Chapmanville Tigers fell Friday night to Tug Valley in the in the Class AA Region 4 sectional championship game at Logan High School’s Willie Akers Arena.

However, Chapmanville gets another chance under the WVSSAC’s new four-region format, which advances both the sectional champion and runner-up to the regioinal tournament. They will play next Thursday at 7 p.m. as the Tigers (17-7) are scheduled to battle on the road against Sissonville.

Sectional champion and No. 8-ranked Tug Valley (15-5) will get a home game next Thursday at 7 p.m. as Poca comes to Naugatuck for the regional tourney.

If all goes well for the locals both the Tigers and Panthers could be headed to the Charleston Civic Center to represent southern West Virginia at the state tournament, March 17-20.

And wouldn’t it be something if Chapmanville and Tug Valley meet again for the fourth time this season?

It’s hard enough to beat the same team three times in a season but the Panthers were able to pull it off on Friday night at Logan. Tug Valley had beaten Chapmanville 80-76 on the road and 92-80 in overtime at home during the regular season.

“There’s always a chance that we might see these guys in the state tournament if we both win next week,” Tug Valley coach Garland Thompson said. “If we meet again that’s good because it would have meant that we would have won at least one more game.”

Chapmanville coach Harry Kirk was asked about the prospects of a fourth meeting with the Panthers.

“I hope not!” Kirk quipped.

Kirk graciously praised Tug Valley and its team after Friday night’s ballgame and said the Panthers haven’t gotten the statewide respect they deserve.

“Tug Valley is just outstanding,” Kirk said. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t play any better than what we did. And that’s to take anything away from Tug Valley. I think that Tug Valley is a top five team. I think that they’ve been overlooked statewide. When they show up to play they are really good. They have experience, state tournament experience and they have size, good shooting and good guards. They are a very good basketball team. I thought that we didn’t play very well tonight but in the second half we picked it up and made a few little runs.”

The senior-dominated Panthers never trailed and led 16-12 after the first quarter, 36-26 at the half and 53-42 after three. Tug Valley led by as many as 17 points in the third period.

“We had a good start again and that always helps,” Thompson said. “I think that Mason Pack is such a physical presence inside. I’ve said this before but when he plays well our game is elevated. But through the course of the game we missed a lot of layups. We missed a few gimmies. I don’t know if we were tired or what but all in all it was a good win.”

Nathan Brewer led Tug Valley with 19 points. Three other Panthers broke into double digits in scoring as Michael Evans tossed in 16 points, Channing Preece had 11 and Austin Vance had 10. Mason Pack, Tug Valley’s 6-foot-9 sophomore center, netted nine points, while Mikey Newsome had five and Cody Varney four.

Todd Terry led Chapmanville with 23 points and nine rebounds. He was 7-for-11 from the free throw line.

Dustin Woody had 11 points and dished out nine assists. Matt Cook netted nine points, Cliff Hall eight, Brooks Cooper four and Zack Maynard and Bubba Conley had two each.

Trailing by 11 points after three, the Tigers tried to make a late charge.

Hall’s 19-footer with 5:58 to go in the ballgame cut the Tug Valley lead to 58-48. Terry’s bucket with 4:40 left kept the deficit to 10 at 60-50.

The Tigers, though, could get no closer.

A 6-0 Panther run, capped off by an old-fashioned three-point play by Evans, pushed the Tug Valley lead to 66-50 with 2:22 left.

Tug Valley will be back home in Naugatuck next Thursday trying to find a way to get itself into the state tournament. The Panthers have not played the Poca Dots this season.

“It’s going to be wild. There were 1,800 people in there last year,” Thompson said. “It will be packed again and that will be a huge advantage. I’m looking forward to it. We’ve played well and it’s been a tough year but I think that we’re going to be a tough out. If we can steal one more we’ll see what we can do in Charleston.”