CHAPMANVILLE — The Chapmanville Tigers are state tournament bound after winning one of the Class AA Region III Co-Finals on Tuesday night by a final score of 58-33 over Wyoming East inside Danny Godby Gymnasium.
It was a tale of two halves as CRHS let the Warriors hang around in the first half before dominating them in the second.
“Any time you can go to the state tournament, it’s an awesome feeling and it’s an awesome accomplishment,” Chapmanville head coach Brad Napier said after the game. “Proud of the guys and the way they bounced back. We had different guys step up tonight and do different things, and I think our depth and overall talent level was the difference in the game.”
The majority of the first quarter was devoid of offense from both squads as it was just a 3-2 game before a jumper from the Warriors’ Garrett Mitchell put East in front 4-3 with 49 seconds left in the period.
Zion Blevins scored on a putback to put the Tigers up 5-4 with 29 seconds on the clock, and then a basket from the Warriors’ Jacob Howard with 10 seconds left in the frame put the visitors up 6-5.
However, Sal Dean went right back down to the other end of the floor and buried a triple with two seconds left to put Chapmanville ahead 8-6 going into the second quarter.
The two teams exchanged buckets for much of the second stanza, and the contest was tied 15-15 after Cole Lambert nailed a shot from downtown for Wyoming East at the 2:27 mark.
The momentum quickly shifted back in favor of the home team, though, as the Tigers went on a 6-0 run to close out the first half and took a 21-15 lead into the locker room thanks to a three from Dean with 11 seconds until the break.
Whatever was said in the Tigers’ locker room at halftime benefitted them tremendously as CRHS opened the third quarter on a 17-1 run.
They led 38-16 after two Blevins foul shots with 2:56 left in the period and held a 43-21 advantage going into the final frame.
Chapmanville (20-3) led by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter, and they cruised to a 58-33 win, punching a ticket to the state tournament in Charleston next week in the process.
Dean led all scorers on the night with 23 points and five made three-pointers. Blevins also got into double figures with 16 points, as did Devon Workman who tallied 11 points with three treys of his own.
In his first game back since suffering a high ankle sprain and a torn ATFL (Anterior talo-fibular ligament) on February 7 against Bluefield in the Par Mar Shootout at West Virginia State, Brody Dalton added six points. Eli Smith contributed two points.
Napier felt that getting Dalton back for the regional championship game was a boost for his squad.
“It was big,” Napier said. “Brody did a lot of things that people didn’t see tonight. His presence on the floor means a lot to us, and he did some things that don’t show up in the stat column. He did a great job.”
Any basketball team gives themselves a good chance to win when they hold their opponent to 33 points. Napier praised his team’s defensive performance against the Warriors.
“I thought our defense was pretty good tonight,” Napier said afterward. “We didn’t give up many open shots. Even when we were pressing, we gave up a few in the first half because we kind of got out of position, and that was kind of by design. We were trying to make the game a little faster, but I thought our defense was really good.”
The WVSSAC Class AA Boys Basketball State Tournament schedule came out Tuesday night after the conclusion of all of the regional final, and the Tigers are seeded third out of eight total teams.
They are slated to take on sixth-seeded Ravenswood, owners of a 19-5 overall record, next Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The Tigers were a state runner-up in 2017 before winning it all in 2018 and 2019. They also made it to the state semifinals in 2021. Napier knows what has to happen for his team to capture a third state title under his leadership.
“You just have to go over there and perform like you have all year and perform at a high level,” Napier said. “Your best players have to step up and be stars, and your role players have to fill their role and do it at a really high level as well.”
Score by quarter
WEHS: 6 9 6 12 — 33
CRHS: 8 13 22 15 — 58
Scoring
WE: C. Lambert 13, B. Huff 9, J. Davidson 4, G. Mitchell 3, J. Howard 2, B. Morgan 2
CR: S. Dean 23, Z. Blevins 16, D. Workman 11, B. Dalton 6, E. Smith 2
