SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Braeden Laffey only scored three points, but they were the difference on Friday.
Laffey’s 3-pointer put Frankfort ahead in the final minute, and the Falcons (7-6) held on to defeat No. 5 Keyser 57-52.
“Anytime you beat your county rival, it’s gonna be a good day,” Frankfort head coach Scott Slider said. “I was nervous going into this ball game because we lost a tough one on Wednesday. I wasn’t sure we were ready to go against our county rivals. But it seemed like we locked in, especially right away.”
Kycin Waites converted an and-one layup to put Frankfort ahead 52-48 with 1:48 to play.
Waites averages 17.4 points per game, but only had four points through three quarters.
He scored eight in the fourth quarter to finish with 12 and a block.
“He’s smooth to the bucket,” Slider said of Waites. “He handles the ball well, he takes contact, still finishes at the basket. He’s tough, I’ve said that to you before. Overall, he’s one of the most talented players in the area.”
Grayson Lambka stole the inbound of out a timeout and scored a layup to cut the Golden Tornado’s (6-6) deficit to 52-50.
Lambka finished with 13 points, three steals and two assists.
“We played three pretty good quarters,” Keyser head coach Scott Furey said. “First quarter absolutely destroyed us. I was proud of our effort as far as battling back and even taking the lead, but I think we missed nine free throws and probably 20 at the rim. You can’t do that against any team, especially teams with the ability to score in bunches.”
On the other end, Laffey buried a triple with 35 seconds remaining to retake the lead for the Falcons.
Keyser inbounded under its own basket and missed a floater, then Laffey assisted Jeremy Phillips on a layup to put Frankfort ahead five in the final seconds.
While the game came down to the final moments, it didn’t appear it would in the first quarter.
The Tornado missed its first 14 shots from the field, and the Falcons capitalized.
Frankfort opened the game on a 18-2 run led by Phillips with 10 points.
“You’re letting them beat you,” Furey said of his message in a timeout called after the 18-2 run. “Nothing’s happening strategically, they’re just taking it to you, and you’re letting that. I told our seniors, this is how you want things to go, so be it. But it’s on you.”
Phillips scored a game-high 24 points with two steals.
Keyser’s first field goal of the night came with 1:30 left in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Trey Dawson.
“We were hot, right off the bat,” Slider said. “And they weren’t, so we made that big run. Had we not made that big run, when they made their run in the second quarter, they would’ve been 10-15 points ahead of us possibly. So it was a good thing that we had that. We’ve got to be better playing with that lead because we’ve done some things that hurt us in the past.”
Trailing 18-7 after one, the Tornado opened the second quarter on a 15-7 run to get within 25-22.
Dawson scored four points with three steals and two assists during the run.
Dawson finished with a team-high 19 points, adding six assists, four steals and a block.
Frankfort took a 31-24 halftime lead, but Keyser opened the third quarter with eight unanswered points.
A Falcon turnover led to a Cam Owens layup off an assist by Dawson to give the Tornado its first lead of the night at 32-31.
“Making shots in general was a big thing,” Furey said. “Especially in the third quarter, we made a concerted effort to throw the ball into Braylon (McGreevy). But he only had five all night. If he’s only got five, it’s hard for us to win.”
McGreevy averages 13.5 points per game.
Over the final five minutes of the quarter, the lead changed four times with neither side up by more than one score.
Late in the frame, Frankfort was called for a travel.
Lambka hit a triple to even the score at 42, then Dawson recorded a steal and hit a pair of free throws to put Keyser in front 44-42 after three.
The fourth quarter featured two lead changes and a tie and was a one score game for nearly the entire frame.
Waites’ four point play to go up 52-48 was the biggest lead for either team.
“Them attacking the rim, we tried to double team ball screens and they came off of it,” Furey said of the difference down the stretch. “They were able to get to the rim, the help wasn’t able to get there fast enough. We didn’t challenge a shot early enough, so we ended up giving up an and-one.”
The Golden Tornado are scheduled to play at Berkeley Springs on Tuesday, weather permitting.
The Falcons travel to Hampshire on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Frankfort’s game against Moorefield on Tuesday was postponed.
The Trojans (0-13) took the Falcons to overtime on Jan. 8, but Frankfort held on to win 73-68.
“They battled us tough here,” Slider said. “We were a little off at the beginning, but they came ready to play. They’re gonna win some games sometime or another. We didn’t want it to be that night. But I don’t think we overlook anybody. Our kids understand every game’s gonna be tight for us.”
Keyser’s junior varsity team won 43-15 led by Rio Simone’s 14 points.