Parkersburg News
CHARLESTON — Like their recent haircuts, the Red Devils from Ravenswood received a close shave for three quarters in a Class AA state quarterfinal game.
At the Charleston Civic Center on Wednesday night, senior Dusty Mullins shook off early foul trouble and lit it up for a game-high 24 points as No. 1 ranked Ravenswood defeated Keyser 78-57.
“Keyser was athletic, like everybody knew they would be,” Ravenswood coach Mick Price said. “They were very quick, they got up on the boards and they shot the ball well.
“There were just times where we defended them a little bit and made a couple runs then kept them at bay.”
Ravenswood (24-1), which received a scare from Keyser in the first round of the 2006 state tournament before eventually winning the championship, found itself in a ballgame leading by just five at 51-46 with two minutes still remaining in the third quarter.
Following a timeout, the Red Devils went to work and scored four quick points before the buzzer sounded, including a bucket from Klavs Bogdanovics off a shovel pass from Ben Wise. Bruce Patterson, who finished with nine points and six rebounds, provided the capper on an offensive putback with 19 seconds showing to increase the gap to 55-46.
Mullins played all of one minute in the third quarter before picking up his third foul and found himself riding the pine until the start of the fourth. Once he returned to the floor at the start of the period, it became his show. During a 14-4 run, Mullins was responsible for 10 points, including one of his four 3-pointers.
“Dusty is the kind of player that once he comes into a game, he wants the ball,” Price said. “I think he was a little bit upset in the fact that he was hampered with fouls throughout the game and watching his teammates play in the state tournament his senior year.
“He and I will have a little discussion about this whole evening when we get back to Ravenswood.”
Keyser’s Jeremy Green knocked down a jumper from the free-throw line to cut the deficit to 69-52, but Ravenswood’s defense stepped into high gear. Luke Murray and Alex Cole recorded back-to-back steals which led to layups for the two Red Devil players.
With 2:50 showing in regulation, Ravenswood was feeling more secure after increasing the advantage to 73-52.
“We played them tough the first quarter then Dusty Mullins broke it open,” said Keyser junior Preston Hartman, who was a freshman on the Golden Tornado squad which appeared at the state tournament two years ago. “When I was a freshman, they didn’t really have anybody like that. It was more of a team game for them, plus we had height back then.”
Hard to imagine how many points Mullins would have finished with if not for his two first-quarter personal fouls. He opened the game by knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the period. By the time he took a seat on the bench, the Ravenswood lead was 19-15.
Although the Golden Tornado never led, they continued to nip at Ravenswood’s heels. Greene, who finished with a team-high 19 points, carried Keyser with nine first-quarter points. In the second period, an unknown quantity in 5-foot-6 junior Wesley Stullenberger poured in seven points off the bench as Keyser fought to within 34-31 with 1:23 remaining before intermission.
“If Keyser was going to get production from people like (Stullenberger) then we were quite satisfied,” Price said. “I thought Greene, Hartman and (Matt) Wilmer were three really good players and we felt like the other players would have to step up and make shots.
“I have been down to the state tournament many times and I haven’t seen many kids come off the bench and hit 3s. It seems like that is difficult down here, so if he would have knocked them all down he would have been starting earlier in the year. I was glad to see him miss three or four of those in a row (later in the game).”
Wise quickly turned the tables on Keyser by scoring on a reverse layup then knocking down a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. The senior capped the 7-0 run by grabbing a defensive rebound and finding Patterson open for a bucket at the other end of the floor.
Wise finished with 14 points and nine assists. In the process he broke the school’s single-season assists record. Also scoring in double figures for the Red Devils were Bogdanovics with 17 points and Cole with 10 points. Bogdanovics flirted with a triple-double after recording nine rebounds and six assists.
For Keyser (13-11), Hartman started the game in fine fashion with six points over the first seven minutes. The junior, though, was limited to five points the rest of the way.
“We did a good job in the first half and made a couple of runs in the second half then could just never get over the hump,” Keyser coach Gary Liston said. “We knew once Dusty Mullins came back into the game he would be looking to take some shots. Unfortunately, we left him unguarded a couple of times and obviously you can’t do that with their best offensive guy
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Ravesnwood Runnin' to semi-finals
Top-seeded Ravenswood is off and running to what it hopes will be a second AA State Championship in three years by beating pesky Keyser 78-57 in Wednesday evening's quarterfinal round action at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum.
Coach Mick Price's Red Devils stretched an 8-point halftime lead to a high of 21 with 2:30 to play in the 4th quarter and also the final margin.
The Red Devils were lead in scoring by Dusty Mullins 24 and center Klavs Bogdanovics with 17. Keyser was lead by Jeremy Green's 19.
One-loss Ravenswood advances to Friday's semi-final to face the winner of Thursday night's Bluefield-Oak Hill contest.
Ravenswood pulls away for win
Charleston Gazette
It seemed inevitable that, sooner or later, one of Ravenswood's players would conjure up some heroics or that the Red Devils would somehow find a way to break open the close game.
After all, they're a team of balance, talent and tournament tradition, as well as the No. 1 seed in Class AA.
In this case, it was Dusty Mullins, a senior and the school's all-time leading scorer, who had spent much of the game on the bench, plagued by fouls and biding his time impatiently.
Ravenswood’s Klavs Bogdanovics scores in front of Keyser’s Wes Washington. ..
The victory advances Ravenswood (24-1) into the semifinals at 1 p.m. Friday against Bluefield.
The 5-foot-10 Mullins, who finished with 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, picked up his second foul late in the first quarter, sat the bench for four minutes in the first half, committed his third foul in the third period's opening minutes and again found himself sidelined.
Meanwhile, Keyser (13-11) kept things within reach, despite a height disadvantage and despite its lowly role as the No. 8 seed.
"My hat's off to Keyser and their coach,'' said Ravenswood coach Mick Price. "It was an honor to play them.''
The Red Devils led only 51-46 late in the third quarter and 55-46 to start the fourth, at which time Mullins returned and eliminated all drama.
In the fourth quarter's opening minute, he contributed a basket and three free throws, helping the Red Devils to a more comfortable 60-48 cushion. He then hit a two-point jumper, fed Klavs Bogdanovics for an easy layup and sank a 3-pointer. By that time, it was 67-50, and Ravenswood could breathe easily.
In addition to Mullins' scoring, Bogdanovics contributed 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds and six assists. Ben Wise added 14 points and seven assists, giving him the Ravenswood single-season assist record of 190, breaking the mark held by Kirk Ritchie. Alex Cole scored 10 points, and Bruce Patterson had nine points and six rebounds.
Mullins, who has scored 1,865 points in his Ravenswood career, was just happy to be back in the game in the fourth quarter.
"I worked my butt off to get here, me and my teammates,'' he said, "and there's nothing more that I would have rather done than be out there with my boys. Sitting over there killed me.''
Price acknowledged Mullins' impatience on the bench but didn't want to risk losing him for the stretch run.
Ravenswood’s Klavs Bogdanovics scores in front of Keyser’s Wes Washington. ..
Keyser coach Gary Liston knew Mullins would return to the game firing.
"We said as soon as he got back in the game that he would be looking to take some shots,'' said Liston, "and unfortunately we left him unguarded a couple times. And obviously you can't do that with their best offensive guy.''
Keyser never led but forced a 14-14 tie late in the first quarter and trailed by just 34-31 with 1:23 left in the second.
"We did a good job in the first half, made a couple runs there in the second half, got it cut to five and then could just never get over the hump,'' said Liston.
Said Price, "I just thought there were times we defended them a little bit and made a couple runs and kept them at bay. I wouldn't want to be playing them next year because there are a lot of young kids on that team that are going to come back.''
Jeremy Green led Keyser with 19 points, and Preston Hartman had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Ravenswood advances against Keyser
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).
Red Devils top Keyser
Cumberland Times News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Dusty Mullins scored 24 points and top-seeded Ravenswood never trailed in beating No. 8 Keyser 78-57 in the boys Class AA quarterfinals Wednesday night.
Ravenswood (24-1), looking for its second title in three years, still had trouble with Keyser, just as the Red Devils did in beating the Golden Tornado by just three points in the 2006 quarterfinals.
A Wes Washington layup pulled Keyser within 44-40 early in the third quarter, but the Golden Tornado (13-11) went scoreless over a three-minute stretch and Ravens-wood started pulling away.
Mullins scored 10 points in the first three minutes of the fourth to put Ravenswood ahead 67-50.
Klavs Bogdanovics added 17 points and Ben Wise scored 14 for Ravenswood.
Jeremy Green scored 19 for Keyser.
KHS ousted in first round of state tournament
Mineral Daily News Tribune
For the second time in three years, the Keyser Golden Tornado saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Ravenswood Red Devils in the first round of the Class AA state tournament.
Dusty Mullins scored a game-high 24 points to lead four players in double figures as the Red Devils defeated the Golden Tornado, 78-57, on Wednesday evening at the Charleston Civic Center.
Two years ago, Ravenswood eliminated Keyser in the first round, 49-46, en route to the state championship, and much like that initial meeting, the top-ranked Red Devils had trouble shaking the Golden Tornado before finally putting them away.
Ravenswood (24-1) jumped out to an 11-2 lead on a pair of 3-pointers by Mullins and one by Ben Wise.
Midway through the period, Keyser, the eighth seed, went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 14-14, the last five points scored by Jeremy Green on a layup and 3-pointer.
Ravenswood then scored 5 of the next 7 points to lead 19-15 after the first period.
The Red Devils opened the second quarter with 6-0 run to take a 10-point lead, 25-15, at the 6:04 mark.
Another 3-pointer by Mullins gave Ravenswood its biggest lead of the first half, 30-19, with 4:49 to play before intermission, but Keyser rallied with a 12-4 run to cut its deficit to 34-31 at the 1:23 mark.
A pair of freshmen led the Keyser charge, as Wes Washington started the run with a 3-pointer, and Wes Stullenbarger scored on a jumper, a 3-pointer, and then hit two free throws to cap the rally.
Ravenswood responded by scoring 7 of the final 9 points of the half to take a 41-33 lead at the break.
Keyser remained within striking distance throughout the third quarter, pulling to within four points at 44-40 on a layup by Washington.
But the Golden Tornado went scoreless over the next three minutes and trailed 55-46 heading into the final quarter.
And that’s when the Red Devils started to take over.
Ravenswood started the period with a 14-4 run to take a 69-50 lead at the 5:01 mark. Mullins keyed the run by scoring 10 of the 14 points.
Two minutes later, a layup by Alex Cole gave Ravenswood its biggest lead of the game at 21 points, 73-52, with 2:58 remaining.
Keyser would get no closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
Ravenswood dominated the game inside, scoring 36 points in the paint to just 10 for Keyser.
The Red Devils outrebounded the Golden Tornado, 35-30, and scored 14 second-chance points to Keyser’s 3.
Ravenswood went 12-for-22 from the free throw line while Keyser only made 6 trips to the charity stripe and converted 5.
Keyser shot 39.7 percent from the field and Ravenswood shot 53.7 percent.
Klavs Bogsdanovics had 17 points and 9 rebounds for the Red Devils, while Wise had 14 points, 7 boards and 9 assists and Cole added 10 points.
Green led Keyser with 19 points, while Preston Hartman had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Washington and Stullenbarger each finished with 9 points, with Washington leading the team with 9 assists.
With the loss, Keyser finishes its season at 13-11 under first-year head coach Gary Liston.
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