CHARLESTON — After the Logan High School basketball beat Hedgesville on Wednesday night in the first round of the Class AAA state tournament, the Wildcats knew they were going to get either Morgantown or Capital in Friday’s semifinals.

Logan also knew it was going to play a team they had already faced this season as the Wildcats had played both Capital and Morgantown earlier in the season at the Big Atlantic Classic in Beckley.

The Wildcats finally found out who they were going to play on Thursday afternoon as No. 4-seeded Capital downed No. 5 Morgantown, 54-39, in convincing fashion at the Charleston Civic Center. Logan and Capital are scheduled to meet today at 5:30 p.m. with the winner moving on to play in Saturday’s 7 p.m. state championship game.

Logan (23-3), the No. 1 seed in the Class AAA state tournament and the overall favorite to win the title, advanced with Wednesday night’s hard-fought 65-57 victory over No. 8 Hedgesville.

Capital was led by George Buckles, who had 16 points for the game.

The Cougars, which lost 99-93 in overtime to Logan in January, improved to 20-4 on the season. Morgantown closed out the year at 19-5. The Mohigans polished off the Wildcats, 74-59, in the Beckley tourney, handing Logan one of its three losses on the season. To date, it’s the only loss suffered by Logan to a WVSSAC team. The other two losses were to non-SSAC member Mountain State Academy and the other was to out-of-state Baltimore City College (Md.) at WVU.

Capital led Morgantown 29-20 at the half and used its speed to take control of the game, leading by as many as 13 points heading into the fourth quarter.

The Cougars advanced to the state tourney with a 71-60 win over Beckley in the regional finals.

Capital is led by Buckles, who scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had five steals in the victory over the Flying Eagles. Capital is also led by Tommy Gwinn, Sam Jones and Dominique Ferrante. Gwinn had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the Beckley game, while Jones had 11 points and five assists and Ferrante had eight points and eight boards.

Logan coach Mark Hatcher was asked about the prospects of a possible Logan-Capital game after Wednesday night’s win.

“That’s going to be a heck of a game,” Hatcher said. “The environment will definitely be different this time. We played (Capital) in front of 100 people at Beckley in a 24-inch snowstorm. It will be a lot different playing in the state tournament, so we think that will go in our favor some. We can match up size-wise with all of Capital’s guards pretty well but Tommy (Gwinn) is a force. He looks like a left tackle. He’s a heck of a basketball player and we would have our hands full. Either way, we think that it’s going to be a great basketball game. If it’s Capital, I think it could be up and down the floor all game long.”

Logan comes into the game with one days rest, while Capital will have to play on back-to-back days.

“Most of these teams play in tournaments now, so just about everyone is used to playing two days in a row or three games in four days,” Hatcher said. “We do that purposely twice a year. It worked out three times this year because of all of the snow games. We work out our schedule so it’s like the state tournament. We try to play good teams. I think Capital is the same way. The way the snow hit this year everyone had to play three or four games in a week. I don’t think that it will be too much of an advantage for us but it could be some. This Triple-A field is loaded. This is a great state tournament. I’m 39 and I’ve been to this state tournament since I was about 1 and I can’t remember the crowds that we’ve had on a Wednesday night or a Wednesday day. This is one of the biggest crowds that they’ve had on a Wednesday. Everyone is excited about the state tournament.”

The Wildcats are looking for the school’s seventh state championship and first in the Class AAA ranks since 1991. Logan dropped down to Double-A status from 2002-08 and made it to the 2A state tourney five straight years, winning the state title in 2005 under Hatcher.

Logan was led by 6-3 junior guard Paul Herbert Williamson, who scored 24 points in the win over Hedgesville. He was 7-of-11 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the free throw line.

Noah Cottrill, a 6-2 senior guard and the state’s player of the year, was held to 19 points and had an unusual off night for the Wildcats. Cottrill, who averages more than 29 points a game, was only 6-of-17 from the floor.

Junior Deyonta Coleman gave Logan a boost against the Eagles with 17 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting performance.

Cottrill led Logan on the boards with nine rebounds and also had a team-high five assists.

Capital is coached by Carl Clark.

The Cougars won Class AAA state titles in 2000 and 2001.

The Cougars were state runner-ups in 1999.

Capital will be playing in its hometown of Charleston.

Capital High School was formed in 1989 with the consolidation of the old Charleston High School and Stonewall Jackson High School. Stonewall Jackson won 3A state championships in 1982, 1985 and 1986.

The old Charleston High School was the 3A state runner-up in 1967, 1976 and 1987. Stonewall Jackson were runner-ups in 1984.

Further back in time, Charleston won the state title in 1915 and 1919.