

Blake Bennett, who had a game-high six assists without a turnover in 29 minutes and also grabbed a quartet of rebounds, made a first-half 3 for the only other RHS points. The guard also was tasked with trying to slow down Tug Valley leading scorer Tyler May, who averages 23.4 points, and did so as he finished with just a dozen on 4 of 12 shooting.

“I give the credit to Ravenswood,” said Tug Valley head coach Edwyn May, whose club finished 19-8 and also received a 12-point effort from Jon Blankenship.

“They were prepared and outexecuted us in the second half. I was proud of our effort, but disappointed in the outcome. We couldn’t get into a flow offensively.”

The Panthers, who also received nine points and five boards from Colby Savage and eight tallies by Mason Layne, scored the first six points of the game, but trailed 13-11 after one quarter.

A 6-0 spurt to end the half by the Panthers closed the deficit to 25-24 at intermission as a desperation 3 before the buzzer by Red Devil Lakin Tucker went off the iron.

Although consecutive deuces in the first 20 seconds of the third period by Levi Davis, who was held to 1 of 11 from the field, and Blankenship put TVHS ahead 28-25, it didn’t last.

Rhodes immediately countered with a bucket and then a Morgan 3, which gave the Red Devils the lead for good, was followed by a Dawson trifecta.

“It’s amazing,” Rhodes said of getting another shot to win a state crown. “We’ve been working hard and we really wanted to get back to the state championship this year.

“The defense has been huge. We’ve been killing it on defense in practice. It’s a major key for us.”

May’s final basket of his Panther career came on a corner 3 with 1:32 left in the third. After Layne scored from the block with 50 seconds left, the Red Devils’ lead was just three entering the fourth.

Ravenswood — which has never won a single-A state crown, but captured double-A titles in 2006 and 2009 — scored the first 13 points of the last quarter to put the game away.

Bennett found an open Dawson on an inbound pass and he calmly swished in an 8-footer to get the decisive final run underway. Tug Valley immediately had a turnover on its opening possession as Bryson Preece was called for an illegal screen. Rhodes followed with a lay-in and after May missed a deep 3, Morgan scored his first basket of the fourth to make it 48-39 with 5:15 to go.

Another Panther turnover followed, this time due to a pushing foul by Layne, and Morgan threaded the needle from the corner to the far block and found an open Dawson for an easy lay-in and the Red Devils’ first double-digit lead of the afternoon.

“On that play, we always try to do that when they are in a 1-3-1. We always try to sneak backdoor if we can,” said Dawson, who after the hoop raced to the other end of the floor and just nine ticks later took a key charge on May.

“Tug Valley is a great team. We’ve played against them since eighth-grade year and it’s just awesome to play them again on this big stage and we’re just happy to make another run at it.”

Following the May turnover, Morgan canned two freebies and then had a three-point play to put the Panthers in a 16-point hole.

“I actually thought our kids really played hard for 32 minutes today. I thought we did a great defensive job,” coach Price added. “I’m proud of our kids. I’m proud of the way they played because they have a mindset and they’ve had it since we left this room last year after we lost the state championship to Notre Dame and they wanted to get back.

“There were times as a coach I wondered about that because I didn’t see it in practice and I didn’t see the chemistry coming because we lost two really good players last year, Hayden Mandrake and Riley Heatherington, and everybody had to assume a little different roles.”

The win by Ravenswood, which tied the school record of 26 victories set back in 2006, also avenged its only setback of the campaign when the Red Devils were upended by Tug Valley, 60-56, back on Jan. 26 in a neutral-court game at Logan.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today