Photo by Jay W. Bennett Ritchie County’s Graden McKinney goes in for two of his game-high 24 points as Parkersburg Catholic’s Ethan Lang tries to block the shot during the Rebels’ 49-47 setback Tuesday evening.

PARKERSBURG — Graden McKinney had a chance to win it with a 3 and Adam Davis’ attempted putback before the final buzzer rolled off the rim as visiting Ritchie County came up just short here Tuesday night, 49-47, in an upset bid of No. 10 Parkersburg Catholic during a Little Kanawha Conference West Division affair.

The Crusaders of head man Rob Strcula, who played their fifth game in eight days, got key contributions throughout the lineup from the opening tip until the final horn.

Ritchie County (7-8, 3-6) had its biggest lead at 31-26 with 2:03 left in the first half following a Blaine Bowie putback. PCHS (10-6, 7-3) cut it to 31-29 after a putback by Jake Leisure, but McKinney’s short floater had the hosts in a 33-29 halftime deficit.

PCHS, which is off until noon Saturday when Warren invades, kept it close in the third thanks to a Xavier Collie (10 points) triple and second-chance field goals by Patrick Copen (19 points) and Jeb Boice, who scored a baker’s dozen.

McKinney, who canned five treys and tallied a game-high 24 points, put the Rebels ahead 38-36 when he connected on a mid-range jumper via an Elijah Schriver dime. McKinney followed with a 3 for a five-point cushion and the Rebels of head coach Rick Haught had a chance for the final shot in the stanza. However, the shot proved to be too quick, which allowed Boice to grab a rebound, make a couple of dribbles and then find an open Jalen Brunny for a buzzer-beating lay-in.

“When they came over after the third quarter I told them that was a four-point swing,” Haught admitted. “You know, it’s just little things to finish. That’s what I told them. We’re close to having close losses being wins. We still had our chances. We didn’t box out well.

“They kept giving us chances and left the door open. We had good looks at the bucket. That’s the frustrating part. We’re sitting right there, but they just aren’t ready for that moment yet. We’re just rushing a little bit.”

Copen scored all four of the Crusaders’ field goals in the fourth quarter, which included a cutting lay-in with 1:49 remaining to square it at 46 apiece. Following a steal by Will Hart near half court, Copen got a putback 23 ticks later to give the hosts the lead for good.

A made foul shot by Rebel J.D. Shaffer with 40.7 on the clock closed the deficit to 48-47.

Forced to foul, the Rebels twice let Brunny tip out a rebound following a missed charity stripe toss to keep giving PCHS chances. Shaffer finally got a rebound and after the ball was knocked out of bounds, the visitors had it with 7.5 seconds left in front of their own bench, but it wasn’t meant to be.

PCHS jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead thanks to a Copen three-point play and a Ben Vierheller trifecta. McKinney canned a trio of 3s and had 11 of his tallies in the opening stanza.

The Crusaders, who got six boards from Copen, five by Brunny along with game-highs of four steals and as many assists from Boice, allowed only a quartet of made field goals in the second half. Ritchie County shot 4 of 15 from the floor after the break and made eight of its 13 turnovers in the second half, which included five in the fourth.

Ethan Haught chipped in eight points and a game-high seven caroms to go along with three assists for the Rebels, who play host Thursday to St. Marys. McKinney also had six caroms and three steals.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com