CHARLESTON — For a few moments Friday night, West Fork Coach David Ferrell couldn’t believe his eyes.
He glanced at the scoreboard in the first half before doing a doubletake seconds later after realizing his players already had built a 26-point lead over Lincoln at the Class 3A Region 1 semifinals.
It was that kind of night for the Tigers, who had no trouble converting in their 60-29 mercy-rule victory.
West Fork (30-2) will play the Charleston-Cedarville winner at 7:30 p.m. today in the championship game, while Lincoln plays in the consolation game at 1:30 p.m.
West Fork senior Jared Johnson led all scorers with 18 points, while Logan Genz had nine points and 20 rebounds. Senior Cody Cone also scored 12 points, including 3 three-pointers in the first half.
Ferrell said Johnson’s performance in the first half, when he scored 16 points, was possibly his best stretch of basketball this season.
“I think there was one point where we had about 10 points in four-minute stretch,” Ferrell said. “He hit fadeaway jumpers and a bank shot. It was a good time for him to do it, and I was glad to see it.”
With 1 minute, 22 seconds left in the first half, West Fork led the Wolves (12-10) 41-15 by getting production from Johnson and long-range shots from Cone.
In the second half, the Tigers invoked the mercy rule by the start of the fourth quarter after getting three more three-pointers from Tim Seaman, Cone and Leon Beasley in the third quarter.
Lincoln never found any rhythm on either side of the court while shooting only 25 percent (8 of 32) from the floor in the first three quarters.
“We came out slow, and we definitely weren’t shooting well,” Lincoln Coach Tim Rich said. “If you’re not shooting well, you definitely better do everything else well, and we couldn’t do that, either.
“It was just one of those nights.”
CHARLESTON 60, CEDARVILLE 44
Robbie Raggio scored 17 points as tournament host Charleston (29-4) moved into tonight’s championship game with a victory over Cedarville (18-9).
Jesse Crosswhite added 14 points for Charleston, which took an 11-3 lead in the first quarter and didn’t trail after that.
Keith Simkins led Cedarville with a game-high 18 points.
GIRLS
WEST FORK 52, GREENLAND 44
West Fork (22-7) used its pressure defense to build an early 17-point lead in the first half and held on to defeat Greenland (17-11) in the semifinals.
Greenland held West Fork three points in the third quarter and cut West Fork’s lead to four points with 1:24 left, but West Fork sealed it from the free-throw line.
Junior Melissa Jones finished with 19 points and eight rebounds to lead West Fork, which advances to tonight’s 6 p.m. championship game. Sarah Sagely added 14 points, which included two three-pointers in the opening half.
Ashley Hipps led Greenland with 13 points.
GREEN FOREST 58, CHARLESTON 54
Nikki Mullen scored a game-high 23 points as Green Forest (23-4) held off tournament host Charleston (24-9) in the semifinals.
Green Forest will play West Fork today in the regional championship game.
Kara Heads added nine points for Green Forest, which went into halftime tied at 26 with Charleston.
Katherine West scored 18 points to lead Charleston, and Paityn McLaughlin added 15.
Charleston plays Greenland in the consolation game today.
Sports, Pages 19 on 02/26/2011