SETH — Facing nothing but state-ranked opponents as part of a tougher-than-leather schedule, the Sherman Tide dropped to 1-7 with four losses last week.

Sherman faced three Class AA opponents (No. 10 Sissonville, No. 7 Tug Valley and No. 6 Bluefield) and one Class A opponent (No. 1 Charleston Catholic) that are among the elite programs in their respective classifications.

“That is a rough week in itself,” Sherman coach Chris Duncan said. “All in all, if we take care of the things that we can take care of, we win those games.

“It was foul shots and layups every game. We missed way too many foul shots and layups in all of those games. We are beating ourselves. This is probably the roughest schedule Sherman High School has ever had. But we are doing it for a reason — to be battled tested at the end of the regular season.”

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Sherman suffered a 64-57 setback against Sissonville last Monday.

The back-and-forth game was tied at 14-14 after the first quarter. The Tide fell behind 34-25 at halftime but cut the deficit to 47-46 after the third quarter.

A 17-11 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter clinched the victory for the visiting Indians.

Junior guard Justin Woodrum led the Tide with 15 points. Senior forwards Jake Rollo and Justin Maloskey each followed with 13 points.

Senior forward Colby Treadway added eight points. Senior guard Tyler Boulet provided six points. Senior guard Cody Cooper contributed two points.

The Tide made 6-of-14 free throws.

“If we make our foul shots, we win by one,” Duncan said. “That isn’t even counting the layups and little chippies we missed. We just let one slip away from us.”

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Sherman also dropped a 76-63 decision against Tug Valley last Tuesday.

The Tide fell behind 16-13 after the first quarter but led 33-29 at halftime. However, the Panthers used a 22-13 scoring advantage in the third quarter and a 25-17 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter to pull away from the visitors.

“We had a bad second half,” Duncan said. “We came out a little sluggish in the third

quarter. They made a run on us and we didn’t recover.”

Sherman had three double-digit scorers — Rollo (21 points), Treadway (19 points) and Boulet (14 points).

Woodrum finished with six points. Junior forward Carlos Masingo followed with three points. Maloskey added two points.

The Tide once again was

6-of-14 from the foul line.

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Sherman dropped a 43-38 decision against Charleston Catholic on Friday.

The host Tide fell behind 13-10 after the first quarter, 21-15 at halftime and 33-22 after the third quarter.

Maloskey had 10 points and was the only double-digit scorer for the Tide.

Treadway provided nine points. Woodrum recorded seven points. Rollo and Boulet added six points apiece.

Sherman made 10-of-17 free throws.

“If we make our foul shots, we win by two points,” Duncan said. “That doesn’t even count the easy shots we missed around the basket.

“Our foul shooting has been our Achilles heel. We are getting to the line enough to win games, but we aren’t cashing in on those opportunities.”

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Sherman suffered a 62-50 setback against Bluefield on Saturday during the Capital City Showcase at the Charleston Catholic Athletic Complex.

The Tide led 16-13 after the first quarter, but the Beavers used a 15-12 scoring advantage in the second quarter to tie the score at 28-28 at halftime.

Bluefield took control of the contest with a 19-6 scoring advantage in the third quarter.

Rollo finished with a team-high 16 points. Treadway followed with 10 points. Masingo added eight points. Maloskey provided six points. Boulet contributed five points. Woodrum added four points.

Sherman was 6-of-16 from the foul line.

“It sounds like a broken record,” Duncan said. “We shoot foul shots every day and we chart them. I don’t know what it is. If I could pinpoint it, I could fix it.

“I bet we missed 10 or 12 layups, too. If we take care of the things we can take care of, like making foul shots and layups, we are 7-1 and maybe even 8-0 instead of 1-7. But it has been a season-long trend.”

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Sherman was scheduled to visit Poca on Tuesday. Results from that game were unavailable for this week’s issue but will be published in next week’s issue.

Sherman will visit Herbert Hoover on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., visit Liberty Raleigh on Monday at 7:30 p.m. and host Clay County on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

“This stretch could be where we get on a run like we did last year,” said Duncan, whose team had a 10-game winning streak in the second half of the regular season in the 2008-2009

campaign. “I know we can do it. We have shown so many signs of being a great team.”