By RON GREGORY
Sports Editor
LOGAN -- In the past, Chapmanville Regional High School's dream of finally making the state boys basketball tournament would be dead for another year.
But this is 2010 and the new tournament alignments mean the Tigers are still battling to go to Charleston as we move further into the month of March.
Although the consolidated Chapmanville Regional High is just four years old, the former Chapmanville High had never participated in a state boys tournament when it closed its doors in 2007.
Many fans have been hoping those decades of frustration will end with the hiring of legendary Harts High School Coach Harry Kirk, who took over the reigns of the Tigers at the start of this season.
Now, those hopes are boiled down to Thursday evening's game against Sissonville. If the Tigers win, they finally head to Charleston; lose and they stay home again.
In past, Chapmanville would already be eliminated since they lost to Tug Valley in the sectional final last Friday. But under new tournament rules, sectional losers play sectional winners within regions to determine who goes to the Big Dance. Thus, Sissonville, winner of Region IV, Section 1 hosts Section 2 runner-up Chapmanville.
Kirk was pinning a great deal of hope on that from the beginning, reminding one and all that the Tigers had two games left when the evening began at the venerable Logan Fieldhouse.
There was not an empty seat in the stands as the teams prepared to collide. Tug owned two regular season wins over the Tigers, although one was a miraculous come-from-behind overtime victory.
Sissonville and Chapmanville split regular season meetings and were co-champions of the Cardinal Conference. Since
Sissonville's gymnasium is not tournament-eligible, the game may be played at Ripley High School. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. Tug Valley, meanwhile, hosts Poca at the same time.
Tug was up 16-12 after the first quarter and, although the Tigers cut the margin to just one twice in the second period, the Panthers were on top, 28-20, with 3:23 showing on the first half clock.
Tug's Michael Evans extended the lead to ten with a bucket at the 2:26 mark, 32-22.
A Todd Terry layup cut the lead to eight but Tug Valley outscored the Tigers by two in the final minute to take a 36-26 lead to intermission.
Austin Vance connected on a jumper to start the second half, moving Tug up, 38-26. Terry hit a driving layup and it was 38-28 with 6:26 on the clock.
The Panthers then went on a seven-point run to take a 45-28 lead with 5:09 remaining in the third quarter. Nathan Brewer started it with a jump shot; Vance followed with a jumper; and Mason Pack was good on an old-fashioned three-pointer.
A driving layup by Dustin Woody stopped the run and made it 45-30 with 4:30 flashing on the clock. Evans and Terry traded buckets. Chapmanville scored four straight to cut the lead to 47-36 with 3:29 remaining in the third.
A bucket by Brewer and a putback by Vance made it 51-36 at the 2:20 mark. Two Tiger scores cut the lead to 51-40 with 1:31 showing.
Terry sank two free throws with 19.7 seconds left but Channing Preece answered with a bucket and it was 53-42 after three quarters.
The Tug Valley win was really never in doubt in the fourth quarter although the Tigers continued to battle.
Brewer's putback made it 55-42. A bucket from Terry followed but Evans answered with two free throws.
A Matt Cook layup cut the lead to 56-46 with 6:13 left in the game.
Two free throws by Evans lengthened the margin to 12 before Cliff Hall drilled a jumper and it was 58-48 with 5:54 on the clock.
A putback by Evans was answered by a Terry layup. Vance missed the front end of a one-and-one but Brewer sank one foul shot to make it 61-50.
Tug then sent many of the Chapmanville fans to the exits with five straight points. A layup by Pack started it and Evans followed with an old-fashioned three-pointer at the 2:22 mark.
A minute later, Tug led, 69-54 when Pack put down a layup. Chapmanville could cut the margin to no less than a dozen the rest of the way.
Kirk praised Tug Valley and its team after Friday night’s game and said the Panthers haven’t gotten the statewide respect they deserve.
“Tug Valley is just outstanding,” Kirk said. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t play any better than what we did. And that’s not to take anything away from Tug Valley. I think that Tug Valley is a top five team. I think that they’ve been overlooked statewide. When they show up to play they are really good. They have experience, state tournament experience and they have size, good shooting and good guards. They are a very good basketball team. I thought that we didn’t play very well tonight but in the second half we picked it up and made a few little runs.”
Terry led Chapmanville with 23 points and nine rebounds. He was seven-for-11 from the free throw line.
Woody had 11 points and dished out nine assists. Cook netted nine points, Hall eight, Brooks Cooper four and Zack Maynard and Bubba Conley had two each.
Nathan Brewer led Tug Valley with 19 points. Three other Panthers broke into double digits in scoring as Michael Evans tossed in 16 points, Channing Preece had 11 and Austin Vance had 10. Mason Pack, Tug Valley’s 6-foot-9 sophomore center, netted nine points, while Mikey Newsome had five and Cody Varney four.
Kirk said the Tigers will now focus on Sissonville.
“We’ve got one more,” Kirk said. “We’ve still got a great opportunity if we can improve. We’ve got to regroup. The opportunity is still there. At least we are going to be playing on a neutral floor. It’s a team that we have split with in two games during the regular season. One of them was in overtime and the other was on a last-second shot on our floor. If we can get our heads up and kind of regroup this week we’ve got a real good shot.
“We could have laid down and quit tonight but we made some runs and we were still diving on the floor for the loose balls. As long as they do that for me, I’m happy.”
Kirk said he and the team understand the historic ramifications of potentially taking this team to the state tournament.
“I told the kids just yesterday that this school is 80-some years old and just think of all of the people that have walked through these doors and have gone to the state tournament,” he said. “They have cheered for Harts or someone else local but they have never been able to cheer for the orange and black. That would be a very, very special thing if we could do that. The kids have to believe that and regroup. We’ve got one more game and the opportunity is still there.”
Kirk said the fan support from the Chapmanville/Harts area has been spectacular this season.
“I just want to thank the support that we’ve gotten from the community. The kids in school have been really excited and they’ve been coming out in the cheering sections,” he said.
Kirk said he'd like to see "all these fans have a reason to make the trip to Charleston. We're going to give it everything we've got to get 'em there."