NORTH LEWISBURG – West Liberty-Salem held on to beat Triad, 58-52, in OHC boys basketball on Monday.
The game was close throughout, with the Tigers holding a 16-11 edge after a quarter and a 27-23 lead at halftime.
“Give a lot of credit to them. They battled. It was just an incredible game and an incredible atmosphere for everybody in the gym,” WL-S Coach Darrin Leichty said.
By the time the third quarter had come to a close, Triad had trimmed the deficit to a single point at 36-35 – a lead West Liberty-Salem had regained at the buzzer with a basket by Austin Miller.
“We were finally getting in front of them,” THS Matt McCurdy said. “When they got the lead back, some of our kids started getting a little nervous.”
The fourth quarter was frantic, with the large crowd feeding off the energy as each team made several baskets.
It was the Tigers who made the most of the scoring early, putting together a run in the middle of the quarter that pushed the lead back to as many as 10 points – thanks in large part to a couple of timely three-pointers.
“They’re very explosive offensively, but we are too. And we showed it tonight,” Leichty said.
The red birds from North Lewisburg wouldn’t go away quietly, with Hadley LeVan knocking down a pair of three-pointers to get the Cardinals back in it with 90 seconds remaining at 52-50.
“Our kids did a nice job moving it around,” McCurdy said. “Our kids never stopped fighting. They could have gave up at any time. It’s just one of those games where they made the bigger plays.”
Miller led the Tigers (12-2, 8-0) with a game-high 17 points. Kannon Stillings had 16 points and Tyler Louden added 10 for the visitors. Ryan Boyd led Triad (9-4, 4-3) with 16 points, with Colby Watson adding 11 and Thomas O’Neal chipping in 10.
West Liberty-Salem defeated Triad in the jayvee game, 33-31. Cody King scored 10 points for the Tigers while Jevin Edley had 17 points for Triad.
WL-S won the 9th grade game, 51-21. Dominic Blair had 12 points for the Tigers.
WL-S hosts Riverside tonight in what will be the Tigers’ fifth game in seven days. Triad plays at Southeastern on Friday.
