Marion County basketball rivalry reignites in state tournament

Mar. 16—FAIRMONT — The stars — or rather, the official seedings — have aligned for the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears (24-1) and North Marion Huskies (13-10) to face off Thursday at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Class-AAA State Tournament in Charleston.

The Polar Bears enter Charleston coming off a 77-39 dismantling of Lincoln in the regional finals, while North Marion had to go on the road and beat the Keyser Golden Tornado by a two-point margin, 63-61 in overtime.

It was the second straight year that North Marion had lost their sectional championship and had their backs to the wall on the road in regionals. In the 2021-22 season, North defeated Berkeley Springs to get to Charleston, where they lost to No. 1 Shady Spring in the quarterfinals.

The Fairmont Senior Polar Bears come in as the No. 2 seed this year, after taking the gold in last year's state tournament by the skin of their teeth, a game-winning shot by Zycheus Dobbs sent the Polar Bears past Shady Spring in the championship and into the halls of history.

Many have picked a Fairmont Senior-Shady Spring rematch in this year's championship final as well, but there is a lot of basketball to be played at the Charleston Coliseum before the title game on Saturday.

Fairmont Senior and North Marion met once before in the regular season, a Feb. 2 contest at the Fairmont Field House where the Polar Bears handled the Huskies 81-40.

The early February contest was a game of two halves. North Marion led 15-10 after the first quarter of that matchup, and Fairmont Senior led by only three, 29-26, at halftime.

The second half, though, was disastrous for North. A highly effective full-court press turned the Huskies over in bunches in the second half, and Fairmont Senior built a near-20 point lead by the end of the third.

If the regular season matchup has anything to say about Thursday, then turnovers will be a huge factor in the state quarterfinals. North finished with 21 giveaways in their earlier meeting, and being unable to work their offense against Fairmont Senior's pressure cut down the Huskies' hopes back in February.

Easy baskets for the Polar Bears came out of that press too, allowing Fairmont Senior to shoot 65% on the game. Controlling the ball will help North out immensely both ways.

Long-range shooting also figures to impact Thursday's game. The Huskies' offense has ebbed and flowed throughout the season, and hitting your 3-point shots certainly helps grease the wheels of any point-scoring effort.

North went 3-3 in the first quarter from downtown against Fairmont Senior the last time they met, with Preston Williams, Caden Morris and Landon Frey each hitting early.

That trio has provided much of the Huskies' shooting throughout the year, and will have to be at the top of their games Thursday.

North Marion and Fairmont Senior's upcoming clash will have its share of intriguing individual matchups as well — the two team's two best players mirror each other.

North's Preston Williams and Fairmont Seniors' Zycheus Dobbs both shoulder primary ball-handling duties for their respective squads, and carry heavy burdens on offense and defense.

Williams has averaged 14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 45% from the field and 37% from 3. Dobbs has averaged 21.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game shooting 64% from the field and 38.5% from 3.

Two of the best big men in Class-AAA match up on Thursday as well. The Huskies' Harley Sickles and Polar Bears' DeSean Goode can both dominate a game on the glass and inside, and will see plenty of each other throughout the game.

To this point, Sickles has averaged 17.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game shooting 56.5% from the floor. Goode has put up 18.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game on 70% shooting.

Rounding out the usual starting five for North Marion is Frey, Morris and Parker Kincell, with Casey Minor and Brock Martin coming off the bench. For Fairmont Senior, Andre Grant, Latique Williams and Connor Gower make up the squad's starting lineup, with Jaleel Law and Julz Butler coming off the bench.

Class-AAA State Tournament Quarterfinals Schedule

No. 3 Ripley vs. No. 6 Elkins, 9:30 a.m.

No. 2 Fairmont Senior vs. No. 7 North Marion, 1 p.m.

No. 1 Shady Spring vs. No. 8 Hampshire, 5:30 p.m.

No. 4 Herbert Hoover vs. No. 5 Scott, 9 p.m.

Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.