Photo by Jay W. Bennett Parkersburg’s Noah Umpleby, pictured here going around a screen set by teammate Chris Farson, made the game-winning bucket with 2 seconds left to help the Big Reds to a 72-70 upset of No. 7 Huntington Tuesday evening inside Memorial Fieldhouse.

PARKERSBURG — Amare Smith had a game-high 30 points for No. 7 Huntington here Tuesday evening inside Memorial Fieldhouse, but Noah Umpleby got a mid-range shot to fall with 2 seconds to play as Parkersburg upset the Highlanders, 72-70.

The 4-3 Highlanders of head coach Ty Holmes trailed by as many as 14 points late in the third and were still behind 61-50 with 5:46 to play after Big Red freshman point guard Aiden Vega converted a driving runner.

However, Dionn Sims hit a triple for part of his nine bench points to start a run for HHS, which closed it to 61-58 when Eli Archer made a foul shot for part of his 17 points at the 4:13 mark. Umpleby, though, canned back-to-back triples 47 ticks apart as PHS appeared to be in good shape up 67-58 with 3:16 remaining.

That didn’t prove to be the case for the 3-4 Big Reds of first-year head man Bryan Crislip as a Torin Lochow 3 via one of Joe Patterson’s six assists made it a two-possession affair. Thanks to a pair of deuces by Sims and a lay-in by Smith, who added nine boards and six assists, Huntington kept it close and managed to tie it at 70-all via a Smith trifecta at 0:31.

PHS, which plays Thursday at Ripley, called its final timeout with 22.2 to go. Carson Dennis got the inbound, nearly walked and the ball eventually ended up in the hands of Umpleby, who made the shot inside the elbow. Huntington was granted a timeout with 0.5 to go, but Lochow’s long pass hit the rafters for the Highlanders’ 22nd and final turnover.

“They were going to let me take the shot so I had to get it for the team,” said Umpleby, who finished with 22 points, one shy of teammate Sam Potts’ 23. “It worked out. It’s all good. I knew I had to get it up.”

Dennis added a dozen points off the Big Red bench while Vega finished with nine points, six assists and a game-high seven steals.

“They almost got a 5-second count and then it went helter skelter,” Crislip said of the final moments. “I thought Carson got fouled, whether he did or didn’t, but it ended up in Umpleby’s hands with 3 seconds, he shot it and that’s it. It went in.

“I was happy he got the opportunity because he wanted the opportunity. This was huge. This was a big win. We’ve got to learn to close games out. It’s a big step in the right direction. We’ve got to be smart with the ball.”

Lochow finished with nine points for HHS, which shot 50.8% (30 of 59) from the field, but just 5 of 20 from deep. The Highlanders return to action Thursday in another Mountain State Athletic Conference tilt when Riverside invades.

The Big Reds who hit 9 of 25 from deep and shot 39.7% (25 of 63) overall, received a game-high 10 caroms from Josh Kopec. The hosts made eight of their 19 turnovers in the opening stanza.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com