HARDWOOD RIVALRY
Strong third quarter pushes Tigers past Bucs, 74-58
TENNERTON — A dominating third quarter pushed Elkins to a 74-58 win over Buckhannon-Upshur Friday night in Big 10 Conference action.
The Tigers (15-5) held a slim five-point edge, at 28-23, at the intermission after a low-scoring first half.
In the third quarter, however, Elkins turned up the defense and forced several Buccaneer turnovers to take control.
A 14-2 run pushed the Tiger lead to 42-25 and the advantage swelled to 19 points, 48-29, entering the final quarter.
“We really stepped up on defense in the third quarter, especially inside,” Elkins coach Amrit Rayfield said. “(B-U) gave us some problems with (Brayden) Cutlip inside in the first half. We also did a better job in the second half of moving off screens.
“I thought we also wore them down a little and that
Elliot White, who scored a game-high 25 points and fellow senior Read Schumacher led the charge in quarter for Elkins, combining for 10 points.
White continued his move up the school’s elite all-time leading scoring list with his effort and now has 1,284 points.
He passed former Tiger great Scott Shepherd in Thursday’s win over Philip Barbour and now just trails Clint Crosston, who scored 1,292 points during his playing career from 1990-93.
B-U, which had 11 turnovers and just one field goal in the decisive third frame, got to within 13 points in the fourth but came no closer.
Elkins led 14-13 after one quarter before B-U tallied the first four points of the second to briefly take the lead.
But the Tigers got a spark off the bench from junior Zach Miller, who tallied nine of his career-high 17 points in the second quarter, to help Elkins carry a five-point lead into the break.
“Zach was huge for us,” Rayfield said. “He really gave us a big lift. We’ve had different guys step up for us this season and it was Zach tonight.”
Donovan Wiles also reached double figures for the Tigers with 14 points, while Schumacher netted eight.
Senior Dawson Lilly paced the Bucs (8-12) with 18 points, followed by Brayden Cutlip with 12 and Ryan Hurst with 10.
Elkins, winners of four straight games, will return to action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Robert C. Byrd for a key Big 10 contest.
B-U is slated to host Spring Mills at 2:30 p.m. today.
Elkins (15-5)
Donovan Wiles 4 6-6 14, Elliot White 11 2-2 25, D’Andre Owens 0 1-2 1, Reed Schumacher 3 2-2 8, Blake Harris 0 2-2 2, Matthew Gainer 1 2-2 4, Brayden Davis 0 0-2 0, Mason Kimbleton 0 1-2 1, Alex Pritt 1 0-0 2, Zach Miller 7 0-0 17. Totals 27 16-20 74
Buckhannon-Upshur (8-12)
Ryan Hurst 4 2-2 10, Jacob Loudin 2 1-2 5, Mason Hyre 1 0-0 3, Tyler Sandreth 2 0-0 6, Dawson Lilly 4 7-10 18, Zach White 0 2-2 2, Ryan Strader 1 0-0 2, Brayden Cutlip 6 0-0 12. Totals 20 12-16 58
Elkins 14 14 20 26 — 74
Buckhannon-Upshur 13 10 6 29 — 58
3-point goals: EHS 4 (Miller 3, White), B-U 6 (Lilly 3, Sandreth 2, Hyre)