Watson scores winner as Elkins edges Lewis County, 60-59

Lewis County fell despite a game-high 24 points from Ben Putnam and 21 points out of Tanner Griffith.

“A young team needs to step up in big moments,” Lewis County coach Charles Simms said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to learn to lose close before you can win the big ones. The kids played hard. I thought either team deserved to win.”

After ties at 5 and 7, Lewis County went on an 8-0 run started by a Putnam 3 and finished by a stick-back and triple from Griffith.

“I think our pick-and-rolls (were good) and our penetration,” Simms said.

Elkins took a timeout and clearly made some good adjustments, using a 9-2 run, fueled by seven points from Watson, to move within one, 17-16, with 35.4 seconds left in the quarter.

Baskets by Putnam for Lewis and Miller for Elkins kept the margin there after one quarter.

The second quarter was virtually the opposite of the first.

The Tigers were in control early, getting pairs of 3s from Miller and inside baskets from Aaron O’Neil in a 10-2 run to go up 28-21 with 4:10 to go in the half.

Then it was the Minutemen who countered, keeping Elkins off the board for the remainder of the half; Griffith tallied five points during a 7-0 Lewis run that evened things at 28.

Elkins went ahead 36-33 on an O’Neil 3, but Griffith tied it with a shot of his own from beyond the arc, then Putnam scored a layup.

“We had moments where we could have done things. Again, we’re a young team. We don’t have numbers. If it doesn’t go in, the other team’s going the other way with it,” Simms said.

The Tigers, though, closed the quarter on a 11-3 run, including seven straight from Watson, to take a 47-41 edge.

Down 49-43, Lewis County closed within one on a Putnam layup and a Manny Robinson 3-point play, the latter with 6:31 on the clock.

Miller, though, knocked down back-to-back 3s to widen the gap to 55-48.

Lewis County again had a response thanks to a Griffith 3 and a Robinson layup off a great handoff from Putnam.

Trailing 55-53 with 1:44 to go, Putnam was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made the first two from the line to tie the score before missing the third.

Putnam’s foul-line jumper on Lewis County’s next trip gave the Minutemen the 57-55 edge, but Ben Baines picked a great time for his only field goal of the game for the Tigers, scoring a hoop with harm and making the free throw with 48.6 seconds left.

Pason Kelley then dished to Putnam for the go-ahead basket the other way for LC with 32 seconds to go, but it would be the last time the Minutemen would score.

Watson’s winning basket was followed by both teams taking timeouts with 9.8 seconds left, then a critical LC turnover when the ball-handler stepped out of bounds near the Minuteman bench.

“We were looking to push it to the middle of the floor. We weren’t looking to push it up the sideline,” Simms said. “We had Manny or Ben calling for it at the top of the key. I was wanting the result that we had the last few times, either (Elkins) backing off the shooter for the 3 or getting close so he could go by them.”

The Minutemen had hope after a missed 1-and-1 attempt, but the Hail Mary shot from three-quarter court was short.

On Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Lewis County is at East Fairmont and Elkins visits Bridgeport.