For the first time in 35 years, the LCHS Boys’ Basketball team headed to the WV State Basketball Tournament in Charleston March 14.

The Minutemen lost in the opening round to the eventual state runners-up Fairmont Senior 92-35.  The Minutemen were paced by Senior Luke White who had 14 points.

The Minutemen had a lead one time in the game when they went ahead 6-4 in the first quarter.  The Polar Bears bounced back scoring 17 unanswered points.

The LCHS Student Section captured the 2019 AA “Best Spirit Section” as LCHS took four pep buses while RLBMS took one bus.  Students had a “black-out” and stood the entire duration of the game, with the only sit-down time being at halftime.

The Minutemen gained the state tourney berth following the aggressive post-season play.

They captured the Region II title by defeating Bridgeport 53-36.  They were paced by Kyle Gannon who had 20.  In the first quarter, the Minutemen fell behind early 6-11, but timely shots brought them to a two-point lead going into the half.

The Minutemen forced turn-overs and defended Bridgeport’s offense to widen the gap.  The Indians shooting was kept under 50 percent throughout the game.

Fans filled BHS’s gym starting at 6, by 6:30, few seats were left on the visitor’s side.  The team brought another pep bus and student fans remained standing and cheering until the end.

The Minutemen played Bridgeport tight all year narrowly losing to the Indians at home, and losing in a regular season nail-biter losing 62-64.

The Minutemen are paced by a host of contributors including Kyle Gannon who had 20 points. Captains Shawn Moran, Caden Rohrbough and Luke White and Juniors Asa Post and Jacob Heater, contributed.  Three-point marksman Bradley Smith, senior, also helped with the LCHS scoring.

Rounding out the Minutemen are Adin Post, Nic Kuhn, Jacob Carder, Jaycob Smith, Vincent Snuffer, Ben Jerden, Adam Watson and Will Hunt.

The Minutemen are coached by Charles Simms, Bill Linger and Joe Nichols.

The 11-16 squad was paced with winning 4/5 last ball games including three in the post season.

The winning streak started on Senior Night with Shawn Moran’s now-famous buzzer beater against Buckhannon Upshur.

BU took the lead with less than ten ticks on the clock.

With 2.3 seconds left, a BU fan threw a tennis ball across the court while some BU fans thought time had expired and fled onto the court.  After the clock was re-set, a BU fan became stuck in the stands which halted the game even further.

Luke White inbounded the ball two times to move the ball down the court. Shawn Moran called time-out with 1.7 seconds left which put the Minutemen in scoring territory inside half court.  White got the ball down the baseline to Moran who shot the ball beating the buzzer for the 3 and the win.

This set the Minutemen up for a Sectional Contest against Clay at home.  The Minutemen handedly defeated Clay which put them into the semifinals on the road at Herbert Hoover.

The Minutemen saw only scoring ten points in the first half while Hoover had 20. They rallied for the win, holding Hoover to just five points in the second half and winning 38-25.

They then fell on the road to Nicholas County, losing by 4 which paired them against Bridgeport for the Regional Finals.