Bridgeport Coach Mike Robey has been in enough battles between the Indians and Robert C. Byrd – and on both sides of it – to know that no lead is safe. Fortunately for Robey and his undefeated and Class AA second-ranked Tribe, they had built enough of a cushion to hold off a late-charging Eagles squad on their way to a 64-57 win in Clarksburg and a regular season sweep.

 

“You almost expect (that run),” said Robey with a laugh. “When these two teams play the energy is so high, the intensity is so high. It’s such a great rivalry”

 

That rivalry looked to be one-sided as Bridgeport appeared to have things in control as the game began to wind down. The guests managed to expand a 13-point halftime lead into a 22-point lead midway through the third period. At that point, John Wilfong drove inside off one of a game-high eight assists from Donald Kummer for a 45-23 lead with 3:40 on the clock. Although RCB would shutout the Tribe the remainder of the period, BHS only allowed four more points and had a seemingly safe 45-27 advantage after three periods of play

 

If the 18-point lead wasn’t impressive enough, then the fact the Eagles had just 27 points after three periods should have impressed those on hand. RCB not only came into the game as the state’s fifth-ranked team in Class AA, but one of the deepest offensive teams in the state

 

“We’ve worked hard on defense and we know Byrd screens a lot and we’ve worked on getting over top of screens instead of going underneath them because they shot the ball so well against us the first time,” said Robey

 

The offense was also clicking for BHS. The Tribe continually got good looks by attacking the basket – particularly Wilfong – and it opened up the rest of the floor for Bridgeport. Although the offense slowed down to start the final period, the Indians were still doing enough to keep a healthy lead and were up 17 points when Nick Greely knocked down two free throws with 3:26 to play.

 

Then, things began to go south for the visitors. RCB, which struggled shooting most of the night, began to rally. Senior guard Alex Banko spearheaded a 7-0 run with five points; the last of which brought BHS to within single digits for the first time since the second period at 55-46 with 2:19 to go.

 

Although the Eagles would get a little bit closer – 62-57 being the closest on a Luke Dyer 3-pointer with seven seconds to play – the hole was too deep for the Eagles to climb out of. Despite the flurry late, Robey wasn’t bothered by the late comeback by the hosts

 

“It wasn’t frustrating because we were in the lead. As long as we’re in the lead, I’m not frustrated one bit. My kids were doing what they were supposed to do,” said Robey. “We may have put it in the freezer a little bit early, but that was on me. We’ve got a big lead and I’m telling our kids we’re going to win it at the foul line.”

 

Eventually, the Tribe would do that. In the final 31 seconds the Indians would go 5-of-8 from the foul line to ice it.

 

The frenzied finish was in stark contrast to the rest of the game. And it was a game the Tribe controlled through large portions, particularly from early in the second period on.

 

Following a Bridgeport timeout with just under six minutes to go in the second quarter and the score even at 14, the Indians took control of the rest of the half. And it was an entire team effort that took the Indians from even to up 31-18 at the break. Robey said one thing happened that made a difference during the pivotal timeout.

 

“We changed the offense because we’re trying to look at matchups and we saw a couple of matchup we thought we could take advantage of. But we’ve got to get the ball into the right place to get to those matchups … We got out of motion and ran a couple of set things to get us so we’re not so much gunslinger where we’re going to catch it and fire,” said Robey. “We’re going to get something productive out of three or four possessions. It did and we just stayed with it for a while.”

 

Part of the equation was to get the ball to Wilfong. The senior forward was one of the few players on track as the rest of the team tried to find their footing

 

“We were settling for jump shots early in the game and that’s what we were doing in the last two games. Coach made it a big point to be aggressive against them,” said Wilfong. “During that timeout, Coach told us to relax because I think the crowd and atmosphere was getting to us a little bit. After that, we settled down and things went our way.”

 

The run lasted well into the second half. By the time it showed some signs of stalling out as the Tribe pulled out the ball to run out the clock, the Eagles didn’t have enough time left to pull even or ahead.

 

While Bridgeport’s offense got going in the second period, the defense went up a notch as well. Incredibly, the Tribe didn’t allow a field goal in the final 6:27 of the second quarter. The good news for the Tribe and the equally bad news for the Eagles was the combination of solid defense and fresh offense was the quarter-ending 17-4 run that came from nearly every player on the floor and from every spot on the floor.

 

Once Bridgeport took the floor after the Robey timeout, a quick 7-0 spurt put RCB on its heels. Kummer got things started when he drilled a 3-point field goal off a feed from Dante Bonamico and Wilfong followed that with a traditional 3-point play courtesy of a Kummer feed. Wilfong, who was set up by yet another on target feed from Kummer, would hit one-of-two from the charity stripe to end the quick outburst and leave the visitors up 21-14 with 4:50 showing

 

Five seconds later, RCB coach Bill Bennett signaled for a timeout of his own. As it turned out the break in the action – along with another Eagle timeout a few minutes later – would only result in four free throws the rest of the way for the home team.

 

While the Eagles were grounded, Bridgeport continued to widen the gap to close out the first two periods. Bonamico had a pair of baskets, including a spectacular layup with under a minute to play to go along with two more 3-point field goals for what would turn out to be a 31-18 advantage at the half. Logan Smith buried one deep off a Kummer assist and Chase Robey took a pass from Wilfong for the other trifecta to widen the lead.

 

The frenzied finish was in stark contrast to the first quarter where both teams struggled their way to a 9-9 deadlock. Wilfong had six points in the opening period to keep Bridgeport in it, while Devonti Birch had a pair of field goals.

 

Wilfong had a game-high 23 points. He hit on 9-of-15 shots from the floor as he relentlessly attacked the basket and also had a team-high nine rebounds.

 

Three other players hit for double figures as Robey and Bonamico both finished with 11 points and Kummer kicked in 10 However, it was Kummer’s floor leadership that was huge in the game as his eight assists often resulted in easy baskets for his team.

 

“Donald’s head is up and turning right and left all the time. He’s the quarterback on the floor … The kids know if they get a step on somebody he’s going to deliver the ball there. Donald could care less if he scores and that’s what I love about him,” said Robey.

 

As for Kummer, he said the idea was to keep forcing the issue. Hopefully, he said, it would lead to good things – and it did

 

“Our goal was to attack them and get them on their heels,” said Kummer. “We had a lot of kick out threes and I felt like we got to the rim a lot too.”

 

Dyer led RCB with 19 points. Justin Noble was the only other player in double figures with 15. Noble added a game-high 10 rebounds.

 

Bridgeport moves to 14-0 with the win. RCB drops to 9-5 with all five losses coming to teams ranked in the top five of either Class AAA or Class AA.

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphotography.com.