It wasn't like most first-round basketball State Tournament games for a top-ranked team like Ravenswood, where a quarterfinal victory over a No. 8 seed usually is gift-wrapped.
However, this Red Devils' 15th straight boys basketball victory came courtesy of a "Santa" Klavs.
Ravenswood, with career scoring leader Dusty Mullins saddled with foul trouble, went inside to foreign-exchange senior Klavs Bogdanovics in the third quarter, and eventually pulled away from gritty Keyser 78-57 on Wednesday night at the Charleston Civic Center.
The 6-foot-7 Latvian was too long in the post for a Golden Tornado (13-11) starting lineup averaging just over 5 feet 111/2, and a team that got even shorter when Coach Gary Liston subbed.
Among those subs was thin 5-6 junior Wesley Stullenbarger, who came into the State Tournament averaging 0.9 points for the Keyser varsity. He scored nine in 10 minutes after playing mostly junior varsity ball for the Tornado in 2007-08.
Bogdanovics scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, had nine rebounds and passed out six assists. Once veteran Devils Coach Mick Price established at halftime with Bogdanovics that he needed to be more than a wowed spectator for his first State Tournament game, he made up for some of Mullins' prolonged absence with an inside presence.
"There's no question we were concerned about second-chance opportunities," Liston said. "We were concerned about the point guard (Ben Wise) and Dusty. We said, 'We have to contest shots, and we can't give up second shots.'
"You definitely can't give up second shots when you're trying to come back."
The win sent 2006 state champion Ravenswood (24-1) into a date with Bluefield (21-4) on Semifinal Friday, where the top four Class AA seeds remain with at least 21 wins apiece and were all ranked among the top five in the final state poll.
Mullins, averaging 19 points per game, finished with 24 in an uncommon way. The 5-10 senior scored the first eight Devil points, then got 10 of his team's first 12 in the final period after sitting on the bench with three fouls for all but the first minute of the third quarter."I knew my legs would be there when I got back in," said Mullins, who has 1,865 career points. "I knew my head had to be there, too ... (His teammates) did a great job playing without their leading scorer. Ben did a great job. He saved our butts out there."
The 6-0 Wise finished with 14 points and nine assists - giving him the Ravenswood single-season assist record at 192.
"Ben makes us go," Price said after his 497th career coaching win. "He knows what needs to be done."
Wise also helped Bogdanovics get going in the paint, when the European began planting himself on the low block and attacking the glass with more verve while Mullins sat.
"The first game, with a crowd like this, 3,000 or so, I was very nervous," Bogdanovics said.
"I've never played in anything like this before. In the first half, I missed a couple of easy shots and I was kind of frustrated.
"I just needed to make a couple of shots. With Dusty out, I felt the boys needed me to do some scoring. They've supported me greatly since I've come here. I needed to support them. They needed a post player here. I had to play like they wanted me to play."
Ravenswood, which is 112-15 in the last five seasons, shot 54 percent, helped by a 36-10 scoreboard advantage in the paint and a 14-3 bulge in second-chance points. The Devils scored 27 of the game's final 38 points.
Keyser hung around until the final 10 minutes, mostly by hitting mid-range jumpers and getting a combined 30 points from juniors Jeremy Green (19) and Preston Hartman (11, with 11 rebounds).
