SHADY SPRING, W.Va. — Ammar Maxwell scored 22 of his game-high 33 points in the first half as Shady Spring handed Fairmont Senior their first loss of the season, 85-65 Saturday afternoon. The Tigers (11-3) avenged a buzzer-beating loss to the Polar Bears in year’s Class AAA state championship game.
“We’re not going anywhere. We don’t care about rankings but these kids are kids. They are still young men,” said Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson. “Those things matter to them. The big thing was we wanted to show our fans and prove to ourselves that we could beat them. They played a great game in the state championship last year. But we’ve got everyone back and we are on one mission.”
18 of Maxwell’s 33 points came from beyond the arc.
“He has been on the cusp of doing this and I have been trying to tell coaches that he is big-time. He is Division I material. I think he showed it tonight,” Olson said.
“He is a load because he shoots, can drive and plays defense. He is the full package.”
After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Polar Bears led 18-17. Maxwell connected on a trio of three-pointers in the second quarter as Shady Spring built a 37-29 halftime lead.
“Our defense really stepped it up [in the second quarter]. We quit giving up easy penetrations. They are so well-coached and they know where our help comes from. We are so used to each other. But we made a couple of adjustments.”
Shady opened the second half on an 11-3 run and they extended their cushion to 21 points [60-39] heading into the final frame. The Polar Bears opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run but they were unable to get closer than a dozen points the rest of the way.
Braden Chapman added 17 points for the Tigers and Cam Manns chipped in with 15 points.
“Offensively, we are a lot better. And we are bigger and stronger because we are seniors” Olsen said.
Zycheus Dobbs led the Polar Bears (12-1) with 19 points. DeSean Goode scored 15 points and Andre Grant added 14.