Parkersburg Catholic's Luke Anderson comes away with one of his game-high four steals during the Crusaders' 82-70 victory Friday night versus Webster County. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Webster County kept punching here Friday night against Class A fourth-ranked Parkersburg Catholic, but the Crusaders managed to extend their winning streak to seven games following an 82-70 Little Kanawaha Conference victory.

Webster County, which had won three straight and slipped to 7-5 for head coach Brett Morris, drained 5 of 10 from downtown in the first half and shot 65.2% (15 of 23), but trailed 39-38 at intermission after Crusader Carter Nelson buried a 3 with 2.5 seconds left.

PCHS, now 12-1 with a 1 p.m. showdown today versus No. 3 Clay-Battelle at Magnolia’s Rotary Challenge, led 44-43 early in the third before the hosts used a key 14-2 spurt to take control.

Crusader Preston Randolph poured in 20 of his game-high 24 points in the first half while Luke Anderson scored 16 of his 20 counters following intermission. Leonardo DeAngelo tallied all dozen of his markers in the fourth as Nelson and fellow starter Branson Lott put up 11 points apiece.

“I was afraid we were going to look ahead to tomorrow, but we were pretty locked in,” admitted Crusader boss Jim McLean, whose squad held a 17-3 turnover edge and shot 54.2% (32 of 59). “Give credit to Webster. They didn’t miss all night. We thought they would cool down at some point and they just kept going in. We had to switch defense and go zone and that’s when we finally opened up the game a little bit.

Parkersburg Catholic's Carter Nelson drives toward the paint while Webster County's Ryder Wright defends during the Crusaders' 82-70 victory Friday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We’ve done a good job this year of sharing the ball better than we have in the past. Preston had a big first half and we knew they would adjust to that. Everybody else started stepping up and getting hot in the second half – 82 points – I can’t be mad at that. I’d just like to see us sit down and guard a little bit better, but again credit to Webster because they just kept throwing it in the hoop.”

The Highlanders, who are scheduled to square off with No. 2 Greater Beckley Christian on Tuesday, only trailed 67-64 with 4:33 remaining when Spencer Baird found Ryder Wright open for a triple, and it was still a three-point affair at 69-66 with 3:02 to go following a pair of Christian Neal charity stripe tosses, but the visitors couldn’t get any closer.

“It’s without a doubt Parkersburg Catholic is one of the best teams, if not the best team, we’ll play all year,” said coach Morris. “They are definitely deserving of the top four, five teams in the state without a doubt and I know they have a big battle with Clay-Battelle tomorrow. I thought our guys played really hard. We got in a little bit of foul trouble early. Kasey Farmer got two early fouls.

“Had to sit him most of the first half. Isaiah Cutlip, which was my fault completely, he had two. Left him in and he picked up a third one. Just hustle play so we had to sit him. We did make some shots. That’s not the pace of play we want to play at. We don’t want games to be in the 80s. We like the 50s and 60s, sometimes even the 40s, but we scored 70 tonight against one of the best teams in the state in single-A basketball so we have to acknowledge that as well.”

Farmer (15), Neal (14) and Lewis (13) were joined in double figures by Wright, who scored 12 points and dished out a game-high 10 assists.

Webster County's Isaiah Cutlip looks to score while being guarded by Parkersburg Catholic's Andrew Francisco during the Crusaders' 82-70 victory Friday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg Catholic’s key run in the third, which took 2:42 off the clock, was fueled by four Anderson deuces and a pair of Nelson trifectas.

Farmer, who had grabbed a team-high eight boards, proceeded to knock down a pair of foul shots before Cutlip hit from deep to make it 57-51 entering the fourth.

“I wasn’t worried, but we thought they’d eventually cool down because everything was going in and they came out and hit three straight shots in the third quarter so we just had to open up the zone a little bit and try to get some deflections and run-outs to open up the game,” replied coach McLean when asked about the mood at halftime.

After the sizzling start to the first half, Webster County hit 4 of 12 from distance after the break and finished 24 of 45 (53.3%). Baird had nine markers on a trio of 3s and Cutlip finished with seven points.

Anderson, who had game-highs of four steals and three swats, was a carom shy of a double-double. Lott grabbed eight boards while Randolph had seven assists.

Webster County's Joston Lewis uses a screen from Christian Neal as Parkersburg Catholic's Leonardo DeAngelo (4) and Luke Anderson (15) defend during the Crusaders' 82-70 victory Friday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Contact Jay W. Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com