For the Cumberland Times-News
FROSTBURG — The Maryland girls defeated West Virginia’s 64-57 in overtime while the Maryland boys held off West Virginia 94-91 in the 29th annual Lion’s All-Star Basketball Classic held at Frostburg State Arena Sunday afternoon.
In the first half of the girls’ game, West Virginia came out strong opening up with a five-point, 7-2, advantage over Maryland at 14:01 after a pair of free throws from East Hardy’s Molly Look.
The game was tied seven times over the next 11 minutes until Maryland expanded its halftime lead to nine, 35-26, after scoring 10-consecutive points, with four points coming from Detonia DeGross from Allegany and Lindsey Fisher from Fort Hill.
West Virginia rallied back to within five points after a six-point scoring run in the second half ending at the 11:22 mark, with Tucker County’s Lyndsey Nestor netting four of the six points. The two teams swapped points until 4:35 when West Virginia went on an 8-2 run over a three-minute span to take a three-point lead, 54-51.
With 45 seconds remaining, Frankfort’s Mariah Miller netted a three-pointer to give West Virginia a two-point lead at 57-55. Maryland’s DeGross scored a layup with 10 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, 57-57.
Maryland’s seven points, including three from Mountain Ridge’s Danelle McGinnis, were the only points scored in the extra period.
The MVPs were DeGross and Fisher. DeGross was 5-of-9 from within the paint and had 11 points while Fisher netted 12 points and was 6-of-8 from the floor. Taking home MVP honors for West Virginia was Nestor. She was a perfect 5-of-5 from within the paint and scored 16 points.
In the boys’ game, Maryland opened the first five minutes with an eight-point lead,11-3, over West Virginia after a nine-point scoring run aided by six points from Northern’s Ed Herpel. West Virginia answered with a six-point run to pull within two ending at 13:01 after a basket from Keyser’s Jeremy Green.
With 7:01 remaining in the half, Maryland had a 14-point advantage, 32-18. West Virginia cut the deficit to eight points, 34-26, after a 7-2 run with five points from Keyser’s Matt Wilmer.
Maryland answered with a 10-point run ending with 2:03 left in the half to give it an 18-point advantage, 44-26. Bishop Walsh’s Spencer Wine and Chris DeRosa from Mountain Ridge each chipped in four points during the run.
At the eight second mark, Myles Clifford from Bishop Walsh netted a jumper to give Maryland a 19-point advantage at the break, 49-30.
In the second half, West Virginia slowly cut the deficit to within five points, 74-69, with 8:16 to play as West Virginia’s Green netted 14 points, including two three-pointers.
The teams swapped baskets until the 5:42 mark when Maryland scored four-consecutive points giving it a nine-point advantage, 82-73.
In the last five minutes, two three-pointers by Wilmer and Frankfort’s Skyler Minkey brought West Virginia to within six at 94-88. With 32 seconds remaining, Tucker County’s Darius Dillard hit a three-pointer for the 94-91 final.
The MVP for Maryland was Wine, who finished with 17 points and was 7-of-9 from within the paint. Green was West Virginia’s MVP after scoring a game-high 31 points and going 3-for-3 from behind the three-point line.
The event is held every year to honor the best high school senior basketball players in Western Maryland and Eastern West Virginia. It is sponsored by the Frostburg Lions Club and McDonald's Restaurants since 1999.
