By J. Daniel Rollins
for the Daily Telegraph
The floors may have been dusty in Clear Fork on Saturday, because all of the Clear Fork Crazies’ brooms were in Beckley.
Class AA No. 5 Westside defeated county rival Wyoming East 59-40 for the Region 3, Section 1 championship at King Coal Beckley Auto Mall Arena, giving the Renegades a four-game sweep of the Warriors on the season.
The win gives Westside (18-2) a third straight section championship and a date Wednesday with PikeView for a chance to return to Charleston and the state tournament.
Wyoming East (10-12) will travel to Bluefield.
“Regardless of what their record is, Wyoming East is a good team,” Westside coach Nick Cook said. “Rory (Chapman) does a great job preparing his kids. I told my kids that it’s about execution. If they did that, it would be a good day.”
And for the Renegades, it was a very good day.
Westside poured on the defensive pressure, taking advantage of poor shooting from the Warriors to get out in transition and score.
Wyoming East, which had an uncharacteristic shooting game, made only nine field goals in the contest, and finished with only one player — center David Carte — in double digits. He had 11 points.
“We couldn’t make a basket,” Chapman said. “We were out of rhythm. We shot some air balls. Credit their guys, though.”
Chapman shook things up defensively from what is normal for his Warriors, shifting from their usual man-to-man defense and utilizing a triangle-and-two to try to limit Westside’s big three of Justin Kenneda, Will Fox and Justin Cogar.
With the triangle focusing on Kenneda and Fox at the guard positions and the two on Cogar in the paint, that left junior forward Larry Cook with a chance to spark the offense, scoring all seven of his points in the first quarter, to help the Renegades break open an early lead.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and help my team,” Cook said. “I was just trying to help my team and get the game back at our place on Wednesday.”
The fact that Cook was even playing may have been nothing short of a miracle.
While driving home from his girlfriend’s house Friday night, Cook hit a patch of black ice and lost control of his car, eventually crashing it into a church in Wyoming County.
“I blacked out during some of it,” Cook said. “Luckily there was a building there or I would have been in the creek.”
Somehow, Cook walked away from the accident injury free, something his coach was glad to see.
“For him to come out and do what he did and play today is extremely gutsy,” Nick Cook said. “He’s kind of our glue. He does all of the dirty stuff. He doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but he gutted it out and got it done offensively and defensively.”
Wyoming East had perhaps its best run late in the second half, cutting the lead to seven as time was winding down. However, Westside freshman Jacob Ellis had other ideas, getting the ball outside and burying a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 29-19 as time expired.
With momentum clearly on the side of the Renegades, Westside was able to burn the clock and stretch its lead in the final two quarters for the win.
“I felt like we had a good game plan coming in,” Chapman said of the triangle-and-two. “Anytime you hold Fox to 11, Kenneda to 8 and Cogar to 9, I would think you have a good chance to win the game. But Ellis hit that 3 to put them up at the half and they came out and stalled us.
“Fox, Kenneda and Cogar combined for 28 points. You’re supposed to win when they do that,” he added. “We just didn’t get it done. My hat’s off to them. They were the better team.”
For Wyoming East, it’s a return to Bluefield, where the Beavers await with a trip to Charleston on the line, just as it has been the last two seasons. Bluefield won those meetings before going on to win back-to-back Class AA state championships.
Despite running the risk of finishing with the school’s first-ever losing season, Chapman is excited for the opportunity.
“We’ll take it,” he said. “I told my kids we’ll take any chance we can get. We still have a good chance to go. We need two good days of practice to get ready for the speed and athleticism of Bluefield.”
Westside will now turn its attention to a pesky Panthers team which has hovered around the top 10 all season.
“To get to host the regional, any chance you can play for a trip to Charleston at your home court is big,” Cook said.
As for his team’s chances?
“It’s at Westside,” he said with a smile. “They’ve got to come to us. I don’t care whether it’s PikeView or Bluefield or Bridgeport or Poca. If you’ve got to come to Westside to get to Charleston, I’ll take my chances every time.”
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Rollins is a sports writer for The Register-Herald. Contact him at jrollins@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter @JDanielRollins.
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Wyoming East (10-12)
Jacob Dulcie 2 0-0 4, Johnathan Sims 0 0-0 0, Corey McKinney 2 0-0 5, R.J. Folden 1 1-2 4, Logan Blankenship 0 4-4 4, Michael Hayworth 0 0-0 0, Dylan Brehm 0 0-0 0, Logan Mullins 0 3-4 3, David Carte 3 5-8 11, Alec Lusk 1 6-6 9. Totals: 9 19-24 40.
Westside (18-2)
Bryan Choat 0 0-0 0, Larry Cook 3 0-2 7, Will Fox 3 3-4 11, Isaiah Lester 0 3-4 3, Jacob Ellis 1 1-2 4, Josh Morgan 2 0-0 4, Bryce Robinson 0 0-0 0, Justin Kenneda 1 6-9 8, Tre Colucci 2 0-0 4, Shane Jenkins 5 1-2 11, Justin Cogar 4 0-0 9. Totals: 22 14-23 59.
WE: 2 17 6 15 — 40
W: 12 17 12 18 — 59
3-point goals: WE: 3 (McKinney, Folden, Lusk); W: 5 (Fox 2, Cook, Cogar). Fouled out: WE: Dulcie.