BY JOHN CONLEY

Associate Editor

Oak Hill had the big men. Wyoming East had the big plays.

Class AA No. 2 East outscored No. 1 Oak Hill, 16-6, over the game's final 5:37 and picked up a 70-64 win last Tuesday night at New Richmond.

The showdown featured the Red Devils’ talented front court against the perimeter-oriented Warriors.

It was as good as advertised: there were 22 lead changes and the outcome was in doubt until the final minute.

Oak Hill grabbed its biggest second half lead, 58-54, on the strength of a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter.

Red Devil stars Jack Flournoy and Kalif Wright scored all the points in the spurts.

"Oak Hill did what they do, they got the ball in the blocks and took the lead," said East coach Rory Chapman.

"(During a timeout) Coach Chapman told us we could lay down and die or get up and fight," remarked Chase Morgan.

The Warriors took the challenge.

Junior forward Alex Webb drilled a three from the left corner with 5:37 left to bring East within one.

"That shot felt great," Webb stated. "It got everybody going."

After an exchange of buckets, Morgan drove into the paint and connected from five feet to give WEHS a 61-60 edge.

DeAndre Leonard drove to the bucket to put Oak Hill in front for the last time.

Morgan sank two free throws to put the Warriors in front again with 1:27 left.

Seconds later, he stole the ball under the Devils' basket and drove it to the other end. He drew the foul as he fell to the floor and the ball went through the net.

"People may think that was luck, but we've seen Chase do that 100 times in practice," Chapman said.

"My teammates had confidence in me," Morgan commented. "Evan (Muscari) called my number."

The three-point play pushed the margin to 66-62 with 1:12 remaining.

Trey Fralin grabbed the rebound on an Oak Hill miss and made one of two at the stripe.

Morgan's free throws with :19.3 left sealed the win.

"This is what you play for," remarked Muscari, who finished with 18 points. "I'm dog tired because of the heat from all the bodies in the gym."

The bodies saw a tightly contested game in which neither team ever led by more than seven.

Flournoy and Leonard did most of the early scoring for Oak Hill as the Devils went up, 13-9.

East scored seven straight to go on top. Morgan drove inside for two. Muscari hit a three and then stole the in bounds pass and scored again.

WEHS held a 16-15 lead after the first period.

The teams exchanged buckets in the second quarter. East knocked down six treys, including a couple from NBA range by Muscari.

"Sometimes you have to be able to shoot from that distance," he said.

"They were hitting shots, and we were hitting shots," Chapman stated.

Oak Hill hit the last one of the half, a Dustin Nuckels trey from the corner that sent the Devils to the locker room with a 38-37 edge.

East got more stops in the third quarter and began to build a lead.

Chapman credited Webb with the improved defense. "Jack Flournoy was killing us in the first half," he explained. "I told Alex, he's doing what he wants to do. You have to step around him and do what you want to do.

"Another big factor for us is that Andrew Bishop and Marcus Schofield did a great job rebounding," he added.

Muscari and Morgan had threes in the final 1:07 as the Warriors took a 54-48 lead into the final quarter.

"It's such a pleasure to play for a crowd that supports you," Morgan said. "I never had that before."

"We got our No. 1 spot back," Webb said.

Morgan, Muscari and Webb (11) led the scoring, followed by Schofield (7), Fralin (7) and Bishop (5).

Wright had 22 for the Devils. Flournoy tossed in 18, and Leonard had 15.