CUMBERLAND — With no dominant team taking control in a wide-open area, effort and intensity have been the greatest differentiator.
Fort Hill was the more dialed in team at the onset on Saturday afternoon, and Keyser wasn’t up to the challenge.
The third-ranked Sentinels forced a bevy of turnovers and led by 31 at the half and as much as 40 en route to a 71-42 clobbering of No. 5 Keyser.
“I thought we really played hard to start out the game,” Fort Hill head coach Thad Burner said. “Our ball movement was good. Our intensity was good. Leave a little bit to be desired on the rebounding end, but I think that had a lot to do with how the game played out.”
Fort Hill (4-5) upped its winning streak to three games after a 1-5 start.
Landen Sweitzer paced a balanced Fort Hill offense with 19 points, hitting three 3-pointers. Jabril Daniels joined him in double figures with 11, Jameson Powell added nine, Gamil Daniels scored eight and Liam Hamilton chipped in seven.
Keyser (2-6) fell behind 7-0 before attempting a shot due to five consecutive turnovers to begin the game.
The Sentinels scored the game’s first 15 points and led 20-7 after the first quarter, 42-11 at the half and 61-21 after three stanzas.
“We showed no pride, no pushback, no nothing,” Keyser head coach Scott Furey said of the first half. “We came out (of the locker room) with two minutes to go, and we might have talked basketball for a minute-and-a-half.
“Because I was busy talking about the next 40 years after basketball. You can’t continue to let people do this to you and not care and hope that it’s just going to get better. I think we gave better effort in the second half.”
Braylon McGreevy paced Keyser with nine points, all of which came in the second half.
Ten Golden Tornado players scored but none ended in double figures.
Fort Hill’s defense limited Keyser to just two field goals before halftime, both on buckets inside the arc via Damarian Allen finishes.
“We were real active in our traps,” Burner said. “Our rotations were real good there. The kids saw some opportunities for some leak-outs. We’re just trying to continue to find an identity. We’re hoping we can find an identity on the defensive end.”
The final play of the half characterized the opening 16 minutes.
Keyser threw a pass up the sideline in the final seconds of the second quarter, and it was intercepted by Hamilton, who leapt out of bounds and threw the ball in the backcourt to save it.
Powell out-hustled a pair of Keyser players in position to get the ball, and he finished at the rim at the buzzer.
Saturday’s contest was Keyser’s third in 36 days due to a parade of cancellations. While Furey refused to make that an excuse, the Golden Tornado’s sloppy passing could be attributable to their lack of recent game experience.
“They’re so tired of practicing against each other,” Furey said. “They’re teenagers. How many different drills can you find to keep them engaged?
“When you’re at practice, when you aren’t going as hard as you should be. We try to. It’s the old adage, you play like you practice. We stopped practice a few times, ‘Hey, that’s got to be snappy. That’s got to be crisper.’ It’s hard to simulate the Daniels’ quickness.”
Keyser will look to bounce back at home against Petersburg (4-3) on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Hill has a chance to close the gap on Southern (7-3) atop the region standings with a win against the Rams on Monday. The game tips off at 7 p.m. in Cumberland.
“We’re getting in better basketball shape,” Burner said. “That’s the biggest key. This is great today. We’re moving to Monday now.
“We’re going to have to compete. We’re going to have to play defense.”