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Westcontinued from 1Dby no means had a talent advan- win.’And that’s what we did.” tage. So they were forced to playwell.“I thought our talent was as good as Williamson’s and I was just hoping we came to play,” said John Estep, a state championship coach for the first time in his 33-year career and the only basketball coach that 24-year-old Greenbrier West has ever had. “We’ve had two or three games this year when our mental approach to the game wasn’t good,but this wasn’t one of them—» *Not only was West’s mental approach good, the Cavaliers’ physical strategy against the Wolfpack was perfect. Denying the ball to center Mike Hagy — who had 44 points in an opening round win over Bridgeport — and harassingthree-point shooter Joe Stafford — who exploded for 31 in the semifinal win over Buffalo Wayne — West limited Williamson’s two primary offensive weapons to a combined 16 of 46 shooting performance. And when Hagy and Stafford missed, West hit the boards and outrebounded the Wolfpack 50-37.“Like coach said, ‘They’re going to get their average (the two combined for 44 points), but if we can rebound when they miss we canThe Cavalier also handled Williamson’s pressure defense well. That was another key in a game that, for all practical purposes, pitted West’s workhorses against Williamson’s race horses. Jerry Robertson, Chris Vaughan and Mike Gabbert often times usedlong passes over the Williamson defense to break the Wolfpack press, leading to some easy baskets by Steve Vaughan, Clyde Bevins and Jason Gwinn.“They handled our pressure a little better than I thought they would,” said Williamson coach David Hatfield, whose teams were 4-0 in state title games in the 10 years before yesterday’s game. “The long passes hurt us and we didn’t shoot very well. But I’m kind of proud of our kids. They’re not very big but they scrapped.Williamson had opened up as much as a seven-point lead in the first half, but struggled in the third quarter when Stafford went cold from three-point range. He missed nine of his first 10 longshots in the game and West took advantage In the third quarter and regained a slim lead.The game was see-saw the rest ofthe way and Chris Vaughan tied itat 57 with 2:16 to play in regulation with a three-pointer. Williamson held the ball for the remainder of the time, but Hagy was stripped trying to drive to the basket with five seconds left. Stafford got the loose ball and had an open three from the comer but missed.West led by two in the first overtime and had a chance to widen the lead when Gwinn and Chris Vaughan each missed one-and-one free throws in the last 35 seconds. A Stafford drive to the basket tied it with 14 seconds to play and a bad pass to Steve Vaughan mined a chance for the Cavaliers to get off alast shot.Then in the second overtime West never trailed. Clyde Bevins scored seven of the 11 points inthat three-minute period and his two free throws at 1:01 made it a five-point game, 73-68. Another Bevins foul shot at 0:27 made it 74-70 and West’s defense denied Williamson a shot until under 10 seconds remained. By that time it was too late.For Estep, whose teams hadnever won a state tournament game in six tries before this year —much less a whole tournament — the win was especially sweet. After 33 years he was beginning to wonder if it was meant to be, but he never gave up.“I wouldn’t be coaching this year if I had (given up),” said Estep, who is contemplating retirement after next year. “It’s tough when you come down five or six times anddon’t ever win, but I never gave up. You can’t be happier than whenyou win it all.”BILLY CAPPSGOLF DRIVING RANGENOW OPEN^ PGAProfessionalv vriv GolfLessonsCall 253-54832JP
Newspaper Details
Beckley Register Herald
Beckley, West Virginia, US
Sun, Mar 22, 1992
Page 35
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael G.
NA, 29 Nov 2022
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