Austin Banks fired in 27 points to lead Mingo Central to a victory Saturday night.

slideshow

Kyle Lovern

Sports Editor

WELCH —The Mingo Central Miners got back on the winning track with a 66 to 55 victory at Mt. View on Saturday night.

Senior point guard Austin Banks led Mingo Central with 27 points, followed by senior center Marqus Cunningham’s 16. Banks also dished out seven assists and Cunningham pulled down 11 rebounds.

“I thought our defensive effort was good,” said Mingo Central coach Brad Napier. “Our starters held them to under 50 points. They scored seven in the last 2:00 minutes on our JV kids.”

“I really liked the way our defense played,” Napier added. “I think we have played solid defense the last few games. We shot the ball a lot better Saturday night.”

The cold shooting has hurt the Miners in their last few games. Napier said he hopes this game will get them out of the shooting slump.

The Miners and Golden Knights were tied at 11-11 with 1:33 remaining in the first quarter. Mingo went ahead and never gave up the lead.

Mingo’s Alex Lee tied the score at 9-9 on a basket.

At the 2:35 mark, Banks tied the game at 11. Lee got another basket which gave the Miners a lead they would never relinquish.

Banks had four 3-pointers for the Miners, while Julius Hatcher fired in a pair of 3’s.

Mingo Central went on a 9-1 run to close out the half to lead 36-21.

The Miners were 14-26 at the free throw line for 54 percent.

Antoine Calloway and Maurice Brown scored 15 and 13 points respectively for the Golden Knights.

The Miner’s led by as many as 21 in the second half.

The setback for the Knights snaps a 6-game win streak by the Mt. View (11-4). The Miners are now 9-8 with the win, finishing a stretch of four games in five nights.

The Miners will host Chapmanville tonight in an important sectional and conference game. Then they host Scott on Friday night and will travel to Belfry on Saturday. MCHS defeated Chapmanville earlier in the season in overtime and lost a heartbreaker at Scott.

Score by quarters:

MCHS … 16 20 18 12 - 66

Mt. View …11 10 19 15 - 55

Scoring:

Mingo Central (9-8) – A. Banks 27, J. Hatcher 6, M. Cunningham 16, A. Lee 9, G. Simpkins 3, S. Hammond 5.

Mt. View (11-4) – T. Vineyard 7, I. Sawyers 6, W. Johnson 4, J. Saunders 3, A. Calloway 15, M. Brown 13, D. Bonds 7.