Class AA boys basketball title game: Catholic digs in to claim crown

Zaden Ranson canned a pair of free throws with 2:07 left to give Catholic a 40-39 lead and Max Wilcox added two more pressure foul shots with 2.3 seconds remaining after he thwarted Bluefield’s last good possession with a steal. Bluefield went scoreless over the final 3:22.

“This feeling is something I can’t even begin to explain,’’ said Hunter Moles, Catholic’s 29-year-old coach. “I had no clue what I did when the buzzer went off, no clue. This is just crazy.’’

Tournament MVP Jayallen Turner turned it up a notch in the second half for Catholic (24-4), finishing with team highs of 12 points and four steals to go along with seven rebounds. He made six straight free throws in the third quarter as Catholic started to whittle away at its near game-long deficit. Bluefield (21-6) led for almost 28 of the game’s 32 minutes.

All four title games matched the top two tournament seeds, and all four No. 2 seeds emerged victorious, but the Irish had perhaps the highest degree of difficulty as they fell behind 10-0 right off the opening tip, trailed the Beavers by 10 just before halftime and were still down five with less than seven minutes to go in a low-scoring contest.

Bluefield led 23-15 at halftime, scoring 10 points off Irish turnovers and controlling the tempo with strong defense, especially from Kamron Gore against Turner. Turner, in fact, didn’t even get off a shot for nearly the first 12 minutes of playing time, but the Irish shrugged off all those ills in capturing their first championship since 2012.

“Super proud of our players,’’ Moles said. “They really worked hard for this. Sometimes in life you can work really hard and not get the results you wanted.

“It’s kind of what we hang our hat on – defense and rebounding. Being able to win like that means the world to us. A lot of people want to win with a game-winning shot. We want to get the stop.’’

Catholic had to make several defensive stands down the stretch after Ranson’s two free throws gave the Irish a 40-39 advantage with 2:07 left. After a Beavers miss and an Irish turnover, Bluefield called timeout with possession and 57 seconds to go.

Catholic defender Jeff Reynolds forced a held ball, but the possession arrow favored Bluefield with 26 seconds left. Wilcox very nearly came up with a steal for the Irish, but the Beavers wrestled the ball away and called timeout with 6.9 seconds on the clock.

Wilcox was then rewarded for his continued grit, finally coming up with a theft and was fouled with 2.3 seconds to go. He calmly netted both free throws for a 42-39 lead, thus eradicating a bad memory from two years ago.

“I knew we needed to get the ball back,’’ Wilcox said. “It was a little nerve-wracking shooting those two free throws with the game on the line. I was thinking about [two misses in] the Ravenswood sectional game my freshman year – but this time I made them.’’

Trailing 42-39 with 2.3 seconds left, Bluefield heaved the ball three-quarters of the way down the floor, but Ranson intercepted it to seal the win and starting an Irish celebration that should carry through St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday.

Ranson led Catholic with 13 points and nine rebounds – a key as the Irish led 27-20 off the boards. Wilcox ended with 11 points. The Irish were 13 of 15 at the foul line – all in the second half.

Bluefield received 11 points and five rebounds from RJ Hairston and nine points, seven rebounds and five assists from Gore, who fouled out with 2.3 seconds left.

The Beavers, seeking their first title since 2014, had only three turnovers at halftime, but finished with 12. Catholic scored 10 points off Bluefield turnovers in the second half after having none at the break.

“It’s a tough loss, by all means,’’ Bluefield coach Buster Large said. “To come up and play for a state championship and get beat by three points, it’s a very, very tough loss to swallow – especially when you look at the stat sheet. They shot 15 free throws and we [went 2 of 6]. Anybody with knowledge of the game knows where I’m coming from.’’

Large was asked about his team’s strategy during timeouts in the final minute, with his team down 40-39.

“We had a great play set up,’’ Large said. “But you see what happened to RJ when he drove to the bucket [and no foul was called]?

“They were on a good run and momentum switched. We still had our chances. They got their crowd into it – hit a couple shots there in the third quarter. We went five possessions at one time without scoring, and you can’t do that. And you especially can’t throw the ball away — a couple turnovers in the third quarter were critical and a couple in the fourth.’’

Gore was the standout for the Beavers in the first half, scoring seven of his nine points and holding the high-scoring Turner to three shots and four points.

“I just tried to limit him to his spots,’’ Gore said, “and hopefully have my defense play help defense behind me. Whatever I can to try and get the win.’’

Turner, who came in averaging more than 20 points per game, was coming off a 30-point explosion against Ravenswood in the semifinals. He said Moles told him at halftime to look for his shots more.

“I just needed to get more aggressive,’’ Turner said. “But at the same time, the guys are rolling and everybody stayed confident. The game will eventually come to me, and it did. I played more aggressive in the second half, and at the end of the day, all the guys stepped up and made some impact. It’s not just one guy.

“This is something I’ve wanted for so long. It’s a dream come true.’’

Moles added that there was no panic after Catholic fell behind 10-0 and 23-13 to the top seed.

“You can put all the stuff on the whiteboard and say all those things before the game, and ‘refuse to lose,’’’ Moles said, “but it takes guys to go out and put it into action. Give full credit to that. Hey, you just need to win by one point. It doesn’t matter if you’re not leading the whole game.’’

CHARLESTON CATHOLIC 7 8 14 13 — 42: Cinco 1-4 1-2 3, Turner 3-7 6-6 12, Wilcox 4-14 3-4 11, Ranson 5-9 3-3 13, Reynolds 1-2 0-0 3, Aliff 0-0 0-0 0, Arbaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Ball 0-0 0-0 0, totals 14-36 13-15 42

BLUEFIELD 14 9 9 7 — 39: Washington 1-8 0-0 3, Fields 3-3 0-0 7, Gore 4-11 1-2 9, Hairston 5-10 1-4 11, Keene 3-5 0-0 9, Dunford 0-0 0-0 0, Samosky 0-0 0-0 0, totals 16-37 2-6 39

3-point goals: CC 1-11 (Cinco 0-1, Turner 0-1, Wilcox 0-5, Ranson 0-2, Reynolds 1-2), Bluefield 5-16 (Washington 1-5, Fields 1-1, Gore 0-4, Hairston 0-2, Keene 3-4)

Rebounds: CC 27 (Ranson 9, Turner 7, Cinco 5), Bluefield 20 (Gore 7, Hairston 5)

All-tournament team

ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic: Jayallen Turner, Zaden Ranson; Bluefield: Sencere Fields, EJ Washington, RJ Hairston, Kamron Gore; Ravenswood: Beau Bennett; Chapmanville: Zion Blevins; Wheeling Central: Eli Sancomb

MVP: Jayallen Turner, ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic

School spirit award: ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic