CHARLESTON – When Noah Cottrill transferred to Logan High School at the end of the summer he made a bold prediction.

Said Cottrill, who came to Logan from Mountain State Academy, “We’re going to win the state championship. I really got faith that we’re going to win the state championship here at Logan. That’s my goal and that’s the goal for everyone else on the team. I know that we can do it.”

Cottrill, the state player of the year, who is headed to play for Bob Huggins next year at WVU, was right on the money.

Cottrill’s prediction came true as the No. 1-ranked Wildcats beat Wheeling Park, 63-48, in Saturday night’s Class AAA state championship game at the Charleston Civic Center before a televised audience on Network West Virginia.

For Logan, it was the school’s seventh overall state championship and first in the Triple-A ranks since 1991. The Wildcats were playing in their first Class AAA state tourney since 1995.

Logan (25-3) won for the third time this season against Wheeling Park. The Patriots finished 23-3 with their only three losses coming to Logan.

For Logan 10th-year coach Mark Hatcher, it was his second state championship. He also led the Wildcats to a Double-A state crown in 2005.

Many had expected the Wildcats to win the state championship way back in August when word got out that Cottrill was transferring to Logan.

With the hot-shooting Cottrill, the Wildcats would be a tough team to beat.

They were.

Then after winning the 3A sectional and regional tourneys, Logan came into the state tournament as the favorites.

After scoring state tourney wins over Hedgesville (65-57) and Capital (75-69) the stage was set on Saturday night.

The Wildcats lived up to all of the hype, pressure and expectations and brought back another state championship to Logan with last night’s victory over the Patriots.

“It’s a great win for our program,” Hatcher said after the game. “There’s no better place to play, to coach or be a part of a basketball program or any sports program than Logan. We do a great job with our kids from the little league on up. We love our teams.

“We came together strong as a team. It’s been a total team effort from the coaching staff, the cheerleaders, our team and our wonderful community.”

Hatcher was asked what he would remember most about this season.

“How hard it was,” he said. “Just from the expectations and to be here on the top.”

Logan was led by its one-two punch of Cottrill and junior guard Paul Herbert Williamson, who each scored 22 points on the night. Both were on the all-tournament team, along with teammate Deyonta Coleman, who added 11 points. Cottrill also had 10 rebounds.

Bubby Goodwin led Wheeling Park with 18 points and Richard Hall scored 14.

“We played a great team tonight. Wheeling Park is such a great team,” Hatcher said. “But our role players stepped up big for us. We only allowed (Marqez) O’Neal to have four points and a couple of rebounds in the first half and that was big. We seemed to make a lot of hustle plays in the first half. In the second half it was about even in hustle plays. We made some big shots and some big foul shots at the end of the game.”

Hatcher said Logan’s tough schedule set the stage for its tournament run.

“We tried to make a hard schedule, go through a tough environment, play the top programs and go all over the state to prepare ourselves,” he said. “We played a lot of great teams out-of-state and in-state. We thought that it would prepare us for this tournament run. The tougher teams you play make you stronger and it worked out for us tonight.”

Logan came into last night’s game battle-tested as the Wildcats staved off tough challenges in the state tourney from Hedgesville and Capital.

“We went through a heck of a game against Hedgesville and a great game last night against Capital,” Hatcher said. “We knew that we had a lot to do against Wheeling Park because they can hurt you in so many different ways. We stepped up tonight. Our players made some plays.”

Wheeling Park made a game of it late as the Patriots cut Logan’s lead to just 47-42 after a Goodwin basket.

But Cottrill drained a 23-foot 3-pointer to make it 50-42. Another long trey from Cottrill – this one from 24 feet – upped the margin to 55-45 with 4:05 left in the game.

Logan’s Bryce Dalton then hit two key free throws with 1:47 left to put the Cats ahead 57-48.

Williamson’s drive to the hole with 1:12 left put Logan on top 60-48 and pretty much sealed the win.

After a 4-2 early deficit, Cottrill put Logan ahead 5-4 with a 3-pointer.

Logan’s lead grew to 11-7 as Cottrill nailed a 3 with 4:45 to go in the first quarter.

Wheeling Park then went on an 8-3 run to take a 15-14 lead after one.

The Wildcats then outscored the Patriots 13-4 in the second quarter to lead 27-19 at the half.

Cottrill keyed the run as he faked and hit a 15-foot shot off the dribble.

Timmy Rein supplied Logan with the eight-point halftime lead, completing a rare four-point play, as he was fouled after swishing a 3-pointer and then hit his free throw.

In the third quarter, Logan picked up the offensive tempo.

A bucket by Coleman put the Cats ahead 33-25.

Then it was Coleman’s three-point play at the 4:41 mark that made it a 36-26 ballgame.

Logan then forced Wheeling Park to call timeout with 4:09 left as Cottrill scored on a drive to the bucket to give Logan its largest lead up until that point at 38-26.

The Wildcats continued to stay in the driver’s seat as a Coleman putback made it 40-26 with 3:27 to go.

With 2:50 remaining in the third, Cottrill fired a pass two-thirds of the length of the court to a wide open Williamson, who laid one in for two to make it a 44-30 ballgame.

Williamson then showed his soft shooter’s touch from long range as he launched a 22-foot 3-pointer which hit the back of the rim and bounced in, putting Logan ahead 47-32 with 2:27 left.

The Patriots closed out the third quarter with a little run, however, outscoring Logan 6-0 to pull to within 47-38 after three periods of play.