Photo by Jordan Holland Parkersburg South’s Ashton Mooney, left, drives with the ball as Dover’s Tyler Little defends during a high school boys basketball game Tuesday at Rod Oldham Athletic Center. Dover won, 69-48.

PARKERSBURG — A rare off-night shooting the ball plagued W.Va. Class AAAA No. 3 Parkersburg South as the Patriots fell to visiting Dover 69-48 Tuesday at Rod Oldham Athletic Center.

South (14-3) went just 38.3% (18 for 47) from the floor compared to 57.8% (26 for 45) for the Tornadoes (20-1).

“Probably the best team we’ll play all year right there,” South head coach Mike Fallon said of Dover, champions of the East Central Ohio League as well as the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference.

“It just came down to putting the ball in the hole. Against a team like that, you can’t afford to not shoot it well.”

South’s struggles started early as Dover jumped out to a 15-6 lead after closing the first quarter on a 7-0 run.

The Patriots turned things around in the second quarter. Ashton Mooney and Devin Hershberger combined for all 19 of South’s second-period points. Hershberger opened the second with a 3-pointer before Mooney poured in the next 14 points for the Patriots. Mooney then assisted Hershberger on a layup just before the buzzer to get South within three, 28-25, at halftime.

Mooney buried a 3 to open the second half and get PSHS within one, but Dover answered with a 14-1 run to go up 43-29. That deficit was too much for the Patriots to overcome, as the Tornadoes continued to add on from there until the final whistle.

“We didn’t make shots,” Fallon said. “We were 7 for 24 or something in the second half. That’s not typical for us. It was just one of those nights where shots didn’t fall. Give (Dover) credit. You get down eight, 10 points to them, it’s more like being down 20 because you’re chasing all over the place. They’re so disciplined on offense.”

Mooney led South with 24 points and five rebounds. Cyrus Traugh chipped in nine points.

Ayden Hall led Dover with 24 points and nine boards. T.C. Molk, who was coming off a 40-point performance in the OVAC 5A championship game against Morgantown, added 16 points and six rebounds. Mikey Beall tallied seven points and a game-high seven assists.

“In the second half, we eliminated a lot of second shots,” said Dover head coach Bobby Von Kaenel. “I don’t think they made many field goals. We started getting points from other people besides T.C. and Ayden. We got a bucket from (Ben) Hamm, a bucket from (Tyler) Little. (Joey) Farthing gave us a big dunk there. Our bench got us (13) points.”

Dover also has wins over fellow W.Va. Class AAAA teams Morgantown, University and Wheeling Park.

“People ask me to compare University, Morgantown and now Parkersburg South,” Von Kaenel. “They’re all really, really good. Parkersburg South has the best depth of the three. They have a better bench than the other two. So then it comes down to who’s making shots.”

South wasn’t making shots on Tuesday, but it was a minor blip in what’s been a tremendous season for the Patriots, who have three regular season games left, starting with a home matchup at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Linsly.

“We kept digging,” Fallon said. “It’s one of those games we’ll learn from.

“We’ve been playing once a week, and you can’t get in a rhythm playing basketball like that. I’m thankful we’re going to have three games in the next 10 days or so before the tournament.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@newsandsentinel.com.