CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – It started with a moment of silence inside the Charleston Convention Center.
It ended with the student section thunderously chanting, “Long live Wayne.”
And somehow in the middle a basketball game was played.
“I’ve been around Woodrow basketball for about 30 years, and I’ve never been through anything like this,” said head coach Ron Kidd.
“That didn’t feel like a basketball game with everything going on. I know I got emotional,” said Morgantown head coach David Tallman.
The box score will show that Morgantown won 69-56. It will also show point, rebound and assist totals.
But, it won’t show that Morgantown wore number 12 shirts during warm-ups to honor Dwayne Richarson Jr., who died on Sunday.
“We just wanted to show our support in any way we could,” said Morgantown senior forward Carson Poffenberger.
It wont show Dwayne’s father sitting on the bench cheering on the Flying Eagles.
“I thought that was awesome,” Kidd said. “He had to be strong to do that, because I don’t think I could have did it as a parent.”
And the box score certainly wont show a community and an entire state coming together. But that’s exactly what happened on Thursday.
“That just shows he was a great person and everybody feels it. So, the whole state is hurting right now,” said Woodrow Wilson freshman guard Elijah Redfern.