Keyser Crushes Berkeley Springs, 68-29

KEYSER - Keyser swept visiting Berkeley Springs in a basketball triple-header last night at Tornado Alley, with the brothers Hartman - Preston and Peyton - pacing the varsity and jayvee in games two and three with matching 20-point performances for the Golden Tornado.
Big brother Preston scored 11 of his game-high totals in the third period, tallying the initial nine Golden Tornado points out of the locker room in the varsity’s 68-29 victory over the Indians.
Senior guard Matt Wilmer followed Hartman with 15 for the Tornado, who held a commanding lead throughout most of the contest.
Berkeley Springs attempted to spread the floor and slow it down against Keyser, but the Tornado guards continually jumped the passing lanes after falling behind 2-0 and then again 4-2 to make the Indian offense, well, a waste of time.
Berkeley tried to run it’s motion-spread offense on nearly every possession, but time and time again the 30 to 90 seconds it took to try and find an open man turned into a turnover or bad shot, and Keyser took those empty opportunities and turned them into easy shots at the other end.
Hartman and Wilmer followed Indian buckets to tie the game at 2-2 and 4-4 three minutes into the contest, but Wilmer jumped the lane for his third steal of the quarter seconds later giving Keyser a 6-4 advantage and the lead for good.
Wilmer picked off his fourth errant pass early on and fed Green in the lane to double up the Indians at 8-4, and then followed a Berkeley freebie with a jumper to end the quarter and double up Berkley again at 10-5.
Wilmer stole yet another Berkeley pass and fed Green out of the whistle, and Hartman forced another Indian turnover and followed a Wes Washington miss to make it 14-5.
Berkeley continued to give the basketball away, and save for a pair of Matt Twigg treys, conld not convert on the offensive end.
Ross finished off the onslaught when he intercepted a pass and beat the halftime buzzer, leaving the locals up 23-12 at the intermission.
Hartman came out red hot and outscored the Indians 9-3 in what was a Keyser 13-3 overall run to start the third quarter, and the Golden Tornado once again doubled up the Indians 50-25 entering the final frame.
Eric Moss and Twigg led the Indians with eight points each.
Hartman added 10 rebonds to his 20 points, Wilmer finished with six steals, and Washington five assists.
Keyser won the jayvee matchup, 70-22.
Peyton Hartman duplicated his brother’s efforts with a 20-point, 10-rebound performance, RC Pratt added 14, and Ethan LaRue had 10.
Levi Ebert scored seven points, and Andrea Restelli added six points and seven rebounds.
The Keyser freshman beat the lil’ Indians in the opener, 66-29.
Head coach Johnny Haines called the victory “one of the best team games Keyser has played all year” and every Keyser frosh save one, scored.
Wyatt Nelson dominated the inside play and poured in 25 points and added 10 rebounds for his fourth-straight double-double.
Eric Lewis added eight points off the bench for Keyser.
The win improved the lil’ Tornado to 14-1. THe KHS frosh will finish out their season on the 23rd against Fort Hill in the first game of another triple header at Tornado Alley.
Keyser’s freshman also defeated Petersburg this week, 59-39.
Nelson scored 14 points and added 11 rebounds, and had five steals and four blocked shots.
Corey Armstrong and Jamison Jones added 13 and 12 points respectively.
Keyser’s varsity (12-6) and junior varsity (15-1) will host Petersburg Thursday.
Berkeley Springs (6-11) will play at East Hardy on Tuesday.