The Logan Wildcats will conclude the month of January where it has been all month at No. 1 in the Associated Press high school boys basketball Class AAA poll, released Monday.
After staging a comeback to overtake Class AAAA No. 5 South Charleston in the final two minutes Friday night, the Wildcats received eight of 10 first place votes to remain atop the Class AAA rankings.
Reigning Class AAA champion Shady Spring received one first-place vote to remain second just one point ahead of Fairmont Senior. The Polar Bears received the other first-place vote to stay third in the rankings. Wheeling Central is fourth while Elkins moved up one spot from sixth to fifth.
Cardinal Conference schools Winfield and Herbert Hoover are ranked sixth and seventh with East Fairmont eighth, Grafton ninth and Berkeley Springs remaining at 10.
Hillbillies jump to third in Class A: Following a pair of wins over Mercer Christian Academy and Class AA No. 9 Mingo Central, the Man Hillbillies jumped from a fourth-place tie last week into the third position in this weeks Class A poll.
James Monroe. who defeated Class A No. 1 Greater Beckley Christian last week, took over the top spot in Class A moving Greater Beckley to second. The Mavericks received nine of 10 first-place votes with the Crusaders receiving the other first-place vote.
Huntington St. Joe’s is ranked fourth with Tucker County rounding out the top five.
Tug Valley checks in at sixth with Tygarts Valley seventh, Webster County eighth, Cameron ninth and Pendleton County holding steady at No. 10.
Tigers remain seventh in AA: The Chapmanville Tigers remained seventh in theis week’s Class AA poll as Poca was a unanimous selection for the top spot.
The top seven spots in the Class AA poll remain the same as last week with the Dots, who host Class AAA No. 1 Logan Friday night, ahead of St. Marys, Bluefield, reigning Class AA champion Williamstown and Ravenswood, South Harrison and Chapmanville.
Wyoming East jumped two spots from 10 to eight this week with Mingo Central staying at nine and Buffalo, who defeated Charleston Catholic ending a 51-game, 24-year losing streak to the Irish, debuting for the first time this season at No. 10. Ironically, the Bison replaced the Irish in the top 10 dropping Catholic from the rankings for the first time this season.
Logan girls fourth in AAA: Logan remained fourth in Class AAA this week as the top seven teams in the girls basketball poll remained unchanged.
Fairmont Senior was a unanimous selection and remains one ahead of North Marion, Wayne, Logan, Nitro, Robert C. Byrd and East Fairmont.
The Lady Vikings of Ripley jumped two spots into a tie for eighth with Philip Barbour while Pikeview feel from ninth to 10th this week.
Lady Tigers ranked for second consecutive week in AA: Fresh off a season sweep of Class AA No. 8 Mingo Central, the Lady Tigers of Chapmanville Regional remained in the 10th position for the second week in a row.
The Lady Tigers lost to reigning Class A champion Tug Valley and lost a one-point heartbreaker to Class AAA No. 4 Logan but rebounded to sweep the season series from Mingo Central. That victory was enough to keep the Lady Tigers in the top 10.
In fact, there was no movement in the Class AA poll as the top 10 teams remained the same as last week. Leading the way is Parkersburg Catholic, who was a unanimous selection this week. Petersburg remained second with Wyoming East third, Frankfort fourth and St. Marys fifth.
Summers County headlines the second 10 at No. 6 with Charleston Catholic seventh, Mingo Central, who defeated AA No. 3 Wyoming East and Class A No. 3 Tolsia, holding steady at eighth, Ritchie County ninth and Chapmanville rounding out the top 10.