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Big Reds drop tough game to Musselman on Senior Night, 57-56

Photo by Joe Albright Parkersburg’s Easton Martin works against Mussleman’s Latrell Warr during the Applemen’s 57-56 win over the Big Reds Monday night inside PHS Memorial Fieldhouse.

PARKERSBURG — Eight seniors were honored in a pre-game ceremony before a top-10 matchup between No. 10 Parkersburg and No. 7 Musselman Monday night inside PHS Memorial Fieldhouse.

Unfortunately for the honorees, the visiting Applemen were able to hang on and spoil Senior Night with a 57-56 win over the Big Reds.

“I didn’t think we played smart,” said PHS head man Jeff Mennillo. “We had a one or two-point lead there with about a minute to go and we took two or three sorta like — not terrible shots — but not the kinds of shots you take when you have a lead.

“I felt like again for the fourth or fifth game in a row we’ve lacked energy … I don’t know?”

Mennillo’s squad connected on 21 of 58 shots, good for 36 percent, while Musselman hit on 18 of 42 for a 43 percent clip. Both teams finished relatively even on the boards. PHS collected 28 misses led by Brenton Strange’s 10, while MHS corraled 26 caroms with 11 of those coming from Cam Stephens.

The contest between the Applemen (18-3) and Big Reds (14-8) saw 23 lead changes and four ties. Parkersburg owned the biggest lead after Brenton Strange scored two of his 11 points for a 27-22 PHS lead with seconds remaining until halftime.

An abnormal’y large number of charges were called but the stat wasn’t shocking as the contest between the top 10 teams was extremely physical. Eight charges total were whistled in the contest.

Bradley Craig’s triple with 3:16 left in the second quarter gave the Big Reds their first lead of the game since 6-5 with 4:27 left in the first half. Strange then went on his mini-run to give PHS a 27-24 halftime lead.

The home team held the lead for almost five minutes before Chris Fox splashed a triple for his only shot of the game to give Musselman a 37-34 lead with 4:31 left to play.

Breathing room was hard to come by in the final eight minutes of play. Both teams entered the fourth with 40 points each with neither wanting to give an inch.

Karson Synder’s connection on the back end of two freebies put PHS ahead by one at the 7:24 mark. Davon Caton then connected for the visitors for a 42-41 advantage.

Both buckets kicked off a four-minute period where the advantage changed hands nine times.

Kam White gave the Big Reds the lead for the last time when he connected on a shot from behind the arc with a hand in his face with 2:10 remaining.

Musselman responded and scored the final five points of the game to pick up the win. PHS had a chance with 8.1 seconds left but Parker Miller’s drive to the rim and Easton Martin’s tip-in attempt were off the mark.

“We just had opportunities and we gave up either an offensive rebound or we fouled somebody,” said Mennillo. “We just did some things to shoot ourselves in the foot. We just need to get over the hump and really needed to win a game like that tonight but it was clear if we guard better we are fine. Offense isn’t the issue but boy we have got to guard better.”

Seniors White and Snyder finished in double-digits on the evening scoring 10 and 14 points respectively. Classmates’ Bradley Craig (3 points), Easton Martin (4), Kyle Mullen (3), Ben McFarland (2) and starter Tyler Lawrentz (4) all put up points on Senior Night as well.

Final-year player Ben Wolfe also got on the floor but did not score.

Fortunately, those same seniors and PHS fans will get a bonus opportunity to help send the seniors off with a win as it is expected the Big Reds will play host to the Region IV, Section 1 championship game at Memorial Fieldhouse on March 3.

Parkersburg’s opponent either will be Parkersburg South or Ripley.

Strange was the only other Big Red to score in double-figures after he poured in 11.

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