MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Tigers hold off East Fairmont to earn first state berth in 23 years
Elkins’ Tanner Miller drives to the basket against East Fairmont defender Blake Hunt during Wednesday night’s Class AAA, Region II co-final.
The Inter-Mountain photos by Joey Kittle Elkins High School’s Cory Harper, left, and Max Jackson (2) battle East Fairmont’s Jackson Crouso for a rebound during Wednesday night’s Class AAA, Region II co-final at Richard P. Simmons Memorial Gymnasium.
Elkins’ Tanner Miller drives to the basket against East Fairmont defender Blake Hunt during Wednesday night’s Class AAA, Region II co-final.
The Inter-Mountain photos by Joey Kittle Elkins High School’s Cory Harper, left, and Max Jackson (2) battle East Fairmont’s Jackson Crouso for a rebound during Wednesday night’s Class AAA, Region II co-final at Richard P. Simmons Memorial Gymnasium.
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ELKINS -- A a year ago on the same date, a dejected but optimistic Elkins High School boys basketball team walked off the court in the wake of a loss to Grafton in a co-regional final.
The Tigers' bid to snap a 20-plus year absence from the state tourney was denied on that March night in front of a packed Richard P. Simmons Memorial Gymnasium but the optimism came from knowing a majority of the team would return to make another state run in this season.
Mission accomplished.
Elkins held off a furious late rally by East Fairmont to earn its first trip to Charleston in 23 years with a 58-55 victory in a Class AAA, Region II co-finale on Wednesday night.
The Tigers (16-9) will be the sixth seed in next week's state tournament and meet No. 3 Ripley at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday in quarterfinal play inside the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
Elkins seemed to be in complete control against the Bees, leading by 14, at 53-39, after Cory Harper drained a 3-pointer with just 3 minutes left in regulation.
But it was the final field goal of the night for the hosts as East Fairmont -- whose only three losses of the season came against Fairmont Senior until Wednesday evening -- started to chip away at the lead.
Turnovers by the Tigers aided the Bees' rally, and a 3-pointer by Hunt, a free throw and another basket with under a minute remaining saw a once 14-point EHS lead evaporate to 55-54.
Senior Max Jackson ended the East Fairmont 15-2 surge with a pair of key free throws to push the advantage back out to three with :40 left.
A free throw by East was answered with one from the charity stripe by Brock Holland with 11.4 ticks left.
The Bees missed a potential game-tying trey on the other end but two misfires from the free-throw line by Elkins with :03 remaining left the door open for East, which was missed from long range as time expired to set off a wild celebration.
Elkins led 17-10 after one quarter before East Fairmont scored the first seven points of the second frame to draw even.
Two free throws from Harper late in the canto allowed the Tigers to carry a 22-19 lead into the halftime break.
The advantage grew to eight points in the third quarter but the Bees again battled back to get within 33-32 on a basket by 6-foot-5 junior Jackson Crouso, who had 10 points on the night.
But a jumper by Miller pushed the lead back to 38-34 entering the final quarter of action.
Malachi Watson led the Tigers with 19 points, followed by Miller with 16 and Harper with 15.
Evan Parr fired in a game-high 22 points East Fairmont, which ended the season 21-4.
The other quarterfinal Class AAA pairings include on Thursday include No. 1 Shady Spring vs. No. 8 Hampshire, No. 2 Fairmont Senior vs. No. 7 North Marion in a battle of county and Big 10 Conference rivals and No. 4 Herbert Hoover vs. No. 5 Scott.
Semifinal action is set for Friday.
The championship contest will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 18.
Fairmont Senior is the defending state champions and advanced with a win over Lincoln in co-regional action, while Shady Spring, last year's runner-ups, defeated Lewis County.
Hampshire bested Weir and North Marion earned a spot by defeating Keyser in double-overtime.
Scott got past Nitro to win its co-regional final.