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Wheeling Central’s Max Olejasz goes up for a rebound Tuesday during the Maroon Knights’ Class AA quarterfinals game against Frankfort inside the Charleston Coliseum.
CHARLESTON — The trip down I-77 didn’t throw the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights out of whack Tuesday as the top-seeded Knights cruised to a 95-56 victory over No. 8 Frankfort inside the Charleston Coliseum, Central advancing to the WVSSAC Class AA Boys Basketball Tournament semifinals against No. 5 Wayne.
Wheeling Central came out firing against the Falcons, leading 22-10 after the first quarter and 48-25 at halftime. There were no Charleston chills to be found in the Maroon Knights’ game Tuesday, as Central shot 40-70 from the floor (57%). Max Olejasz led the way with 27 points, shooting 13-15 from the floor and grabbing seven rebounds, while Eli Sancomb had a brow-raising triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 16 assists.
Sancomb, the reigning Evans Award winner as the best player in the state, set a new state tournament record with his 16 assists. The old record was 14. Sancomb had 10 assists in the first 12 minutes of play, and nearly had a triple-double at halftime with 14 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds.
Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens was not surprised that his team, now 21-0 on the season, was able to step into an unfamiliar environment and not miss a beat on the offensive end.
“Some of these guys were down here last year,” Stephens said. “Sometimes at home before we come down here, we’ll go to West Liberty and practice there. I just say, if you’re a shooter, you can shoot anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are. You just shoot the ball in-rhythm, muscle memory. We don’t make a real big deal about playing in the big arenas and that. We just feel like, on the court, you can block out all that stuff behind you. You just shoot the ball.”
Luke Sancomb scored 14 for Central, knocking down two 3-pointers, while Nahiem Shepherd and Nico Kusic each scored nine.
The Falcons tried zone and man defenses on Tuesday, but couldn’t find a way to hold down Wheeling Central. Eli Sancomb operating from the high post against Frankfort’s 2-3 zone in the first half proved deadly for the Falcons, Sancomb piling up points and assists to help the Maroon pull away.
Almost everything went Central’s way Tuesday. The Knights won the rebounding battle 50-31, had 25 team assists to Frankfort’s nine, and held the Falcons to 32% shooting from the field.
“We made it tough for them to get good shots. The key to the defensive possessions is defensive rebounding and we did a really good job of that, especially In the first half,” Stephens said. “We got out and ran. Eli made some great passes and got guys some easy layups. We came in and did what we needed to do tonight.”
Frankfort was led by Jeremy Phillips’ 34-point outing. The senior made five 3-pointers Tuesday.
No. 5 Wayne defeated No. 4 Doddridge County in the other Class AA quarterfinal played on Tuesday, 72-48. Wayne and Wheeling Central will play on Friday at 1 p.m.
Stephens was impressed by what he saw from the Wayne Pioneers, who played in Class AAA last season. Against Doddridge, the Pioneers were led by sophomore Landon Preece, who scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
“Unfortunately, I was on the bus with the guys, but the assistants were down here. They were very impressed with the way they play,” Stephens said. “We’ll get back home tonight and get a couple practices in and hopefully be ready to go on Friday.”
On the other end of the Class AA bracket, No. 2 Wyoming East will face No. 7 Logan and No. 3 Bluefield will face No. 6 Petersburg on Wednesday in quarterfinals of their own.
