West Union sophomore Gavin Jarvis (23) goes high to attempt a shot black in the Dragons’ 54-51 win over Portsmouth Clay. On the offensive end, Jarvis led the Dragons with 22 points. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
West Union downs Clay 54-51
West Union senior Colby Harover (5) had one of his best all-around games of the season with 11 points to help the Dragons get by Portsmouth Clay 54-51. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Something had to give on Saturday morning in the opening game of the 2023 Coach Young Classic at North Adams High School. Two teams, the West Union Dragons and the Portsmouth Clay Panthers, came into their 10 a.m. match up looking for their first wins of the season. Both teams were experiencing a quick turnaround after playing Friday night games, but both drew up some early energy and gave fans one of the best games of the Classic.
A contest with a number of momentum shifts came right down to the final seconds with the Dragons withstanding a late 10-0 Clay run and Coach Jeff Stricklett’s squad picked up that elusive first “W” of the campaign, edging the Panthers by a final count of 54-51.
“This win was long overdue and been a long time coming,” said Coach Stricklett in his postgame radio interview. “Down the stretch it kind of showed that we hadn’t been in that position for awhile but we got it done. This is sweet for us and I’m proud of the way we handled ourselves today. Hopefully we can build off this.”
“The last month or so I’ve seen a different ball club, finally starting to get it. I’m a big believer that you have to learn how to win as well as you learn how to lose.”
The Dragons got off to a strong start on Saturday morning, using a 7-0 run, highlighted by a Gavin Jarvis three-pointer, to open up a 13-6 advantage. A three-ball from lefty point guard Tegan Knox left the Dragons up 16-7 after one quarter of action.
That Dragon lead vanished rapidly when the Panthers scored the first nine points of the second stanza, tying the game on a three-point play by Malachi Loper and a bucket by big man Kenny Fowler. A basket by Billy Flaugher of an out of bounds set gave the lead back to West Union and a later three-pointer by Colby Harover and put back by Jarvis stretched the Dragon advantage to 23-18. With 24.6 seconds left in the first half, a free throw by Trae Grooms send West Union to the break on top 24-19.
Sniffing that first victory within their grasp, the Dragons came out of the intermission like gangbusters, taking advantage of numerous Clay turnovers and scoring the first 10 points of the second half, getting a pair of Flaugher treys and rolling up a 34-19 lead. The back and forth continued, however, as the Panthers rebounded to score the game’s next seven points to slice the West Union margin to eight.
Another Harover three halted the Clay run and as the third quarter came to a close, the Dragons had victory in their sights, leading 39-28.
As was the theme of the morning, the Panthers went back on the prowl and rallied once more in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. A Cullen Payne three-pointer and a pair of free throws and it was a ball game fain, the West Union lead shrinking to 41-37 with 5:12 to play. The Dragons responded with a 8-1 run, all courtesy of Gavin Jarvis, who hot a pair of threes and two free throws to build his team’s lead back out to 49-38.
Later up 51-40with under a minute to go, things looked comfortable for West Union, disaster nearly struck as the Panthers nearly put together one of the most memorable comebacks of the season. In the span of 45 seconds. Clay put up 10 points, taking advantage of a trio of Dragon turnovers and getting back-to-back three-pointers from Fowler and Payne and in the blink of an eye, a seemingly insurmountable West Union lead was down to just one point at 51-50.
Jarvis was fouled and sank a pair from the stripe for a little breathing room and Loper sank one of two from the line to make it 53-51 with 4.5 seconds to go on the clock. Off the inbound pass, Flaugher was fouled and also got one of two from the line to put West Union up three and a halfcourt heave at the horn by the Panthers clanged off the rim as the Dragons held on to claim their first win of the 2022-23 campaign.
The victorious Dragons, now 1-11, were led in scoring by three players in double figures, Gavin Jarvis with 22, Billy Flaugher with 12 and Colby Harover with 11.
Portsmouth Clay was paced by a game-high 23 points from Malachi Loper.
With a win under their belts, the Dragons were back in action on their home floor on Tuesday, January 17 as they hosted the Manchester Greyhounds in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action and will also be in conference play on Friday, January 20, hosting the Eastern Warriors.
Portsmouth Clay
7 12 9 23 —51
West Union
16 8 15 15 —54
P. Clay (51): Loper 23, Demorest 12, Payne 9, Fowler 7
W. Union (54): Jarvis 22, Flaugher 12, Harover 11, Knox 5, T. grooms 2. B. Grooms 2
