CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Chapmanville boys basketball coach Brad Napier felt his team was relaxed in the moments leading up to Saturday’s Class AA final against Charleston Catholic.
“We were super relaxed today,” Napier said. “Almost a little bit too relaxed.”
Evidently not.
The No. 3 Tigers raced out to a 10-0 lead and held the No. 4 Irish without a field goal for nearly 5 minutes to start. It proved to pay major dividends in a game Chapmanville never trailed in, and the Tigers went on to a 59-49 victory at the Charleston Coliseum, securing the program’s third state championship, with each having come since 2018.
“I was a little uncomfortable, but they started off really well and they were ready to go,” Napier said.
Indeed, the Tigers (23-3) were. Zion Blevins and Devon Workman scored the first two field goals and a pair of three-pointers from Sal Dean created the 10-0 advantage.
While the Irish (20-6) settled in by getting their first six points from Max Wilcox, they still faced a 14-8 deficit through 8 minutes.
Catholic guard Gin Cinco, a normal starter, came off the bench after rolling an ankle in warmups 12 minutes prior to tipoff. While Cinco ended up playing 23 minutes, Moles was unsure he’d be able to go, and the original plan was to have Cinco defend Dean in favor of Catholic’s leading scorer, Jayallen Turner.
“Twelve minutes before the game, I didn’t know if he was going to play or start,” CCHS head coach Hunter Moles said. “We changed some stuff. It shook our guys a little bit and I should’ve called a timeout as soon as I saw a couple buckets. That 10-0 lead really hurt us early and the whole year we’ve been about winning the first quarter.”
Turner, who was scoreless in the opening frame, opened the second quarter with a three that cut his team’s deficit in half.
The Tigers outscored the Irish, 9-4, before Turner hit another triple for his next points, leaving Catholic with a 23-18 deficit.
Dean countered with two free throws, and after Turner’s layup, the Tigers got a bucket from Eli Smith and Dean’s triple to lead, 30-20. Turner, who scored his team’s last points of the opening half and 10 of their 14 in the second quarter, nailed a jumper to make it an eight-point margin at halftime.
Moles credited Napier for what he thought was a better-prepared Chapmanville team.
(Postgame “Round of Sound”)
“I could’ve had my guys a little bit prepared. We got out-coached tonight for sure,” Moles said. “They knew right away that Sal Dean’s ball screens were going to be blitzed so they slipped out of it quick and made plays. It was a great coaching adjustment.”
Wilcox and Turner accounted for all 13 CCHS points in the third quarter, and a jump shot from Turner at the 3:24 mark of the period allowed the Irish to trail 34-31 — the closest they’d been since 11 seconds into the second quarter.
Moments later, Catholic had a prime opportunity to get the deficit to one, but Wilcox had his layup attempt blocked by Dean, and Blevins scored in the paint on the other end.
“That was big,” Dean said. “It prevented a bucket.”
When Isaiah Smith followed with a three, the Tigers had their lead back to what it was at halftime.
Still, the Irish answered with buckets from Turner and Wilcox to trail by four, but Dean drilled a triple just before time expired in the quarter, sending the Tigers to the fourth with a 42-35 lead. Dean had done the same thing to end the third quarter Wednesday in the Tigers’ 49-43 quarterfinal round win over Ravenswood.
The Irish never got any closer in the fourth quarter.
(MetroNews Broadcast Highlights)
Blevins began the final period with a three, and the Tigers’ lead was still 10 at 49-39 when Brody Dalton made a layup with 3:01 remaining. Chapmanville led by double digits the rest of the way, withstanding seven points from Turner over the final 45 seconds to maintain its comfortable lead.
“It’s hard to put into words really. I was just trying to look around and really take it all in,” Dalton said. “It hasn’t really hit me that I ended my career as a state champ. It’s hard to explain. It’s just awesome.”
Chapmanville had all 10 of the game’s fast break points and executed at a high level offensively against one of the state’s premier defensive teams. The Tigers made 22-of-38 field-goal attempts, including 15 of 21 two-pointers.
“We have really good team chemistry,” Napier said. “Our guys really like to play with each other and they enjoy being around each other. We have great kids and our kids expect to win and that’s one of the biggest things to overcome when you’re building a program.”
Blevins keyed the strong field goal percentage by making 8-of-10 shots to score a team-high 19 points. Dalton scored 16 and Dean had 14 with seven assists.
“Knowing that we won a state championship in my last game, that’s how we’re supposed to do it,” Dean said. “We did it right. I didn’t want to go home losing. I had to give it my all for 32 minutes.”
Turner led all players with 26 points on 11-for-15 shooting and he added a game-high eight rebounds.
“This one loss isn’t going to define who we are,” Turner said. “This will just add fuel to the fire coming up next year.”
Wilcox scored 16 in defeat, but the Irish made only 3-of-13 shots outside of their top two scorers.
“This week was tough on me emotionally and physically,” Moles said. “I just want to win and be so great for my guys and I want them to be so prepared. I wasn’t feeling great physically and I wanted to do everything I could. So many people are calling your phone and telling you you’re doing a great job, but the job is not finished. We’re not done yet so you have to try to put that on the back burner and use your time very wisely.
“We haven’t been in a state championship game since 2014 and we still have 32 minutes. It might’ve sunk in behind the scenes a little bit that we had accomplished something and caused us to not play our best.”
Class AA all-tournament team
R.J. Hairston, Bluefield
Caleb Fuller, Bluefield
Brody Dalton, Chapmanville
Max Wilcox, Charleston Catholic
Zion Blevins, Chapmanville
Parker Schramm, Williamstown
Jayallen Turner, Charleston Catholic
Sal Dean, Chapmanville
(Chapmanville postgame press conference)