ONA -- Lamb led a slaughter.
Gale Lamb made 6 of 8 attempts from 3-point range and scored 24 points to lead George Washington (10-0) to a 68-40 victory over Cabell Midland (5-5) on Tuesday night in high school boys basketball at the Castle.
The 6-foot-2 senior guard topped his per game average by 10 points.
"He's been shooting it really well," Patriots coach Rick Greene said of Lamb. "He's really grown into being a senior. When he was younger, he wouldn't shoot when he'd miss one or two. Now, he takes good shots and keeps shooting. That's what he's been doing all year."
Lamb's play emphasized Green's assessment. Lamb missed his first three shots and four of his first five, sinking one two-pointer. In the second quarter, he made 2 of 3, both 3-pointers.
Lamb opened the third quarter with consecutive treys to boost GW's lead from 26-15 at the break to 32-15.
Lamb, who scored seven points in the fourth period, started a 23-4 third-quarter run that allowed the Patriots, ranked third in Class AAAA, to put the game out of reach.
"I thought we were a little up and down at first," Greene said. "Everybody loves to come out and play us. (Knights coach) Corey (Woomer) had them ready to go. They played hard. Eventually, our defense, it's irritating and you can't quite get what you want to get, and it wears on you."
The Patriots turned turnovers into points. Cabell Midland committed 12 turnovers in the first half and finished with 19.
"It's frustrating," Woomer said. "Rick Greene is up there with the best of them. They're very well-coached and they have so many weapons. The first quarter, I thought we started off playing pretty well. We were down 13-9 and following our game plan. The first half was OK. The third quarter, they came out like a buzz saw."
Woomer said the Knights had to play stellar defense, hit shots and not turn the ball over. Instead, Cabell Midland allowed GW to make 27 of 55 shots (49%) and made just 16 of 41 (39.0%) itself.
The Patriots' biggest lead was 30 points.
"The defense was pretty good and we started hitting some shots in the second half," Greene said. "That loosens things up."
Greene also praised GW's reserves.
"I thought our bench went in in the first half and really gave us a kick start," Greene said.
Tyler Maddox came off the bench to score seven points in the first half. Sai'Vyon Brown and Charlie Castle chipped in three each and Dominic Sprouse two in the first two quarters.
Noah Lewis finished with 16 points and a game-high seven rebounds for GW. Marshall Summers paced the Knights with 12 points.
The Patriots return to action at 4 p.m. Saturday at Wheeling Park. Cabell Midland is home against Huntington High at 7 p.m. Friday.
GEORGE WASHINGTON 13 13 23 19 -- 68: Harris 1 0-0 3, Brown 1 1-2 3, Lewis 6 2-5 16, Castle 2 0-0 4, Lamb 9 0-0 24, Kelley 2 1-1 5, Spencer 0 0-0 0, Mullen 0 0-0 0, Maddox 4 0-0 9, Smith 0 0-0 0, Sprouse 2 0-0 4, Martin 0 0-0 0.
CABELL MIDLAND 9 6 4 21 -- 40: Blackburn 3 0-0 8, Christus 1 1-3 4, Phillips 1 2-2 4, Ray 4 0-1 8, Summers 5 1-2 12, Hughes 0 1-4 1, Gibson 0 0-0 0, Christian 0 0-0 0, Spence 2 0-0 4, Paynter 0 0-0 0.
3-point shooting: GW -- Harris 1-3, Lewis 2-4, Lamb 6-8, Spencer 0-2, Maddox 1-2, Smith 0-3, Sprouse 0-1, Martin 0-1; CM -- Blackburn 2-7, Phillips 0-2, Summers 1-6, Spence 0-2. Rebounds: GW 31 (Lewis 7, Kelley 6); CM 23 (Blackburn 6, Christus 3, Phillips 3, Ray 3).Â
