Shady Spring Boys
Shady Spring Boys
State champs again , Tigers eye road to repeat
By Dave Morrison for the register-herald
Last year , pundits favored Fairmont Senior to win a third straight Class AAA state title championship .
Didn ’ t happen , as Shady Spring knocked off the Polar Bears 58-55 .
It was a little bit of a touché moment for the Tigers , after Fairmont had knocked off Shady the previous two seasons , beating the top-ranked team in the state and what many think were two of the best basketball teams in school history , and it came after Shady arrived a bit early and won the 2021 title .
“ That ’ s what you want from a championship game ,” Shady Spring coach Ronnie Olson said . “( Championships ) are hard to win . You ’ ve got two of the best teams in the state , you don ’ t see a lot of blowouts when you get to that point . Either team can win . We wanted to go 4 for 4 but we went 2 for 4 .”
The unpredictability of high school basketball . Now the crown resides in Shady Spring .
The Tigers are set to make an unprecedented fifth straight Class AAA state championship appearance with several key players back , including Class AAA first-team all-stater Jack Williams , Jalon Bailey , who led the team in scoring in the championship with 18 points , and one of the area ’ s top 3-point shooters in Khi Olson .
Shady Spring will have to replace first-team all-state captain Ammar Maxwell ( 21.2 ), who is now a starter at Glenville State , and Gavin Davis , a human dust mop who did the dirty work for the Tigers and averaged 10.6 points , scoring in double figures in eight of his final 10 games .
Nonetheless , Shady Spring is loaded .
40 • WV SOUTH BASKETBALL
Tina Laney / For The Register-Herald
Jack Williams of Shady Spring goes for the shot against Independence .
Williams leads the way after averaging 12.9 . He scored in double figures in five of six postseason games and 18 times overall .
“ Jackie is our leader , and arguably one of the best players in the state of West Virginia ,” Olson said . “ He has the overall game , he can play several spots for us , and he is going to have to be the catalyst for us . He has a high basketball IQ . Losing Ammar , he is going to have to rebound more for us , but we did a good job rebounding as a team last year and we have to do that again .”
Bailey , a football player as well , and who probably should have been on the allstate tournament team last year , averaged 12.8 points , scored in double figures in five of six postseason games and had 34 3s .
“ We expect him to be our floor general and lead us on the defensive end of the floor ,” Olson said . “ He is an elite defender , and he is going to lead us by example . He can shoot it , too .”
Olson , son of the coach , too is a pure shooter , but last season was a setback because he missed eight games in the middle of the season with a concussion suffered in a midseason game at Independence . He averaged 6.9 points and had 25 3s .
“ Coaching your own kids , you want to treat them like everyone else , but I think there were times I was ( too hard on him ),” Olson said . “ It was an adjustment I think I had to make . He has earned the high expectations . He can shoot but this summer he has really started to slash to the basket a little more rather than stand at the 3 line .”
Back with experience in the Tigers ’ rotation are point guard Brody Radford and Braedy Johnston .
“ Brody is a heck of a point , and he ’ s as good an on-ball defender as you are going to see ,” Olson said . “ Generally , his job has been to create for other players , but we are going to depend on him for scoring this year .
“ I think Braedy realized what a big impact he can have on the floor . He has unlimited potential and can shoot it , but like Khi , he has shown signs that he can be a slasher as well .”
Rob Lynch and Reed Radford , both JV players , are back and on the varsity team .
Two decorated freshmen are ready to step into the big time in Gabe Short and Eli Sexton . Olson praised the pair by saying they remind him of Braden and Cole Chapman , two of the best to don the Tigers uniform and both are 1,000-point scorers playing at WVU Tech .
“ I don ’ t like to compare players , but when Braden and Cole came to us , after the first practice I said , ‘ All right , these guys are ready to play now ,’” Olson said . “ When Eli and Gabe came to us , after the first practice , I said , ‘ All right , these guys are ready to play now .’”
Cutter Boggs , an outstanding baseball player , is also a freshman who could see varsity action this season .