CHARLESTON — West Fork senior Jared Johnson saved his best for last Saturday night in the final of the Class 3A Region 1 tournament.
Johnson, a 6-6 forward, dominated the paint, grabbing loose rebounds and getting plenty of second-chance points as he finished with 17 points and 18 rebounds to lead West Fork to a 64-47 victory over Charleston.
The victory gave West Fork its first regional title since 1994. West Fork (31-2) will be a No. 1 seed in next week’s Class 3A State Tournament and will play No. 4 Jessieville at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Charleston (30-5) will play at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday against the No. 3 seed from Region 2.
“To get big rebounds and make big plays, it always feels good,” Johnson said. “I’m always thinking in myhead that I can’t mess up, so to help us win a regional title, it’s awesome.”
West Fork’s Cody Cone finished with a game-high 19 points while Aaron England scored 16.
West Fork jumped out to a 26-14 lead midway through the second quarter after forcing Charleston into seven turnovers before halftime.
Charleston responded in the third by outscoring West Fork 24-11, including a combined 3 three-pointers from Jesse Crosswhite and Tanner Haynes. But Charleston couldn’t follow up its offensive success down the stretch as it shot only 2 of 21 from the field in the final quarter.
“You can’t shoot like that and expect to beat a good team like West Fork,” Charleston Coach Randy Terry said. “We just went cold. We couldn’t do anything.”
West Fork secured its victory by getting back-toback three-pointers from Cone early in the fourth quarter and making 8 of 14 free throws.
“I can’t say enough about [Johnson]. He dominated this whole week,” West Fork Coach David Ferrell said. “He’s so talented in the paint and can make so many good things happen when we need big plays.” WEST FORK (64) Cone 19, Johnson 17, England 16, Genz 8, Seaman 2, Beasley 2.
CHARLESTON (47) Raggio 13, Haynes 10, Crosswhite 7, Marry 7, McCann 6, Newhart 2, Groen 2.
West Fork .......... 15 18 11 20 - 64 Charleston ...........5 13 24 5 - 47
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BOYS CONSOLATION LINCOLN 65, CEDARVILLE 50
Dakota Leming and Zack Summers combined for 35 points as Lincoln (13-10) defeated Cedarville (18-10) to finish third in the regional tournament.
Leming led Lincoln with 18 points, while Summers chipped in 17. Horacio Escareno added 10 points for Lincoln.
Cedarville pulled within three points with 2:54 left in the third quarter, but Lincoln used a 16-7 run that ended midway through the fourth quarter to take control of the game.
Keith Simkins led Cedarville with 18 points.
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Girls
GREEN FOREST 50, WEST FORK 43
Led by a 19-point effort from juniorguard Nikki Mullen, Green Forest (24-4) held off West Fork (22-8) for its first regional championship since 1997.
Green Forest will be a No. 1 seed in next week’s state tournament and will play at 1 p.m. Wednesday against the No. 4 seed from Region 2. West Fork will play at 4 p.m. Wednesday against the No. 3 seed from Region 2.
“It’s a great feeling to do something like this. It means a lot for our school,” Green Forest Coach Kyle Farrar said. “We made a lot of big plays down the stretch.”
Green Forest survived a bad third quarter by making 12 of 17 free throws to secure the victory.
Melissa Jones led West Fork with 24 points.
GREEN FOREST (50) Mullen 19, Ko. Powell 7, Ka. Powell 7, Savage 6, Heads 5, Mullen 3.
WEST FORK (43) Jones 24, Sagely 8, Fraley 5, McCorkle 4, Franklin 2.
Green Forest ....... 11 17 4 18 - 50 West Fork .......... 11 8 7 17 - 43
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GIRLS CONSOLATION CHARLESTON 40, GREENLAND 38
Charleston (25-9) held off a late rally by Greenland (17-12) in the consolation final.
Paityn McLaughlin scored 10 points to lead Charleston, which trailed 21-17 at halftime. Katherine West added nine points for Charleston.
Junior forward Holland Craise finished with 16 points to lead Greenland, while Andrea Scott added seven.
Sports, Pages 27 on 02/27/2011