SHORT GAP, W.Va. — No. 4 Frankfort was lights out from the field from the start and kept up an impressive shooting pace for 32 minutes in a 71-39 win over visiting Keyser on Friday.
The Falcons (12-6) shot 71% from the field, combining for a 28 of 43 performance.
“Very pleased with our total effort,” Frankfort head coach Scott Slider said. “Both on the offensive end on the floor and defensive end of the floor. There was no stop, there was no quit, there was just intensity the entire night.”
In a battle of Mineral County foes, the Frankfort faithful made their impact known from the jump.
The stands were at least 90% full with a raucous student section. The home court advantage helped Frankfort’s defense to shut down Keyser.
“I love when the kids are there,” Slider said. “When they’re not there, they’re really missed. It was awesome, they were there, they were out there in force and they were loud.”
After the teams went back-and-forth with five lead changes and two ties, the Falcons took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Cam Layton off a Jeremiah Babo assist with 2:54 left in the first quarter.
Frankfort found early success with the long ball, shooting 3 of 4 in the opening quarter.
The Falcons scored their final three baskets of the period off 3-pointers from Cam Layton, Jake Layton and Jeremy Phillips.
Phillips had a big first half with 13 points including three 3-pointers. He finished with 17 points and a steal.
“When he’s hot, he’s hot,” Slider said of Phillips. “When hit the one that looked like it was hitting the rafter, it just hung and hung and dropped. When he’s feeling it, it’s a good night for him, a good night for the team.”
Cam Layton was also key, scoring 11 points in the first half and finishing with a game-high 19, three assists and a steal.
“Cam’s been strong basically all season,” Slider said. “When he plays strong defense, his offensive game just takes off. He’s solid anyway offensively, but when he’s stepping up and playing defense like he should, his offensive game is even better.”
For the Golden Tornado (6-12), the story of the game was their inability to shoot.
“They played really well, we played really bad,” Keyser head coach Scott Furey said. “I’m not sure what the shot chart was, but if we don’t make shots, it’s gonna be rough to win any game.”
Keyser went 2 of 14 from the field in the first quarter and missed all seven 3-pointers.
The Tornado really struggled to shoot from deep, missing all 10 attempts in the first half.
Seemingly nothing was falling for Keyser in the first half. A combination of settling for bad shots with a lockdown Falcons defense led to the Tornado shooting 5 of 31 from the field in the half.
“It wasn’t the best effort tonight,” Furey said. “We’ve played really good teams and Frankfort’s good. We’ve played really good teams and we’ve played with a whole lot more effort. You’d think this would be the game we’d come out with a whole lot of effort.”
Frankfort also blocked five shots in the first half, led by Babo and Uriah Cutter who each rejected a pair of layups.
Babo finished with eight points and two blocks.
The Falcons led 14-8 after one quarter, then outscored the Tornado 20-8 in the second to take a 34-16 halftime lead.
In the first half, Frankfort shot 13 of 19 (68%) from the field.
“We’ve been preaching, we gotta be looking out for each other,” Slider said. “If we do that, somebody’s gonna be open. It seemed like we found the open guy time and time again tonight. Sometimes it was inside, sometimes it was on the perimeter. We just hit shots whenever we had opportunities.”
Keyser continued to shoot 3-pointers in the third quarter and kept missing. Drew Matlick hit the Tornado’s first triple of the game with 2:02 left in the third quarter.
“Third quarter, we started just shooting 3s all day,” Furey said. “Just catch and put up a shot, even though we told them that’s not what we wanted to do.”
Matlick hit a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter and finished with eight points and a steal.
The Falcons led 48-27 after three quarters, outscoring the Tornado 14-11 in the third and 23-11 in the final eight minutes.
Jack Stanislawczyk led Keyser with 10 points and three steals.
Keyser finished 2 of 25 (8%) from 3-point range and 12 of 64 (19%) from the field.
“Unfortunately, that’s kinda what we do,” Furey said. “We don’t get to the rim a lot, and we do end up taking a lot of 3s. If they don’t go in early, that tends to kinda be an issue.”
Both teams are at home on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Frankfort hosts Northern on Senior Night while Keyser faces Petersburg.
Frankfort has won nine of its last 10 including an eight-game winning streak. The Falcons lost to No. 3 Allegany 71-49 on Wednesday, but bounced back on Friday.
“Start a new win streak and keep rolling,” Slider said. “If we can get eight in a row now, I think we might be where we wanna be and that’s down in Charleston.”