Tigers up to fourth in Class AA, Wildcats fall to ninth in Class AAA boys basketball poll

Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports

CHARLESTON    Riding a three-game winning streak, the Chapmanville Tigers rose two spots in the latest Associated Press Class AA boys basketball poll.

The Tigers, who defeated Wayne (71-55), Scott (68-33) and Class AA third ranked Wheeling Central (62-48), jumped from a sixth-place tie to fourth in this week's Class AA rankings.

Logan, who has lost six straight after a 4-0 start to the season, fell three spots to No. 9 in the Class AAA poll.

Some may question the Wildcats ranking despite a six-game losing streak, but the voters have recognized that all six of the Wildcat losses have come to ranked competition and four the six losses have come in overtime including a pair of overtime losses to Class A No. 3 Tug Valley (69-68) and AA No. 2 Williamstown (56-51) in last week's Willie Akers Classic.

Logan has lost to Class AAAA No. 1 Spring Mills (70-45) and AA No. 7 Poca (50-48) while two of the four overtime defeats have come at the hands of AAA No. 3 Nitro (69-65) and county rival and Class AA fourth-ranked Chapmanville (79-73).

There was no change in the four classes top-ranked teams as Spring Mills (AAAA), Fairmont Senior (AAA), Charleston Catholic (AA) and Tucker County (A) sit atop the rankings for a second consecutive week.

Spring Mills is just five points ahead of two-time reigning Class AAAA champion Morgantown with George Washington third, Martinsburg, who jumped four spots from last week, is fourth and Bridgeport up four spots from nine to five this week.

Jefferson falls from third to sixth, Wheeling Park drops from fifth to seventh, Hedgesville falls two spots to eighth and is tied with Huntington, who is down one spot from seventh last week and St. Albans debuts at No. 10 in this week's Class AAAA poll.

The top five in Class AAA remain the same with Fairmont Senior leading the way followed by Shady Spring, unbeaten Nitro, East Fairmont and Herbert Hoover rounding out the top five.

Lewis County jumped three spots to sixth, Sissonville and Midland Trail remained seventh and eighth this week with Logan ninth and newcomer Liberty (Harrison) rounding out the top 10 in Class AAA.

Charleston Catholic and Williamstown remain one and two in Class AA. The Irish kept their perfect record intact with a pair of wins in last week's Willie Akers Classic defeating previously unbeaten Williamstown, 43-32, in the opening round on January 12, and followed that win up with a victory over Class A No. 3 and previously unbeaten Tug Valley, 57-44, in the championship game on January 13.

Bluefield and Chapmanville both jumped two spots to third and fourth and Wheeling Central fell two spots to fifth.

Ravenswood, ranked fourth last week, fell to sixth while Poca fell to seventh with Petersburg, Wyoming East and Trinity remaining eighth, ninth and 10th in Class AA.

No changes were seen in this week's Class A poll with the top 10 teams remaining the same as they were last week.

Tucker County, two-time reigning Class A champion James Monroe, Tug Valley, East Hardy and Webster County remained one through five.

The second 10 remained the same as Clay-Battelle, Wahama, Greater Beckley Christian, Cameron and Madonna occupy spots six through 10.