Doddridge County’s Brysen Dixon (3) gets double-teamed by Williamstown’s Mason Kern (13) and Nate Nicely during Friday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

WILLIAMSTOWN – Not for a lack of effort, Williamstown has backed itself into a corner in terms of the regional hierarchy.

Friday night at Williamstown High School, Doddridge County swept the regular-season series with theYellowjackets after pulling out a 64-55 win.

In addition to the two losses to DCHS, Williamstown (5-4) already has one loss to fellow regional member Wheeling Central.

“Those two teams are good, but we just have to keep working – it’s a long season,” Williamstown coach Scott Sauro said. “There’s no quitting with this team. They play hard every game we’ve played. It’s just that we have to play more efficiently. That’s the biggest thing I’ve got to watch for.”

Even when down 10 with one minute left in regulation, Williamstown didn’t back down. Freshman Caleb Atkinson, who finished with a game-high 28 points, was fouled attempting a 3-pointer then converted all three free throws.

Doddridge County’s Landon Thomas (2) looks for his shot while being defended by Williamstown’s Mason Kern (13) during Friday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

A steal by Cedric Davis on the ensuing inbounds found Atkinson for the and-one. The three-point play cut the deficit to 59-55 with 40 seconds still showing on the clock.

In the next 17 seconds, three different DCHS free throw shooters made one-of-two from the line and widened the gap back to 62-55.

A steal by DCHS’ Landon Thomas at 23.1 seconds followed by his two makes at the charity stripe clinched the Bulldogs’ fifth straight win and marked their 11th win of the season in 12 games.

“It always seems like we are battling some kind of adversity, but I think that every team does at this point in time,” DCHS coach Paul Burnside said. “We have been battling the flu bug this week and didn’t have school yesterday so there were just different things we had to overcome. We weren’t able to go as deep as we liked because we had the sickness.

“Williamstown has great kids and a real good basketball club, and it’s tough to go on the road in the LKC and get a victory. We were able to get it done today.”

Williamstown freshman Caleb Atkinson, who scored a game-high 28 points, works the perimeter during Friday’s game against Doddridge County in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

All three DCHS players scoring in double figures finished with 13 points – Thomas, Jerod Trent and Josh DeHaven.

Williamstown did not show much zone in the first meeting but used it for the majority of its home floor game – testing DCHS’ perimeter shooters. Blake Mitchell, who scored eight points on the night, knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, including one just prior to the first-half buzzer to put the Bulldogs in front 30-22.

Otherwise, Williamstown’s defensive approach allowed the Yellowjackets to force the tempo in the first half. The Yellowjackets led 14-6 before DCHS went on a 17-2 run over a 6 1/2-minute span.

After Williamstown opened the third quarter on a 12-3 run and took its final lead at 34-33, the turnover bug crept in for the Yellowjackets. Consecutive steals by Thomas and Trent led to uncontested breakaways as DCHS reeled off 10 straight points for a 43-34 lead at the 1:15 mark of the third quarter.

“The ball sticked too much – when we took the lead, the ball was moving,” Sauro said. “When we gave up the 9-0 run in the first half and the 10-0 run in the second half, the ball was sticky. And when we do that, we are pretty average.

Williamstown’s Wyatt Powell (1) is tightly guarded by Doddridge County’s Jerod Trent (11) during Friday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“You can’t do that against good teams.”

After missing the first meeting with DCHS, Williamstown’s 6-foot-5 senior Tyler Keiser saw only 1 ½ quarters of action on Friday after he was involved in a collision with 5:07 still left in the first half. He left the premises holding a towel to his facial area and never returned.

“It was a basketball play – he was going for the ball,” Sauro said.

DCHS entered the game hitting 24% from 3-point range as a team. Against Williamstown, the Bulldogs were good on 31% (4-of-13). Perimeter shooting and improvement on the free-throw line are areas of focus for the Bulldogs moving forward.

“A lot of people might look and say, oh, you are 11-1 and things are going well,” Burnside said. “As a coach, we have a lot of room for improvement. We struggled early on tonight – Williamstown came out in a zone and that’s a little different for us. My assistant coach actually suspicioned that. I’m proud of the guys for settling in, adjusting and ultimately taking care of business.

Williamstown’s Nate Frye (5) locks in defensively on Doddridge County’s Jerod Trent (11) during Friday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“This game was not only big for regional purposes but also LKC purposes. My guys understood that coming in, and we were under the no excuse policy. We just needed to get the job done with who we had available.

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

Doddridge County’s Jaden Solomon, right, works the post against Williamstown’s Eli Houser (25) during Friday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)