Parkersburg South's Logan Graham rejects the shot of Expression Prep's Dylan Burko during the Patriots' 100-55 victory Saturday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Expression Prep had no answer for Taj Joyce and Matthew Mullen here Saturday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center as No. 3 Class AAAA Parkersburg South rolled to a 100-55 triumph.

Mullen scored 11 points in the opening quarter while Joyce, who had all 22 of his game-high counters in the first half, had nine markers.

Thanks to a pair of deuces apiece by reserves Logan Graham and Cam Fallon the Patriots of head man Mike Fallon improved to 4-0. South isn’t scheduled to return to the ROAC until George Washington invades on Jan. 20. Kaiden West (15) and Joel Frazier (13) led the way for the 4-7 Lions, who also received eight points and five boards from Mike Tate along with seven counters from BJ McCreath, which all came in the first.

Mullen added game-highs of nine rebounds and four steals. Harry Silvis finished with 15 points and joined Joyce with a game-high five assists, which they shared with Lion Jayden Castillo. Joyce also registered a trio of blocked shots and Graham had a pair.

Frazier’s lay-in put the Lions of head coach Johnathan Frazier on the board first and it was 4-4 after West converted, but South raced to a 28-17 advantage after one.

Parkersburg South's Taj Joyce, who scored all 22 of his game-high counters in the first half, makes a pass to the wing while Expression Prep's Joel Frazier defends during the Patriots' 100-55 victory Saturday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Chase Offenberger’s steal and assist to Joyce, who threw one down, followed as the Patriots took the lead for good. Coach Frazier called timeout after turning the ball over against the press as Joyce got a steal and a dime via a layup by Mullen.

“That’s the thing. Our guys like each other. They share the basketball. No one cares who scores,” said coach Fallon. “We got guys who can come in and score in double figures. I think the biggest thing those guys know – when’s a good shot, when’s a bad shot. When they should take a shot and that kind of stuff. That’s big and it’s starting to grow. I think the big thing now is we’re getting ready to go on the road for some tough battles. We’ll be tested here in the next two weeks before we come back home, which is good because come March you want to be tested.

“We got Boyd, Kentucky and they are as good as anybody we’ll play all year. Then we go to Huntington on the sixth. We go to Morgantown on the eighth and we go across the river on the 10th. The next thing you know it’s going to be tournament time and we’ll be ready to go though. We’ve got a few little things to fix and they’ll fix those. Those are things we kind of fix on the fly and it’s good to have a senior laden team where you can just kind of talk them through things and they figure it out. That’s one of the coolest parts.”

No one dented the scoreboard in the second until Frazier had a steal and a layup 90 seconds in, which cut the deficit to nine. However, the Patriots proceeded to go on a 15-0 spurt that was started by a pair of Bowen Rader charity stripe tosses. A Silvis trifecta was then followed by consecutive treys from Joyce, who then hammered home his second dunk of the evening.

A Frazier make finally stopped the run and made it 43-21, but Silvis then had a three-point play before the Lions scored nine straight.

Parkersburg South's Matthew Mullen converts a lay-in for part of his 19 points during the Patriots' 100-55 victory Saturday night against Expression Prep inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Although Expression Prep cut into the PSHS cushion and had it 46-30 late, Baron Davis assisted on a Joyce trifecta and Joyce’s hoop with 2.5 seconds remaining from a Silvis assist gave the hosts a 51-30 intermission advantage.

Parkersburg South, which is competing in the Winter Classic at the Summersville Arena with an 8 p.m. Tuesday tilt versus North Marion and 12:30 p.m. Wednesday showdown versus Boyd County, received 12 points from Graham.

The Patriots, who led 74-40 entering the fourth, reached the century mark thanks to an Aidan Treat lay-in.

Expression Prep returns to action Monday evening for a tournament game in Belfry, Kentucky.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg South's Bowen Rader tries to cut off Expression Prep's BJ McCreath during the Patriots' 100-55 victory Saturday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)