BY JOHN CONLEY

Associate Editor

The Warriors are back on top of the hill—Oak Hill, that is.

After losing its hold on No. 1 for the first time this season, Wyoming East virtually assured itself of a return to the top spot by beating the team which replaced it there, Oak Hill, 54-49 in the Mountain State Coal Classic AA championship game last Saturday in Beckley.

Just as important, says East coach Jesse Lester, the Warriors have positioned themselves better for the post-season.

"They beat us at their place (on Jan. 13)," he pointed out, "but we beat them on a neutral court and that should help us with the seeding (in the sectional)."

It was East's fourth straight Coal Classic title and sixth overall.

But it wasn't easy.

After taking control of the game in the first half and leading by as much as 11, the Warriors saw a 10-point spread evaporate in two and a half minutes in the final period.

Veteran Chris Lawson led the Red Devil charge, scoring inside and going 4-4 at the line to cut the lead to 45-41.

An Oak Hill steal turned into an easy two for Kalif Wright, and Marcus McFarland tied it on a 15-footer with 2:07 left.

"Coach Lester told us not to blow it," said WEHS point guard Evan Muscari.

A big reason they didn't was sophomore Alex Webb (14 points, five rebounds). whose pullup three from the left side gave East a 48-45 lead with 1:25 to go.

Although he had missed a trey a few seconds earlier, Webb said he didn't shy away from pulling the trigger. "I didn't hesitate at all," he commented.

Oak Hill's Jack Flournoy cut it to one. Gentry Shrewsbury pushed it back to three, 50-47, on a pair of free throws at the :53.3 mark.

Wright scored on a follow shot but missed the foul shot that would have tied it.

Muscari's sixth assist of the night was his biggest, a laser that flashed to Anthony Fuller for a layup.

"There was a perfect lane for me to pass it to him, and he finished it," Muscari remarked. "When you have a teammate that's wide open, you have to trust him to make the shot. If you don't trust your teammates, you're not going to win a state championship."

After Lawson missed with an airball, Muscari iced the win with two free throws with 5.5 ticks left.

"We had four hard practices this week (in preparation for Oak Hill), and it showed today," said Muscari.

"We did the things we needed to do to win," Lester stated.

East had a 12-10 lead after the first quarter, but back-to-back treys from Fuller—one on the left side and another from the top of the key—extended it to 18-10.

The Devils (10-2) didn't get closer than four the rest of the half.

Webb had 11 first half points, including a layup off a feed from Shrewsbury to make it 26-18.

Marcus Schofield hit a short jumper from the lane to give WEHS a 28-20 halftime cushion.

The Warriors (13-1) went to a spread for most of the second half.

"We just wanted to make them work on defense and pull them out away from the basket," Lester observed.

East took its first 11-point margin, 34-23 on Trey Fralin's layup off a Shrewsbury assist.

The gap stayed in the eight to 11-point range until the Devils made their late run.

"I think we showed that we're still the No. 1 team in the state," Webb said.

Webb,

Webb, Shrewsbury (12 points, six boards) and Fuller (12) paced East. Muscari had nine, followed by Fralin (4) and Schofield (3).

Lawson had a game-high 17 for the Devils, and Flournoy tossed in 10.

Game notes: Wyoming County teams have now won the AA championship in the Coal Classic for the last nine years . . . Saturday's win marked the third time WEHS has beaten a No. 1 team. The Warriors defeated No. 1 Winfield in the 2001 Coal Classic championship and No. 1 Ravenswood in last year's state championship game . . . The Warriors are 13-5 all-time against the Devils and will meet them in New Richmond in the regular season finale on Feb. 25.