Keyser Upsets BW, 74-70

Mike Mathews
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — The Keyser High roller-coaster hit another high point Friday night, knocking off top-ranked Bishop Walsh in aggressive fashion with a relentless inside attack in a 74-70 victory on Haystack Mountain.

Fifth-ranked Keyser, which never trailed, snapped Bishop Walsh’s 10-game winning streak and improved to 9-6. Bishop Walsh fell to 12-4.

Preston Hartman scored 12 first-quarter points and finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds to lead the way. Jeremy Green had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Maverick Nelson 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Matt Wilmer 12 points and eight rebounds. Wes Washington added five points and seven assists.

Coach Gary Liston called it his team’s most complete game of the season. It came during the most challenging of weeks, which has seen the Tornado play the top three teams in the area in a four-day span.

Keyser beat No. 2 Mountain Ridge 65-57 on Tuesday, but lost at No. 3 Allegany on Thursday, allowing a season-high 97 points in a 23-point loss.

“Defensive effort. That was the difference,’’ said Liston between the games played in a 24-hour span. “We had a good defensive effort earlier in the week against Mountain Ridge, and a good offensive night against Allegany. We just had to put the two together.

“It’s been a roller-coaster ride, no question about it,’’ he added. “I think we played the way we are capable of playing. This is the best game we’ve put together so far, but not the very best that we can play.”

Kamran Khataian scored 30 points and had seven assists and four steals for Bishop Walsh, which trailed by as many as 11 in the third quarter. Spencer Wine had 12 points and nine rebounds and Myles Clifford and Kym Pierce 11 points.

But the Spartans, who were within three, 64-61 with two minutes to go, couldn’t overcome Keyser’s 61-35 dominance on the boards.

“They outplayed us. Tonight, they were better than us,’’ said first-year BW coach Jeff Rhodes. “We were not good enough on defense or rebounding to win the game.

“We were only getting one shot a lot of the time. Rebounding is one of our weak points, and they exploited it. Keyser’s very athletic, and they played very well.”

Hartman’s 12 first-quarter points got Keyser off and running. Green had 15 of his 17 points in the middle two periods, and Nelson came off the bench to provide a major boost, on both ends of the floor.

Still, the Spartans trailed by just 37-32 at halftime. The largest leads came at 50-39 and 52-41, midway through the third quarter, which ended with Keyser up 60-53.

BW made a final push, getting to within 63-61 after a Clifford bucket with three minutes to play.

With Washington, Keyser’s point guard, fouling out with 4:02 to play, Wilmer nicely picked up the slack in ball-handling, and Hartman, Nelson and Green stayed strong inside to seal the win.

Keyser was just 12-for-21 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, but 9-for-12 when it mattered most, in the final 1:21. Nelson and Wilmer shot those final 12 free throws, Nelson going 5-for-6 and Wilmer 4-for-6.

“Maverick Nelson is our leading offensive rebounder and was a big, big help on the boards,’’ said Liston. “I don’t think they had an answer for Jeremy Green and Preston Hartman inside.

“We’re not a perimeter shooting team. Our bread-and-butter is inside, and we know that. We played three decent quarters. For the most part, we got it to Green and Hartman and made our shots.”

Keyser also won the jayvee game, 63-51, with R.C. Pratt scoring 27 points and Kurt Amtower pulling in nine rebounds.

Both teams play again tonight. Keyser is at Petersburg and BW hosts Southern Fulton. The BW-Southern Fulton jayvees play at 5 o’clock and the varsity at 6:30.