Parkersburg South's Harry Silvis, who scored a game-high 26 points in three quarters of action, knocks down a jumper over Linsly's David Stankovic during the Patriots' 100-57 victory Thursday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Class AAAA preseason No. 4 Parkersburg South came out firing on all cylinders here Thursday in the season opener versus Linsly inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center as the Patriots exploded for a 33-point first quarter en route to a 100-57 victory.

Taj Joyce got the party started 19 seconds in when he converted a floater for part of his 20 points as the hosts never trailed.

Harry Silvis, who like Joyce played three quarters, knocked down a pair of 3s in the first en route to a game-high 26 counters.

South, which converted 7 of 10 from downtown in the opening eight minutes, led 33-12 after a Xavier St. Andry floater dropped. The Cadets of first-year head man Bubby Goodwin trailed by 19 after one thanks to Biram Ndiaye finding David Stankovic for a turnaround bank shot.

“Parkersburg South, since I’ve been in school, they usually got a good team full of shooters,” admitted coach Goodwin, who is Wheeling Park’s only three-time first team all-state roundball honoree. “They showed it tonight. They shot the he- out of the ball tonight.

Parkersburg South's Chase Offenberger defends against Linsly's Nolan Smith during the Patriots' 100-57 victory Thursday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Just hats off to them. They came ready to play. It just wasn’t our night. We had a slow start. We just dug ourselves in a hole and it’s hard to get out of, especially playing down here first game. It was wild. It was a little bit of an off night, but we’ll figure it out. We’ll be alright.”

Parkersburg South, which welcomes Capital to town on Tuesday, also received 14 points from Bowen Rader, eight by Matthew Mullen, seven apiece from Cam Fallon and Baron Davis along with six by Logan Graham.

“We’ve got shooters everywhere. That’s the good thing. I don’t know if we’ll shoot that well every night, but we’ll take it,” quipped Patriot head coach Mike Fallon, whose team had eight turnovers in a second quarter that Linsly won 21-19. “I think our sophomores were seniors in the first quarter. They played like sophomores in the second quarter. I think probably four of those turnovers were in the last 30 seconds when we kind of went haywire.

“The positive part of that was that it was a great teaching experience because those three sophomore guards (Davis, Graham, Carter Fluty) are tough. Those guys can handle the ball. They can get after it. They are not your typical sophomores. In the past we’ve played maybe one sophomore, maybe a year. We got some young guys who can play to go in with the senior group.”

Linsly, which plays host to Morgantown at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, got the final two buckets of the second by Ndiaye and Nolan Smith to trim the deficit to 17 at 52-35 heading into intermission.

Parkersburg South's Taj Joyce converts a floater in the lane to open the game as Linsly's JB Maulana defends during the Patriots' 100-57 victory Thursday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PSHS opened the third quarter on a 19-4 spurt. Silvis had a dozen of his counters in the third while Joyce drained three of his game-high five trifectas.

“We just got Taj back Monday,” added coach Fallon. “He was in the hospital for four days with tonsillitis. We haven’t had him since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He missed six, seven, eight days there and we scrimmaged without him last weekend, and we’ve had two kids with rolled ankles.

“Tonight was kind of the first night with everybody back. It was huge to get him back. I think the biggest thing is just learning from the little things we did. It felt like old times in here. The psychos, that’s the best they’ve been in probably three or four years and the community support we got tonight was good. I really like this group.”

Silvis had the lone jam of the night following a steal by Davis late in third and on the next trip down the floor he drained a beyond NBA 3 as Linsly found itself doubled up at 82-41 at the 1:57 mark.

A late foul shot by Ndiaye, who had seven points, along with a Tim Nganta deuce for part of his team-high 15 markers made it 82-44 entering the fourth.

Parkersburg South's Logan Graham goes up for a reverse lay-in during the Patriots' 100-57 victory Thursday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Just as the clock approached 20 seconds remaining, Logen Arnold found Ethan Sands open for a triple – South’s 17th – as the Patriots reached the century mark for the first time since Feb. 28 of 2023 during a 100-59 win versus Hurricane at the ROAC.

Smith finished with eight points while Stankovic had seven points and joined Mullen with a game-high eight rebounds. Victor Jurado had a pair of treys in the setback.

Silvis added a game-high four blocked shots and chipped in three assists and as many steals.

South finished 17 of 32 from beyond the arc and shot 56.1% overall after converting 37 of 66 attempts.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com