BEES Basketball

PLEASANT VALLEY — It felt like the postseason Thursday at East Fairmont High School as the homestanding Bees knocked off the North Marion Huskies, 64-60, in front of a fired-up crowd at the Hive.

Fans of both Marion County boys’ basketball teams — and many who made their way to EFHS following the Fairmont Senior game across town — filled the gym and were treated to an early season thriller between the two familiar foes.

“It was a great atmosphere for a high school basketball game,” East Fairmont coach Tyrone Asterino said. “Our band being able to be here, and our support from our community here at East was really, really good.”

The Bees began the game running the floor and playing energized, jumping out to a quick 12-5 lead with Gage Nicholson and Garrett Oates each hitting early shots.

While the Bees (5-1) were looking to get up and down, the Huskies (4-3) looked to play in the half court, working the offense around the perimeter and looking to feed Jude Akabueze down low. In trying to slow down the Huskies, East Fairmont settled into a zone, with Oates fronting Akabueze and the entire team trying to limit his touches.

The strategy worked in many aspects, even if Akabueze’s final stat line of 28 points and 24 rebounds didn’t reflect how tough East made things on the 6-foot-9 center from Nigeria.

“That’s a great night — there’s no doubt about it,” Asterino said of Akabueze’s final stat line. “We did hold him in check, and we did do some thing that we wanted to do, but it’s going to be hard for most people to keep him from scoring over 20. He’s just that dominant of a player.”

Of his 24 rebounds, 12 came on the offensive end, giving North Marion many second-chance opportunities.

“He’s the best center in the state of West Virginia,” North Marion coach Chris Freeman said. “Sometimes our best offense is us shooting and missing, because he can go get it.”

As NMHS tried to work their offense through their big man in the post, the Bees spread the ball around, with many players filling the stat sheet.

With Jesse Maddox — who did not sub out the entire game — Nicholson and Oates carrying the offense early, the Bees led 16-11 after the first quarter, and built that margin to 26-19 midway through the second.

Baskets by Akabueze, Colby Cool, Gunner Murphy and Triston Hulderman late in the half helped NMHS end the second quarter on an 11-2 run, and the two teams went into the locker room tied at 28.

To start the second half, Alex Harvey, who was relegated to the bench in the first half with foul trouble, came on big for East, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the third quarter to help East bring a 49-41 lead in to the final period.

Once the fourth quarter began, North Marion was able to diversify its offense, but too many fouls in the third quarter allowed East Fairmont to get into the bonus with 6:24 left in the fourth, resulting in many free-throw opportunities late and play aggressive defense to close out the game.

“It definitely played a factor, because if we did commit a foul it was going to be a spot throw in,” Asterino said. “We didn’t have to worry about them going to the line and shooting one-and-ones.

“That’s critical for us because I think we are a good free-throw shooting team.”

They were Thursday, converting on 16-of-20 attempts from the foul line with no misses come on the front end of one-and-ones.

While East was making the most out of its opportunities at the line, the Huskies were able to keep pace, but could not close the gap as East pulled out the four-point win late.

“Them being in the bonus early was a (factor in) the result of them being able to make their free throws, stretch the lead and finish the game out,” Freeman said. “That’s what good teams do.”

In the win for East Fairmont, Nicholson scored a team-high 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds and four assists. Oates pitched in 14 while Maddox and Harvey scored 13 apiece.

For the Huskies, in addition to Akabueze’s big night, Gunner Murphy scored 11 points while Colby Cool scored eight points to go along with five rebounds.

After the game, Freeman was upbeat about his team’s play, and knows that this won’t be the last time these two face off this season.

“It’s a rivalry game,” Freeman said. “A lot of times in the first round of sectionals it’s us and them. Let’s be honest, West is pretty dominant, so unless one of us can knock them off, we’re going to see East Side again in the first round of sectionals.”

Email Sean McNamara at smcnamara@timeswv.com or follow him on Twitter @SMcNamaraTWV.