MILL CREEK, W.Va. — Pendleton County collected their sixth win in their last seven games with a 53-43 triumph at regional rival Tygarts Valley Saturday night at Weber-Wamsley Court.
Sophomore guard Josiah Kimble scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the first half. He connected on five three-pointers, including one that gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game early in the fourth quarter.
“He has been struggling and when you struggle sometimes you have to find yourself. I took him out of the starting lineup and he started to find himself,” said Pendleton County head coach Jeremy Bodkin.
The teams traded lengthy scoring runs in the first quarter. Tygarts Valley scored seven unanswered points to take a 12-4 lead. Pendleton would wrestle the lead away with an 11-0 burst and the Wildcats led 15-14 after the first frame. Pendleton extended their cushion with a 9-2 run in the second quarter to build a 35-26 halftime lead.
The Wildcats saw a 12-point fourth-quarter lead trimmed to four points with 1:30 to play. The Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run that was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Logan Phillips.
“The message was to be patient. We were still up. This was our game to lose. If we took care of the basketball and hit our shots, we were going to be okay.”
Tygarts Valley regained possession trailing by four points [47-43] with just over a minute to play. Pendleton’s defense created offense as senior Clayton Kisamore stole a pass at midcourt and scored a fast break layup to extend the Wildcat lead to six points. Kisamore scored 15 points.
“Clayton has done that for two years. He leads us in scoring. There’s times I had to pull him because he is tired but he just keeps running.”
The Wildcats (8-4) are seeking their fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament.
“We’ve just got to get better everyday. Eventually we will get there but we are not quite there yet. We want to peak at the right time and hopefully that’s at the end of the season and it shows up at state.”
Carter Patterson led the Bulldogs (8-4) with 11 points.