KEYSER, W.Va. — In Tuesday’s game against Moorefield, the defense was the difference for Keyser.
On Thursday, it was the offense as the Golden Tornado (10-12) ended the regular season with a 72-53 win over Preston.
“I think we probably played our best overall game of the year,” Keyser head coach Scott Furey said. “Got started in the first quarter putting up 20, it’s kind of hard for us to duplicate that because for the most part, we’ve been doing the exact opposite.”
Keyser scored nine points in the first quarter on Tuesday, but put up 20 on Thursday to take a 20-10 lead after one.
Kam Samples led the Tornado with nine points in the quarter and finished with 14 points and a block.
“He’s feast or famine a lot of times,” Furey said. “If he’s on early, you kind of let him go. Some of the questionable shots other people are going ugh, you just let it go because that corner three is gonna go. If he’s feeling it, we tend to let him go.”
Keyser led 38-22 at halftime, outscoring the Knights (11-8) in the second quarter 18-12.
The Tornado shot 16 of 27 (59%) from the field in the first half compared to Preston’s 9 of 21 (43%).
“It’s kinda weird, I don’t think Moorefield did anything out of the ordinary,” Furey said of the offense on Tuesday vs. Thursday. “There’s just nights where we’re standing at the rim and just don’t make any shots. Then there’s nights where the jump shot is falling and we’re kind of a tough out.”
Braylon McGreevy scored eight points in the first half for Keyser.
He scored 11 of the Tornado’s 12 third-quarter points and put up 20 second-half points, to finish with a game-high 28.
“I knew he had 28, since they were fouling I wanted to try and get him 30,” Furey said. “He asked to come out, so I pulled him out, but told him I’m trying to get you 30.”
Evan Ack finished with 12 points and five assists for Keyser, which led 56-32 after three quarters before outscoring Preston 22-21 in the fourth.
The Tornado entered the game shooting 56% at the line, but went 18 of 23 (78%) in the fourth quarter and 24 of 31 (77%) overall.
Aidan Schmidl led the Knights with 14 points while Easton Hayes scored 11.
Keyser took the junior varsity game 42-35 led by Trey Dawson’s 14 points and Chris Amoruso’s 13.
Kaleb Stone scored a game-high 17 for Preston.
Keyser turns its focus to the Class AAA, Region II playoffs beginning next Friday.
The Golden Tornado will be the No. 5 seed and travel to No. 4 Hampshire.
The Trojans (12-9) won the two regular season meetings 50-45 and 44-37.
“Over there, they always play well over there, they always bring a good crowd and in the three year’s I’ve been here, we’ve had some battles over there,” Furey said. “Legendary games already, so we’re hoping for another one.”