KEYSER, W.Va. — Keyser star Noah Broadwater lost his headband when he scored the decisive old-fashioned 3-point play with 3:38 to play in the fourth quarter: That’s the only thing he lost Friday.
Not the ball when Hampshire sent two and three players to trap him in the backcourt late in the contest, and certainly not the game.
Behind Broadwater’s game-high 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Keyser blew past Hampshire in the second quarter and held off a late surge to down the Trojans, 53-45.
“Just that ice water in the veins,” Keyser head coach Scott Furey said of Broadwater. “He’s a state champion, on a team and an individual state champion (in golf). He just knows that it’s time to laser in, focus up, and that’s what he does.”
After allowing nearly 70 points a game in a pair of losses to Washington and Mountain Ridge in its previous two contests, Keyser’s defense was exceptional Friday, particularly in the second quarter.
Hampshire (2-2) exited the first period with a 12-10 edge, but Keyser (2-2) began the ensuing stanza with an 11-0 burst. By the time the halftime buzzer spelled the Trojans, the Tornado had outscored them 17-4 in the quarter to take a 27-16 margin into the locker room.
Keyser’s defense of Hampshire standouts Jenson Fields and Jordan Gray played a significant part in its early game success, holding the pair to four points each in the first half.
“Defensively, I was a lot more happy with what we did tonight,” Furey said. “I thought we helped a lot better, and we rebounded pretty well.
“We tasked Jack (Stanislawczyk) and Noah with Jenson. … Whenever one got tired they just switched back and forth. Just trying to keep him at bay, and for us to be able to get a lot of run-outs and finish at the rim (were the keys in the second quarter).”
Hampshire didn’t go away, clawing within 33-29 with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter after an Ethan Vanmeter jump stop and midrange jumper, but Keyser’s Jace Courrier answered with a 3-pointer and the Trojans never pulled closer.
Broadwater put the final nail in the coffin with 3:38 to play in the contest when he picked Fields’ pocket and went coast-to-coast to score, plus the foul, to give Keyser a 45-33 advantage.
The senior made his free throws down the stretch — 13 of 15 for the game — and Keyser hung on to end its modest two-game skid.
“He’s our barometer,” Furey said of Broadwater. “If he’s having a good night, we’re having a good night. The big thing we’re going to get from him every night is effort.”
Keyser held a 26-14 edge in the foul department and attempted 19 more free throws, but the Tornado made just 16 of 28 from that range. Hampshire was 5 for 9.
Stanislawcyzk and Kameron Samples were second on the Tornado with six points apiece, and Damarian Allen, Evan Ack and Layton Valentine scored four each.
Fields ended in double figures for Hampshire with 14 points, followed by Gray with nine, Matthew Medina with eight, Vanmeter with six and Dylan Streisel with four.
Up next, Keyser heads to Southern (2-1) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Hampshire will look to bounce back when it heads to Allegany (3-0) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.