Parkersburg's Chandler Jackson, who scored a game-high 25 points during the Big Reds' 68-58 Mountain State Athletic Conference victory Thursday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse, nearly comes away with a steal after Redskin Ben Lewis tried a skip pass. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Quinten Wilson got things going in the first half while teammates Chandler Jackson and Karson Gooch did the heavy lifting after intermission here Thursday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse as Parkersburg snapped a five-game losing skid following a 68-58 Mountain State Athletic Conference victory versus Hurricane.

The 3-7 Big Reds, who trailed 5-0 before ending the first on a 19-5 spurt, got a pair of three-point plays in the opening stanza from Wilson en route to his dozen counters which all came in the first half.

Jaxon Thomas’ triple via a Sutton Stanley assist at 3:35 of the first actually put the Big Reds ahead for good at 9-8 after the Redskins opened the affair with a Jack Willis putback and a Ben Lewis trifecta.

Jackson, who poured in 19 of his game-high 25 markers in the second half while also pulling down a game-high 12 caroms, helped the Big Reds maintain their 10-point, 31-21, halftime advantage going into the fourth after scoring eight markers in the third as the Redskins still trailed by 10, 46-36.

In the fourth, it was the Jackson and Gooch show as the Big Red duo combined for all 22 of Parkersburg’s points. Jackson had 10 while Gooch, who came off the bench to score 18, tallied the other dozen.

Parkersburg's Quinten Wilson, who scored all 12 of his points in the first half of the Big Reds' 68-58 Mountain State Athletic Conference victory Thursday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse, pulls up for a jumper. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“When we play like that, we win,” admitted Big Red boss Phil Wilson, whose squad had 16 assists with Jackson dishing out six while Thomas and son Quinten had a quartet apiece. “When we don’t and we start going back to our old selves again, you know, it just goes downhill.

When they play for each other. When they play as a unit. When they play and they don’t care who scores the basketball. When they share the basketball, you know, we look like a basketball team and that’s where the Ws come from.

“When we start doing selfish stuff, man, bad things happen. I’m proud of them right now because you know we did have a Quinten sighting because Quinten’s been down a little bit. Him coming out in the first half and being aggressive as he was. That was a bonus. Chandler picking his poison and picking his moments when it’s the right time to shine. That was a big one. Gooch stepping up and playing the way that he did, that was a huge one because Gooch is a big part of this right now. If we can get his confidence up and get him to start playing like that on a nightly basis it changes the whole structure of us as a basketball team.”

The Redskins of head coach Dana Womack, who slipped to 4-5 and play Saturday at Calvary Baptist, used a pair of Arix Allie deuces and two Carson O’Dell free throws to cut the deficit in half to open the third.

However, the Big Reds answered with a Mathias Williams bucket and the Redskins never got any closer.

Parkersburg's Jaxon Thomas fires a pass into the paint for an assist to teammate Mathias Williams during the Big Reds' 68-58 Mountain State Athletic Conference victory Thursday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse versus Hurricane. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

O’Dell, who drained all 10 of his free-throw attempts, finished with 24 points. Brian Goheen added nine counters off the bench while Parker O’Dell had six markers. Lewis dished out a game-high seven assists.

The Big Reds also return to action on Saturday night when No. 5 triple-A Bridgeport invades.

“We got to play like this. If we play like this, I think we’ll be just fine,” added coach Wilson. “Our problem is when we are down. If we go down eight, nine, 10 points we start panicking and that’s when we start forcing things that don’t need to be forced. We got to learn how to play with composure and some poise a little bit. It’s just getting these young men to understand that.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg's Karson Gooch, who came off the bench to score 18 points during the Big Reds' 68-58 Mountain State Athletic Conference victory Thursday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse, challenges the shot of Redskin Ben Lewis. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)