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Brayden Jones, Julian Stadelman combine for 64 points in boys BACF win

By Mike Morrison 6 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Perhaps the toughest job inside the Rod Oldham Athletic Center Friday night was determining the Most Valuable Player for the winning Ohio team in the 22and annual Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis Basketball Classic.

The Ohio squad broke open a tight ball game by scoring 48 points in the second quarter and went on to trounce the West Virginia squad 169-130.

Blane Maddox coached the Ohio squad and the veteran Warren Warriors head coach was glad he wasn't the one who had the make the call on the MVP.

"I don't know how they came up with an MVP because it felt like we had nine or 10 of them," said Maddox. "The guys that didn't score a lot played great defense and it was just a great night for us."

One of Maddox's own in first-team All-Ohio guard Julian Stadelman would have been an excellent selection as he tossed in 30 points and dished out five assists.

Another worthy candidate for the winners would have been Fairland point guard Brody Buchanan who added 29 of his own.

Big six-foot-seven inch Cade Mock of Gallia Academy would throw his hat into the ring as well with an 18-point,10-rebound double-double.

In the end however it would Marietta's Brayden Jones who took home the honors as the Tigers all-time single game scoring leader tossed in a game-high 34 points including an impressive 10 from behind the ark.

Ironically it was on the West Virginia side of the river earlier in his senior year that Jones broke the school record by tossing in 49 points at Clay-Battelle including 13 from long range.

"It must be the ball they use over here in West Virginia," joked Jones. "It's neat getting to play with all of these great players that have all been competitors and for such a great cause like Cystic Fibrosis. I'm happy to be here and happy that Ohio was able to come out on top."

The two swapped the lead back and forth several times in the opening quarter with the Ohio squad finishing the opening 12-minute period with a 39-30 lead.

With just under 10 minutes to play in the half the Buckeye squad took their first double-digit lead of the night thanks to a two-pointer from Marietta's Junior Bass off of an assist from Monroe Central's Chance Allen.

The Ohio squad would score 19 of the next 25 points and just like that the once close ball game had turned into a 25-point lead for Ohio.

The lead would continue to swell to as many as 30 before Tyler Consolidated's Brady Strode's two-pointer just before the break trimmed the Ohio lead to 87-59.

The Buckeye squad had four players in double-figures alone in the opening half while Parkersburg's Nate Rodriquez led the Mountaineer team with 13 .

The West Virginia team managed to get the lead down to 23 a couple of different times in the second half but were not able to make a serious run the rest of the way.

Jones connected on 10 of his first 12 shots from behind the arc to lead an Ohio squad that rang the bell 22 from behind the arc.

Stadelman canned five while Buchanan knocked down three.

Maddox was familiar with almost all of the players on the Ohio team but was none the less quite impressed with the array of talent.

"It's just so much fun to get to coach that much talent all on the same team," said Maddox. "They played defense, everybody played well for us, they shared the ball it was just outstanding."

Ohio finished with seven players in double figures altogether as Bass and Allen tossed in 15 while Warren's Connor Barry added 13.

Allen, fresh off of playing such a key role in Monroe Central's state championship victory last Saturday also participated in the dunk contest where he placed third behind runner-up Mock and the winner Parkersburg South's Navi Hewitt.

Winning the dunk contest wasn't the only award that Hewitt would win as he took home MVP honors for the West Virginia team after tossing in a team-high 19 points including 15 in the final half.

Many of Hewitt's points came via the slam dunk much to the delight of the home crowd fans.

"It doesn't get much better than this with a bunch of great players coming into a great building and great coaching staffs," said Hewitt. "It's a lot of fun because a lot of people show up to watch and it's for such a great cause."

Bridgeport's Landon Sanders and Jack Spatafore each tossed in 17 points for the Mountaineer squad which was coached by their head coach Dave Marshall.

It was just six days ago that Indians picked up a state title of their own with a win over Nitro.

"It was great to be part of this and I got to spend one more game with our three guys who have been so special to me," said Marshall. "I always hate losing but this is a little bit different."

Marshall was quite impressed by the turnout and the entire event.

"I've been involved in a number of these All-Star kind of events before but I was really kind of blown away by the number of people who were here," said Marshall. "It speaks to the community of Parkersburg and their willingness to get behind such a great cause."

Rodriquez also added 17 points for the West Virginia squad while St. Marys grad to be Ryan Kent added 13.

Bridgeport's Phoenix Sickles and Cabell Midland's Ethan Blackburn rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points apiece.

Maddox thought the event was an incredible combination of putting together an entertaining evening while also raising funds for such a worthy cause.

"This is for such a great cause with Cystic Fibrosis with money going national and money going regional," said Maddox. "It was a great crowd and both teams went out and played hard and it's just a wonderful event for our community."

Sanders edged out Nelsonville-York's Briant Call to win the three-point contest.

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