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High-energy Yellowjackets take down Crusaders, 82-43

By Kerry Patrick 4 min read

WILLIAMSTOWN -- The energy Williamstown brought to the table is the kind of culture Parkersburg Catholic is trying to establish.

Unfortunately for the Crusaders, according to their coach Jim McLean, his club didn't give the amount of effort he has seen them turn in on most nights and the end result was a Yellowjackets 82-43 win, Thursday on a night dedicated to a 'Pink Out.'

"In order for us to compete on a higher level we need to buy into the culture that it takes to win," McLean said. "We just played Ripley and Williamstown, and they are diving for the ball up 30 and 40 points in the fourth quarter. And we are watching them do it.

"We have to be mentally tougher if they want to reach the goals they have set for themselves. It takes a long time to get there, but it's within their control to do that."

Williamstown, ranked No. 2 in Class AA, improved to 12-1 and stayed on pace for a possible berth in the Little Kanawha Conference's Night of Champions title game.

Williamstown coach Scott Sauro talked about one of the takeaways from a game of this nature.

"First of all, this is an LKC win and one of our goals is to play in the Night of Champions championship game," Sauro said. "They all count as one; they are all important."

Jayden Bryant and Carson Hill led the Yellowjackets with 15 points apiece. Both players knocked down three 3-pointers. Bryant accounted for 10 points as the Yellowjackets built a 27-8 lead, while Hill's production played a part in Williamstown's 35 bench points.

Williamstown opened the game in grand fashion by winning the jump ball and scoring the game's first two points on Parker Schramm's two-handed slam.The Yellowjackets led wire-to-wire after bolting out to a 15-3 advantage.

In those first four minutes played by Williamstown's starting five, PCHS went 1-for-7 from the field and turned the ball over three times.

PCHS flipped the momentum briefly when Gavin Dawson hit a bucket then assisted on Leonardo DeAngelo's 3-pointer. Williamstown's defense went back to work while creating consecutive turnovers, including a steal by Hill as part of a 12-0 run to close the opening quarter. The final bucket watched Cruz Isaly throw an alley-oop to Schramm, who guided the ball in with one hand.

Isaly finished the period with four of his team-high five assists.

Williamstown turned around a slow start to the second quarter by outscoring PCHS 14-0 over a six-minute stretch and took a 43-13 lead into the break.

With the Williamstown coaching staff utilizing its five-man shift change throughout, all 12 players who took the floor scored at least one bucket.

"Our guys played with a lot of energy from the get-go," Sauro said. "Our energy was good. Most of our games have been like that, but there were a couple in there where we might have come out flat. I didn't think we did that tonight. We played hard, and all 12 guys who went in produced and gave us something."

PCHS, which was led by DeAngelo's 15 points, entered the contest having won three of its last five games. The second half of the schedule figures to be more favorable after the Crusaders went head-to-head with the likes of Ravenswood, Ripley and Williamstown which played a role in its 3-8 record.

"We have done some good things along the way, but we have such a high mountain to climb with culture change because of the intangibles we are just not doing yet," McLean said. "The second half of our schedule is definitely more favorable than our first half. But in order to take advantage of that we have to do a little bit of soul searching on wanting to win and compete at 100 percent instead of trying not to lose."

Williamstown gets one day off before making the trek to New Martinsville on Saturday. The Yellowjackets tackle John Marshall as part of Magnolia High School's Rotary Classic.

"We are playing another Quad-A school in John Marshall -- I think they are a little bit down this year, but they have played some pretty good teams close in their losses," Sauro said. "We only have one day to prep for them. We have already been watching film and we will have our guys ready to go on Saturday."

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

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