BECKLEY — Wyoming East and Oak Hill are top-ranked teams that know each other well.

Having played head-to-head four times, as they have this season, will breed familiarity.

But this is not a cordial relationship.

No. 1 Wyoming East blew by No. 2 Oak Hill 60-36 in the Class AA Region 3, Section 1 final before a rowdy, packed house at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center on Saturday night.

As a result, Wyoming East will host No. 9 Bluefield Thursday night in a Region 3 co-final, with a state tournament berth on the line.

“We wanted this one,” said Wyoming East junior guard Chase Morgan, who posted a game high 22 points. “We knew that when we went to Oak Hill (Feb. 19, a 55-51 Red Devil victory), that they got away with one. We wanted to come in here and make an exclamation mark on the season.

“We have one more game to go to make it to states. We’re looking to finish it off.”

“Right now, I’m not going to lie,” Oak Hill sophomore forward Jack Flournoy said. “It looks like they have our number. We beat them at home, but that’s not saying anything now, really. They beat us at their place and they’ve beaten us here twice.”

Could a fifth 1-2 matchup be in the making?

“Oak Hill is a great team with three great players,” Morgan said. “I’m looking to see them again in Charleston. They are a state tournament-caliber team. This is what we’re going to see every night in Charleston.

“We are confident, but we can’t be too confident heading into this next game,” Morgan added. “We have to stay humble and keep our eyes on the prize.”

Familiarity helps, but execution was the key, Warriors coach Rory Chapman said.

“We knew what they were going to do and they knew what we were going to do,” he said. “A lot of planning went into this game. We were just able to come out and execute a little better than they did.

“Our offense was fine, but I felt that it was going to have to get done on the defensive end. If we play good defense and force them to take a bad shot and we get the rebound, that’s what we needed.”

The Warriors’ defense  clamped down in the second half, allowing just 11 points in the third quarter and four points in the fourth. The Red Devils only made two field goals in the final 11 and a half minutes of the contest.

Wyoming East had runs of 9-2 to finish off the third quarter and 16-2 to wrap up the fourth to give the Warriors a convincing win.

Oak Hill fell to 17-4, with three of its losses coming to Wyoming East (19-2).

The loss puts the Red Devils on the road for the next game — a crucial one. Oak Hill must travel to No. 3 PikeView Thursday for a region co-final. The Red Devils’ only other loss was to the Panthers, 66-63 on Feb. 20.

PikeView defeated Bluefield 69-60 in a section final Friday night.

“We get to go to PikeView, but that’s not going to be easy,” Flournoy admitted. “It’s a tough place to play. We still have a chance to make it (to states), but we’ll have to play tough against PikeView. They’re a good team.

“I haven’t seen everybody else, and after tonight, I’d have to say we’re probably not the second-best team in the state. But we have the potential to be.”

It’s possible both Wyoming East and Oak Hill could advance to the state tournament with regional wins. But the tough Region 3 boasts four state-ranked teams, so anything could happen.

“We still get to play Thursday,” Oak Hill coach Fred Ferri said Saturday. “Hopefully we’ll show up to play. They better be ready when they show up for practice on Monday because they’re going to work hard. If we go down, we’re going to go down swinging.”

All of Oak Hill’s offensive production came from three players. Flournoy led with 15 points, Kalif Wright added 13 and DeAndré Leonard had eight points.

“We couldn’t make a shot all night,” Ferri said. “You have to score, and we couldn’t score.

“You have to score. We didn’t score. We didn’t make shots the whole night. We don’t get some help ... everybody know those three guys can play. If our other guys aren’t contributing, those three have to work too hard. It wears on you. I bet we didn’t shoot 25 percent. It was awful.”

“Defensively we were OK,” Ferri added. “But you have to make shots and we didn’t. We were ready to play. But you have to put the ball in the hole. When I was young, I coached with Jim Lilly. He used to say, ‘You can play all of the defense that you want, but if you can’t put the ball in the hole, you can’t win.’ That was the story of the game. They’re a good team.

“We better get it straightened out by Thursday or the same thing will happen.”

“PikeView has a great team,” Chapman said. “Oak Hill will have a tough task, but so do we. Bluefield is coming in to our place. You know they have athleticism. They bring rebounding, hustling and heart. (Bluefield’s) Craig Ponder and Kyle Harris are two of the best guards in AA, so we have a tall task, too.”



Wyoming East 60, Oak Hill 36

Oak Hill (17-4)

DeAndré Leonard 4 0-2 8, Kalif Wright 5 3-6 13, Jack Flournoy 5 5-6 15, Thomas Booth 0 0-0 0, Kyle Colon 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 8-14 36.

Wyoming East (19-2)

Trey Fralin 0 3-4 3, Evan Muscari 3 0-0 8, Alex Webb 5 4-5 15, Chase Morgan 9 2-2 22, Marcus Schofield 4 0-1 8, Andrew Bishop 2 0-0 4. Totals: 21 9-12 60.

OH    8    13    11    4    —    36

WE    13    16    13    18    —    60

Three-point goals: OH 0: None; WE 5: Muscari 2, Morgan 2, Webb; Fouled out: None.