Mar 22, 2025
photo by: Jay Morris
Wheeling Central’s Eli Sancomb dribbles on the wing during the Maroon Knights’ WVSSAC Class AA state quarterfinals Tuesday against No. 7 Ritchie County, an 80-27 Knights victory.
CHARLESTON – With just under one minute left in their championship game on Saturday, the Williamstown Yellowjackets elected to dribble out the remaining time. The anticipation built and built for the final buzzer, and when the final seconds had ticked by, the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights’ hard-won journey to the top was complete with a 59-40 WVSSAC Class AA boys basketball title victory over rival Williamstown.
Wheeling Central’s championship was their first boys basketball title since 2018, and first championship game appearance since 2021.
“That’s what makes it special, to see all the work they put in to be able to reach this game and reach your goal,” Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens said of his team. “That’s what it’s all about, really. They’ll probably get a chance to enjoy it later, but up ’till now it’s just been ‘focus on your next task.’ I feel so good for them, that now they can relax a little bit and just think about how much work they put in and how it paid off for them.”
Central’s dedication to their team came out in the post-game press conference, with the discussion turning to 6 a.m. practices, rigorous training, and the hard work of the JV and freshman squads.
“We put in a lot of work this year and it paid off in the end,” Tyler Dean summarized.
“That was the main goal going into the summer, state championship,” Eli Sancomb said. “We just worked very hard every day in practice- shooting, rebounding, defense, whatever it was.”
Saturday against Williamstown, Eli Sancomb finished off a sterling state tournament run with 26 points, 15 rebounds and six assists- all game-highs or tied for the game-high.
Max Olejasz scored 14 points with seven rebounds, while Troy Anthony scored eight and Dean seven.
Parker Schramm and Cruz Isaly each had 11 to lead Williamstown.
“We realized coming in it was going to be a huge task for us,” Stephens said of the game. “Williamstown’s very, very good, I have the upmost respect for coach [Scott] Sauro, his staff and his program. We knew it was going to take a big effort from us.
“First half, really close, second half they made a bit of a run to start the third quarter. We break the game down into two four-minute segments in each quarter and we want to try and win each one of those. First half I thought we did, but they won the first four minutes of the third quarter. After that I thought we responded, like champions do, came back and won the last four minutes and played really well in the fourth quarter.”
Inside the Charleston Coliseum, the championship game was tight throughout each of the first three quarters- Wheeling Central was ahead 12-11 after the first quarter, 22-18 at halftime, and 34-30 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was not close. After making seven 3-pointers coming into the fourth, Wheeling Central shifted inside down the stretch, scoring 18 points in the paint in the fourth. Olejasz put down three baskets at the rim- the first of which pushed Wheeling Central ahead by double figures, 40-31, for the first time all game. Sancomb also scored six points inside in the quarter.
Central had 22 points in the paint on the game.
“They’re very focused, and they hate to lose,” Stephens said of his team. “When it came to the fourth quarter we knew it was crunch time.
“We made a couple of adjustments offensively as far as really trying to get the ball into the paint. We were able to do that, Max got some buckets down there when Eli drove and fed him, and that changed the complexion of the game. Then when they had to start fouling us we were able to step to the line and make free throws.”
Central shot 6-6 from the foul line down the stretch, Eli Sancomb going 4-4 and Dean going 2-2. All-in-all, Wheeling won the fourth quarter by a 25-10 margin.
“Our strength of schedule was great this year so I knew going into the fourth quarter, we’ve played a bunch of tough games in the fourth quarter, so I knew we were going to win,” Eli Sancomb said.
Wheeling Central started the fourth on a 9-0 run, keeping Williamstown stuck at 30 points for over three minutes to start the quarter.
“I like to focus on the defensive end for sure,” Stephens said. “If you play defense, even if you’re struggling on the offensive side, you can still win games. A lot of times our defense feeds our offense.
“We spend 45, 55 minutes on defensive clips every day in practice. It’s very important to us. When you’ve got guys like this who can play offense, you can focus a lot on the defensive end and let them take care of the offense.”
As a team, the Maroon Knights had 14 assists against just six turnovers, and out-rebounded Williamstown 31-26. The victory was a bit of redemption after the Yellow Jackets had won the two teams’ regular-season meeting by one point, 56-55, at Williamstown.
“Somebody asked me before the game- ‘Eli Sancomb this, Eli Sancomb that.’ He’s a tremendous talent, but they’re not a one-trick pony,” Williamstown head coach Scott Sauro said of Wheeling Central. “They have other guys who can play and that’s why they’re in this game. [Luke Sancomb] can shoot the ball- he hit four out of five 3’s against us last time we played them. He can shoot, so can Dean, so can Anthony, [Dom] Gianangeli, they have the big kid inside. They’re definitely not a one-trick pony.”
Eli Sancomb put through three 3-pointers in the second quarter, accounting for all of Central’s scoring save one free throw by brother Luke Sancomb. The last of Sancomb’s 3-pointers got the biggest reaction, a 40-footer at the halftime buzzer that banked in to send the Maroon into the locker room.
“It felt good off my hands,” Sancomb said. “I saw four seconds left so I knew I could get four dribbles in, did that, and it went in. Lucky shot.”
Sancomb was named Class AA tournament MVP after the game, joined on the Class AA All-Tournament team by Olejasz and Dean.
There were 10 lead changes and four ties throughout Saturday’s contest. The state title is the 14th for Wheeling Central boys basketball.
Wheezing Central seniors Braxton Billick, Troy Anthony, Dom Gianangeli and Tyler Dean go out on top. Central, though, also brings back much of their core- including Eli and Luke Sancomb, Max Olejasz, and Nico Kusic.
“I’d come down here all the time and they would win almost every year,” Eli Sancomb said of Wheeling Central. “Since 2018 we hadn’t won one so coming in my freshman year I knew we had to win a couple. This is one.”
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