NORTH 105, SOUTH 86

Wheeling Park stars lead romp

Four area players contribute to win

BY ERIC HANLON
The Dominion Post

SOUTH CHARLESTON — The annual North-South allstar basketball game is usually about one thing — the South.
Entering this weekend, the South led the annual senior game by a 23-5 margin.
The North closed that gap Friday with a 105-86, blowout victory.
“We came out with a chip on our shoulder since we were 5-23 or whatever,” Preston’s Shayne Murray said. “That’s what everyone was saying in the locker room. I think that’s why we came out so good at the start.”
Murray led all area players with eight points, seven rebounds and one assist. Also contributing in the win were Morgantown’s Taylor Price (two points, two rebounds, two steals), Preston’s Colton Goff (two points, two rebounds) and Trinity’s Chris Martinez (four points, four rebounds, one steal, one block).
“We talked about it quite a bit,” Martinez said of the South’s annual dominance. “We definitely wanted to come out and win this one because it was so lopsided.”
Leading the North to victory was an old nemesis of Preston and Morgantown — Wheeling Park.
The Patriots’ Bubby Goodwin and Marqez O’Neal combined for 54 points.
“It was nice seeing all the faces I’ve played against all these years,” Goff said. “Even if it was against people we lost to in the regional finals. I’ll tell you what, they’re really nice guys once you get them off the court. And they definitely helped out a lot.”
Goodwin was named the North’s MVP, with 33 points and five rebounds. The flashy point guard made six 3-pointers and was nearly unstoppable driving the lane.
“Well, he’s beat me for three years, why not play with him now and get one?” Preston head coach Barry Sanders said with a grin. Sanders helped to coach the North squad. “It was nice having Bubby as a teammate and not as opposition.”
Price was given the difficult task of slowing the South’s eventual MVP, George Washington’s Tyquane Goard.
Goard finished with a team-high 21 points, most of which came on seven dunks.
“The kids did a great job. Our locals did a great job,” Sanders said. “Price did a great job keeping Goard off the boards. If it wasn’t for his [seven dunks], he wouldn’t have had anything. And they had him cherry-picking to get those.”
Goard wasn’t the only South player to dunk. The Cardinals frequently succeeded in completing dunks on ally-oops or behind-theback passes.
But their flash cost them.
“I think we had the better overall team. Our chemistry was better,” Price said. “They had all the athletes, basically. I mean, we had athletes, but they had the most. Our shooting and chemistry was just better.”
“They may have had a little more talent up top, but the North definitely was deeper,” Murray added.
Prior to the game, a skills competition was held. Price competed against Wyoming East’s Chase Morgan in a free-throw contest to start the competition. Morgan won, making 10 of 10 attempts from the line, compared to Price’s 6-of-9 performance.
Price also competed in the slam dunk contest, finishing second, behind Goard, in a field of nine competitors.
Parkersburg’s Andy Dollman won the 3-point shooting contest, making 8 of 10 attempts from behind the arc.
At halftime, Goff was one of two players awarded a $1,000 scholarship.
NORTH
Goodwin 12 3-4 33, Padden 2 1-2 6, Dollman 5 0-1 11, Snyder 2 1-2 6, Fischer 3 1-2 8, Simon 1 0-0 2, Goff 1 0-0 2, O’Neal 6 9-10 21, Hartman 0 0-0 0, Martinez 2 0-0 4, Price 1 0-0 2, Murray 4 0-0 8, Hill 1 0-0 2. Totals 40 15-12 105.
SOUTH
Leonard 1 0-0 3, Henry 7 3-6 19, Tupta 0 0-0 0, Grant 4 2-2 10, Symns 0 2-2 2, Roberts 0 0-0 0, Vance 1 0-0 3, Wright 5 1-2 11, Ward 0 0-0 0, Goard 9 2-3 21, Harmon 1 0-0 2, Morgan 5 2-2 15. Totals 33 12-17 86.
North 32 24 23 26 — 105
South 12 22 34 18 — 86
3-point goals: North 10 (Goodwin 6, Dollman, Snyder, Fischer, Padden). South 8 (Morgan 3, Henry 2, Goard, Vance, Leonard). Team fouls: North 19, South 18. Turnovers: North 19, South 12. Att—1,100.