PCHS 112
Harman 51
The weather was mild and damp last week in Dunmore but the action was hot and steamy for the Pocahontas County High School boys basketball team as they faced a full slate of make-up and regular games on the schedule.
Monday, the first day of February, a game, but under-manned Harmon team visited PCHS. High school games seldom break the century mark, but the Warriors dominated the visitors from the beginning and then coasted to a final score of 112 to 51.
The action began fast and furious as the Warriors ran all over the Harmon defense to jump to a 41 to 8 first quarter lead. It slowed down somewhat in the second quarter as Coach Tim McClung sent in more bench players and then took a 59 to 28 score into the locker room at the half.
Senior JD Hensler led the way once again with another double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds. Three other Warriors scored in double figures as sophomore Logan Dilley collected 16, senior Braxton Rider connected for 14 and junior Danny Kimble contributed 11 points.
The reserves dominated the second half as everyone on the bench got to play.
Twelve players broke into the scoring column, and the Warriors continued to play good team defense and rule the boards with a total of 60 rebounds.
Kimble and Conlin Halterman each finished with seven rebounds while Chad Friel had five of the team’s 20 steals.
PCHS 87
Tygarts Valley 72
The Tygarts Valley Bulldogs paid a visit to the PCHS Coliseum Wednesday night and gave the Warriors all they could handle.
The first quarter was sloppy as both teams tried different approaches to see what would work against the other team.
JD Hensler and Brady Jones each picked up two quick fouls and had to sit out much of the first half.
After the half, the pace and intensity picked up as the evenly matched teams poured it on. Ryan Dilley led the way with three fast break buckets to start the third quarter and Pocahontas clung to an eight point lead at the end of the third.
Tygarts Valley continued to chip away at the lead. With two minutes left in the game, the Warriors held a 65 to 61 advantage. Down the stretch Ryan Dilley hit four out of six foul tries, but the Bulldogs would not go down easily and kept clawing their way back. With 20 seconds left, Ben Zickefoose hit a three-pointer for TV to tie the game at 68 – 68 and send it into overtime.
Coach McClung’s troops grabbed control quickly in the OT as Rider, Hensler and Dilley each hit a fast break bucket in the first minute to open a six point lead. After Tygarts Valley made a foul shot, the Warriors continued to apply the pressure and pick up some turnovers that were quickly turned into fast-break points. In the overtime period, PCHS racked up 19 points to TV’s 4.
Down the stretch, TV was forced to foul and Pocahontas sealed the game at the foul line for a final of 87 to 72.
Ryan Dilley led the way in scoring with 32 points on 13 of 18 shooting. JD Hensler poured in 22 points, collected 15 rebounds and added eight assists, just two short of a triple double. Braxton Rider hit for 15 and gathered in nine caroms. Chad Friel bucketed 10 points.
Caleb Riggleman led the way for the TV team with 29 points while Ben Zickefoose contributed 20.
It was a hard fought victory for PCHS – now 11 and 5 – as two scrappy, evenly matched teams went head-to-head. The rematch will be February 8 in Mill Creek.
In the early game, the Warrior JVs pulled out a victory by the score of 68 to 53. Jarrett Taylor scored 15 while Jones and Shaffer added 10 each.
Tucker County 88
PCHS 74
The Pocahontas County High School Warriors tangled with the Tucker County High School Mountain Lions Saturday night. High on the mountain above Parsons, TCHS is never an easy place to play and the Warriors went down to defeat by a score of 88 to 74.
PCHS started well and established an early five point lead at the end of the first quarter, but Tucker stiffened up its defense in the second quarter and went into the locker room with a 38 to 35 half-time lead.
In the second half, the Mountain Lion defense continued to crank up the pressure as the PCHS shooting went cold and the Warriors ended up with a shooting percentage of 29. The team ended the evening zero for 13 on three-point attempts.
Senior Ryan Dilley with 22 points led the scoring and also contributed 10 rebounds.
In a well-rounded effort, three other Warriors scored in double figures with JD Hensler knocking down 15 while Braxton Rider and Brady Jones had 13 and 12 points each. Rider also collected 11 rebounds and Jones picked up nine caroms.
The Warriors fall to 11 and 6 now while TCHS has 14 wins and only one loss.
Be aware that snow is back in the forecast this week and could lead to several schedule changes.
Our thanks to Michael Simmons for collecting the statistics.
Dave Curry can be reached at davecurry51@ gmail.com