Photo of Mike Morrison Williamstown’s Seth Hammer (left) makes a pass as Nathan Murray (5) of Wirt County distracts him during a high school boys basketball section final on Friday.
WILLIAMSTOWN – The Williamstown Yellowjackets got off to a strong start and only got stronger when the game in the section finals was played against Wirt County on Friday night.
The ‘Jackets took the lead 18:12 at the end of a quarter, then broke out for 25 points in the second quarter and scored a decisive 76:34 win over the Tigers to claim the section crown.
“I really thought the story of the game was the pace of the game,” he said. said Williamstown head coach Scott Sauro. “In the beginning, Wirt County really took the time and we switched defenses to get them to play a little faster and I think that paid off.”
Williamstown received six points from Baylor Haught and five from Sam Cremeans in the opening quarter to improve the six-point lead, opening it at 12 in the middle of the second quarter.
Wirt County briefly cut it off in double digits between 27 and 18 before the ‘Jackets finished the first half with a 16-1 run to achieve a comfortable 43:19 lead during the break.
The big lead allowed Sauro to find plenty of calm for his team in the second half, but Williamstown continued to extend his lead when they knocked the guests out 18-4 to extend their lead from three-quarters to 61-23 play.
“We have some bumps and bruises so we thought it would be wise to rest some of our boys.” said Sauro. “With the score as it was halfway, we could play it safe.”
Williamstown was led by Haught with 12 points and bounced back with six points, while Ryan Wager was double digits with 12 points.
Gavin Bosgraf added nine while Cremeans finished with eight points in the first 16 minutes.
Trevor Oates came off the bench to throw eight as well, while Seth Hammer and Issac Joy ended up with seven points apiece.
“I thought everyone came in and gave us great minutes.” said Sauro, who got points from 10 different players in the game. “I thought we passed the ball great and that resulted in some open strokes for us.”
The win lifted Jackets’ season mark to 14-1 and allowed them to stay at home for Thursday night’s regional co-final against St. Marys, which came in a final second shot against Ritchie County.
“St. Marys is a really good goal team that plays really good defense. So we know this is going to be a challenge. “ said Sauro.
Wirt County, whose season mark has dropped to 8-11, will head to Ritchie County for their regional co-finals on Thursday night.
The Tigers were led by Nathan Murry at 11, while Slayden Turpin added 8.
Donovan Roberts and Dylan Lowe each beat a pair of threes by six points each.
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