Charleston or bust for KHS boys tonight

KEYSER — Two teams. Only one spot.
That’s what’s at stake when the Keyser Golden Tornado hosts the Webster County Highlanders in the WVSSAC Region II boys’ basketball final tonight at KHS.
The winner advances to the eight-team state tournament in Charleston, which begins on Thursday, March 19.
Keyser won the Region II, Section I title with a 46-35 victory over Petersburg on Friday.
Webster County lost their sectional final to Philip Barbour, 56-44, Saturday night.
The Highlanders haven’t been to the state tournament since 1990.
Golden Tornado head coach Gary Liston went to the Webster County-Philip Barbour game and was impressed with the Highlanders’ work ethic.
“It’s hard to really gauge in a one-night scout, but the thing I came away with was that they played hard. They didn’t have a whole lot of size, but were definitely blue-collar players,” said Liston before Keyser’s practice Tuesday.
Because of their sound fundamentals and hustle, Liston compares Webster County to Mountain Ridge.
“A close match would be Mountain Ridge without [David] Hobel in the game. But, again, on a one-night scout, it’s hard to tell. They may have a Hobel-type player that just didn’t show that night,” Liston said.
Keyser and Mountain Ridge split two regular season meetings.
Also blue-collar is Webster County’s style.
“Offensively, they ran the flex. We’re pretty familiar with that. Defensively, they played man-to-man for 32 minutes,” said Liston.
The man-to-man defense is good news for Keyser, a team that scores a lot of points inside through their offense, in transition, and off of offensive rebounds.
“When I told the guys that yesterday when we went over the scouting report, as soon as I said they played nothing but man-to-man, Jeremy Green was grinning from ear to ear,” said Liston.
“I hope they play man tomorrow night.”
That inside game and transition play are the keys for Keyser to punch their ticket to Charleston, said Liston.
“[Keyser’s players] need to take care of the ball better than they did against Petersburg. We need to finish when we get shots around the rim. If we finish those shots around the rim, Petersburg can’t hold the ball,” he said.
“We have to run the break; we have to run it well. And then Green and [Preston] Hartman have to do their jobs inside.”
“I’ve got a feeling tomorrow night that someone’s going to have to step up other than those two guys.”
The other six spots in the state tournament will also be handed out today.
In Region I, Point Pleasant visits Weir and Magnolia travels to Ravenswood.
In Region III, Wyoming East hosts Pikeview and Oak Hill is at James Monroe.
And in Region IV, Scott travels to Sissonville and Poca visits Tug Valley.
The game tips off at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $5 for students (if purchased before 3 p.m. Wednesday) and $7 for all fans at the door.
That price is mandated by the state, according to KHS Athletic Director Ken Griffith.