×

GW Patriots slip past PHS

Parkersburg’s Karson Snyder drives against George Washington’s Justin Phillips during Wednesday night’s 73-69 overtime loss inside Memorial Fieldhouse. Phillips led all scorers with 33 points and Snyder paced the Big Reds with 20. Photo by Jay W. Bennett.

PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter here Wednesday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse to force overtime, but No. 3 George Washington improved to 2-0 by turning back the No. 10 Big Reds, 73-69.

Junior Justin Phillips, a third team all-state selection a year ago, poured in a game-high 33 points for the Patriots, who watched the Big Reds use a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter to turn a 61-51 deficit into a five point cushion.

“We didn’t execute too many of our pregame objectives,” admitted PHS head man Jeff Mennillo, whose squad will play its second game of the campaign on Friday night at No. 1 Capital. “We wanted to stop Phillips’ penetration and we did anything but. He had 33 and got to the rim a lot.

“I felt like until late in the game we did not rebound and control the boards like I thought we had the ability to do. We struggled running our offense. I think they exposed some things. Obviously, we can get better.”

After Alex Cook canned two foul shots for part of his nine counters the visitors led 61-51 with 4:15 to play. However, the Big Reds got consecutive hoops from Parker Miller, who finished with 15, to start the key run. Miller’s two charity stripe tosses at the 3:01 mark cut the deficit to 61-57 and then Karson Snyder had a steal and a lay-in to make it a one possession affair. Snyder had a team-high 20 points.

George Washington’s Bunkie Brown (23) attempts a shot and is fouled by Parkersburg’s Brenton Strange (32) while fellow Big Red teammate Parker Miller (5) also defends during the Patriots’ 73-69 overtime win Wednesday evening inside Memorial Fieldhouse. Photo by Jay W. Bennett.

A 3-pointer by Tyler Lawrentz with 2:11 to go gave the Big Reds their first lead since late in the second quarter when Easton Martin scored for a 30-29 advantage.

PHS got a putback by Miller and following Brenton Strange’s lay-in, the 15-0 run was complete as the Patriots appeared to be in trouble down 66-61. However, PHS missed its final four shots of the quarter, which included a halfcourt heave by Miller that hit the rim and went off the glass. George Washington managed to force overtime by getting three foul shots from Phillips and two by Ben Arthur.

Snyder had a 3-pointer go in and out of the cylinder to open the overtime period and the visitors went ahead for good after Traevon Isabel (11 points) made both ends of the one-and-one with 1:45 remaining. Following a runner by Snyder which wouldn’t fall, Strange fouled out and Cook made a foul shot to increase the lead to three.

After a steal by Kam White, Snyder was fouled and made one of two from the line with 42.9 showing on the clock as PHS trailed just 69-67. Leading by three after another Isabel foul shot, Snyder got fouled on a 3-point attempt with 16.1 ticks to go. Although he made the final two, his first free throw rimmed out.

PHS still had life trailing 71-69 after Bunkie Brown converted one of two from the foul line. Miller raced to the other end and had a shot in the lane. Although it was off the mark, he got his own rebound and tried to put it back up, but Cook was there to swat it away. Arthur was fouled and made both of his free throws with seven-tenths of a second left to set the final score.

“You’ve got to kind of like give Parker a little credit,” added Mennillo, whose Big Reds missed all eight shots in overtime. “As much as he looked a little disheveled coming out at halftime and having some turnovers in the third quarter, he really led the rally back and played awesome down the stretch. We needed to make another play or two and we just didn’t do it.”

GWHS, which plays Friday at Riverside, scored the first six points of the game, but PHS rallied to take a 10-8 advantage following an inside hoop by Ben McFarland, who tied Strange with a game-high three blocks. The Patriots led 17-13 after one, but two Kyle Mullen foul shots gave the hosts a 32-31 lead at intermission.

Phillips had a dozen of his counters in the third quarter. In a span of 25 seconds early in the third, the Patriots had three straight steals that led to coast-to-coast lay-ins. The first was by Cook and the final two by Phillips as the Patriots led 51-43 entering the final eight minutes.

Nearing the end of regulation with the game even at 66, PHS had the ball with 64 seconds remaining and attempted its final non-desperation shot with about 30 seconds to go, but the 3-pointer was off the mark. Cook had an inside shot to potentially win it for the Patriots, but it wouldn’t fall.

“I wanted to run a good possession and I didn’t think we could hold it for a whole minute the way we had turned the ball over,” Mennillo admitted. “I just let them play by feel. There’s going to be a little bit of growing pains.

“I thought our depth and rotations were a little muddling. I think that’s on me. There didn’t seem to be a flow to what we did and I think some of that could be on me. We just got to get better and trust each other more and figure some things out a little bit.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today