PARKERSBURG-Parkersburg South head boys basketball coach Mike Fallon has a goal for his Patriots. And, only part of it includes being the best team in Wood County.
"We don't just want to be the best team in Wood County," said Fallon after watching his team dismantle crosstown rival Parkersburg by a 75-45 margin Saturday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse. "We want to be one of the best teams in the state."
Parkersburg South, now 3-1 heading into a road game against Fort Hill (Md) in the Sentinel Showcase on Thursday, appears to be headed in the right direction.
After outlasting the host Big Reds, now 1-4 and on a three-game losing streak, in the first quarter (14-12) the visitors from the other side of the Little Kanawha River unleashed a furious defensive pressure that resulted in a 22-8 advantage in the second eight -minute period and sent the teams to the locker rooms with Parkersburg South leading by 16, 36-20.
Senior Wes Mitchem, who led all scorers with 23 points, got things rolling for the red, white and blue with a rebound bucket at the 6:54 mark.
The play ignited a 14-0 run by the Patriots over the next four minutes.
Fact Box
Boys
Parkersburg South 75, Parkersburg 45
PSHS 14 22 28 11-75
PHS 12 8 9 16-45
PARKERSBURG SOUTH (3-1)
Tyler Bolen 2 0-2 4, Cody Monroe 5 2-2 13, Doug Dennis 4 4-6 14, Wes Mitchem 8 6-7 23, Logan Cox 4 1-2 9, Logan Lawrentz 1 1-2 4, Dylan Rippeto 0 0-0 0, Tyler Berry 2 1-4 5, Kyle Thompson 1 0-0 3, Casey Stoneking 0 0-0 0, J.R. Kerr 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 27 15-25 75. 3-Point Goals: Monroe 1, Dennis 2, Mitchem 1, Lawrentz 1, Thompson 1.
PARKERSBURG (1-4)
Andrew Bayer 0 0-0 0, Levi Hays 0 0-0 0, Ben Umpleby 4 2-2 10, Trevor Britton 5 1-3 13, Dru Aldridge 5 0-1 13, Reid Strobl 0 0-1 0, Braeden Cabbil 0 0-0 0, Adrian Webster 2 0-0 4, Laydon Miller 1 0-0 3, Jeremy Stewart 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 18 3-7 45. 3-Point Goals: Britton 2, Aldridge 3, Miller 1.
GAME STATS
PARKERSBURG: Shooting: 18 of 54 for 33.3 percent. Rebounds: 34 (Webster 7, Britton 5). Assists: 7 (Umpleby 3, Aldridge 3). Steals: 9 (Umpleby 2, Aldridge 2, Cabbil 2). Turnovers: 20.
PARKERSBURG SOUTH: Shooting: 27 of 57 for 47.4 percent. Rebounds: 41 (Mitchem 9, Cox 6). Assists: 15 (Dennis 3, Mitchem 3, Thompson 3). Steals: 11 (Monroe 4, Mitchem 4). Turnovers: 11.
JV SCORE: Parkersburg South 74, Parkersburg 47
PARKERSBURG SCORING: Kyle Foster 2, J.D. Wade 2, Jordan Henderson 3, Andrew Butcher 6, Trevor Woodyard 5, Jonathan Null 6, Justin Walker 3, Jeremy Stewart 4, Laydon Miller 10, Damen Cirrus 4.
PARKERSBURG SOUTH SCORING: Kyle Thompson 2, Casey Stoneking 10, Alex Simon 5, Logan FryFogle 8, J.R. Kerr 6, Ty Dobson 17, Trevor Boat 2, Tristan Stone 8, Brendon Schwendeman 2, Tyler Shelton 4, Cody Boggs 10.
NEXT GAMES: Parkersburg plays host to Chaminade at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday. Parkersburg South plays Fort Hill (Md.) in the Sentinel Showcase on Thursday.
Parkersburg Catholic 71,
Ravenswood 35
Ravenswood 7 3 10 15 - 35
Catholic 19 22 20 10 - 71
RAVENSWOOD (1-2)
Jeremy Balser 2 0-0 6, Jake Martin 1 0-3 2, Heath Burgess 0 1-2 1, Dalton Gandee 3 2-2 10, Issac Crow 5 0-0 10, Jacob Barr 2 0-0 4, Matt Peery 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Crow 0 0-0 0, Logan Jarrett 1 0-0 2, Dylan Radabaugh 0 0-0 0, TOTALS: 14 3-7 35. 3-point goals: Balser 2, Gandee 2
CATHOLIC (4-1)
Payton Sturm 1 0-0 2, Jake Ullman 12 1-2 29, Ben Collie 3 0-0 6, Carson Weyer 2 0-0 5, Tully Lynch-Pastoor 0 0-0 0, Joe Padden 2 4-4 9, Cody Offenberger 1 0-0 2, Brady Kurucz 4 0-0 8, Jake Boice 3 0-0 6, Seth Cwynar 0 0-0 0, Nick Roedersheimer 2 0-0 4, Andrew Nill 0 0-0 0, TOTALS: 30 5-6 71. 3-point goals: Ullman 4, Weyer 1, Padden 1
JV game: Catholic 71, Ravenswood 44
JV scoring - Catholic: Logan Arnold 3, Nick Roedersheimer 32, Wes Mendoza 8, Andrew Nill 6, Andrew Cinalli 9, Andrew Garvin 5, Ryan Schriner 8; Ravenswood: Zach Miller 2, Jonathan Crow 12, Jonathan Watkins 3, Logan Jarrett 12, Dylan Radabaugh 2, Travis Rawson 9, Caleb Meaige 1, Matt Peery 3
Next games: St. Marys at Catholic 7:30 p.m. Friday; Herbert Hoover at Ravenswood 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Magnolia 79, Nitro 55
Magnolia 22 17 25 15 - 79
Nitro 9 18 10 15 - 55
MAGNOLIA (4-0)
Spencer Campbell 2 0-0 4, Preston Boswell 3 2-2 10, Stephen Rogalski 12 2-2 26, Mark Winters 10 1-4 22, Zach Willhoite 6 0-0 12, Mike Winters 1 0-0 2; TOTALS: 34 5-8 79; 3-point goals: Winters 1, Rogalski 3, Boswell 2
NITRO (2-3)
Angelo Sirianni 4 0-0 10, Trevon Taylor 7 2-8 16, Ethan Clark 3 3-6 14, Hunter Ferrari 2 4-4 9, Jonathon Mawyer 1 1-2 4, Lee Klocke 1 0-0 3; TOTALS: 19 10-20 55; 3-point goals: Siriani 3, Clark 1, Ferarri 1, Mawyer 1, Loch 1
Next game: Tyler Consolidated at Magnolia, Thursday
Girls
Warren 80, Chillicothe 35
Chillicothe 10 4 6 15 - 35
Warren 15 33 14 18 - 80
CHILLICOTHE
Rachel Conaway 1 2-2 4, Bri Dawes 3 0-0 6, Natasha Lett 3 0-0 6, Hanna Rae 1 0-0 2, Jasmine Jordan 1 2-6 4, Jenna Holton 2 1-2 5, Kayla Cameer 4 0-0 8; TOTALS: 15 5-10 35
WARREN (5-1)
McKenzie Brooks 3 0-0 8, McKenzie Uloman 6 1-3 13, Kendra Lynch 1 4-4 6, Audrey Bowe 4 1-2 9, Sarah Proctor 1 0-0 2, Amy Fleming 1 3-4 5, Taylor Foy 0 4-4 4, Victoria Buzzard 3 3-4 11, Jordana Rauch 4 1-3 9, Adrian Lang 1 0-0 2, Emma Ryan 5 1-2 11; TOTALS: 29 18-26 80; 3-point goals: Buzzard 2, Brooks 2
Rebounds: W 35 (Uloman 7); Assists: W 22 (Flemming 5); Steals: W 17 (Uloman 6)
Next game: Warren at Maysville, Thursday
Parkersburg's Dru Aldridge, who joined Trevor Britton with 13 points for the hosts, broke the streak with a putback with 2:50 remaining until the intermission. Reserve Tyler Berry pushed the margin back to 16, 30-14, 40 seconds later before back-to-back triples by Aldridge brought the hosts back to within 10, 30-20, with 63 seconds left in the half.
Those would be the final points of the half for the red and white, however, while Parkersburg South's Logan Cox hit a layup and Doug Dennis accounted for the final four points on a pair of free throws and a lay-in with seven ticks on the clock.
"That (our defense) is the thing that we have been working on hardest in practice," said Fallon. "We know our kids can score, but when we play defense like we did tonight then we feel like we can play with anybody in the state."
That defensive pressure, which forced 20 total turnovers by the Big Reds-11 steals-continued in the second half as the Patriots' rang up 28 points on the offensive end and held their hosts to nine points on the defensive end to put an end to any doubt as to the game's outcome, 64-29, heading into the final eight minutes of play.
Joining Mitchem in double digits for the Patriots were Dennis with 14 points and sophomore Cody Monroe with 13. Cox chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and a pair of assists.
In addition to Britton and Aldridge, Parkersburg received 10 points from senior Ben Umpleby.
Four straight points from Mitchem to begin the game staked the visitors to a 4-0 lead. However, a Britton triple ignited an 8-0 run by the Big Reds over the next two minutes before Tyler Bolen took a Dennis pass en route to scoring an easy deuce to break the run with 4:58 remaining in the opening quarter.
Parkersburg South would tie the game at eight on a Monroe jumper at the 3:45 mark and the Patriots would regain the lead, 11-8, on a Dennis trey 40 seconds later.
An Adrian Webster lay-in sliced the margin to one, 11-10, with 2:15 showing on the clock, but a Mitchem jumper extended the lead back to three, 13-10.
Again the Big Reds would cut the deficit back to one on a Umpleby bucket, but that would be as close as the hosts would get as Parkersburg South closed out the scoring on a 1-for-2 effort by Dennis at the charity stripe.
The rest, as they say, was history.
