By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Another tough season came to a c lose for the West Union Dragons varsity boys on February 20, competing in a play-in game in the Division V district tournament. The #17 seeded Dragons made the long haul to Oak Hill High School to battle the host Oaks for the right to advance to the district quarterfinals. Sadly for the county boys, it was not a profitable trip as the Oaks led from wire-to-wire and sent the Dragons home smarting from a 57-36 defeat.
“They just came out hot and we thought we had a good game plan but we just didn’t execute the way we wanted to,” said West Union head coach Adam Barr in his interview with C103. “We have struggled with outside defense all year and tonight was no different and I thought they just wanted it more than we did.”
“we have to get better this summer, that’s when you get better.”
The story of this game was the inability of the West Union defense to do anything top stop Oak Hill sophomore Mason Malone. Malone torched the Dragons’ defense for seven three-pointers on his way to a game-high 27 points to lead the home team to the big win.
The Oaks’ sophomore started early, hitting a a pair of three-balls to give the home side a quick 6-0 advantage before the Dragons got on the board with a putback bucket by Andrew Daley, but that only preceded another triple by Malone to start a 7-0 Oak Hill run and a 13-2 lead for the Oaks.
The Dragons temporarily found their bearings with a pair of three-point goals from Tyren Pennington but as the first quarter clock ran out, West Union was already staring at an 18-8 deficit.
Early in quarter number two, the three-point barrage continued as West Union’s Billy Flaugher connected from deep to cut the Oak Hill lead to 20-11, but the Oaks answered 7-2 run to stretch their advantage to 14 points. The Dragons got another three from Pennington but the Oaks finished the first half with a 31-18 margin.
The second half began poorly for the visitors as the Oaks reeled off six straight to put the Dragons in a 19-point hole. Behind Flaugher and Tegan Knox, the Dragons got their own 6-0 run but Malone hit another three-pointer to close out the third quarter scoring and keep the Oaks in front 40-24.
Whether the Dragons were worn down from scrapping from behind or the Oaks had all the energy associated with a big lead, the final period began with Oak Hill on a 12-2 run, fueled of course by two more Malone three-pointers. That busted the game wide open with the home team doubling up at 53-26. Over the game’s final minutes, the Dragons did get two more long ones from beyond the arc, one from Knox and the other from Jake Thompson and the final West Union points of the season in a 57-36 loss came on two free throws by Ethan Caldwell.
As mentioned, it was Mason Malone leading everyone with his 27-point effort for the Oaks, with teammate Will Morgan also reaching double figures with 14. The Oaks advanced to play #1 seed Chesapeake in the quarterfinal round where they fell by a final count of 56-30.
In West Union’s final outing, they were led in scoring by sophomore Tyren Pennington’s 11 points with senior Billy Flaugher chipping in 10. The Dragons finished the 2025-26 season with an overall record of 3-19.
The loss was the final game in the high school careers of West Union seniors Tegan Knox, Billy Flaugher, Brylee Mills and Logan Caldwell.
“Our seniors are not only good ball players but good people,”said Coach Barr. “They are going to be missed tremendously in every aspect of the program. We’re just trying to change the culture at West Union and this group of seniors were a big part of that. With their work ethic, they will be successful in anything they do in life.”
Box Score
W. Union (36): Flaugher 10, Pennington 11, T. Knox 5, Mills 3, Thompson 4, E. Caldwell 2, Daley 2
Oak Hill (57)- Malone 27, Morgan 14, Osborne 4, Walker 6, Lyons 6
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