Parkersburg Catholic’s Branson Lott (0) dribbles past Fort Frye’s Ethan Wagner during Friday’s game in Parkersburg. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG – Leonardo DeAngelo has seen some of the lowest of lows as a member of the Parkersburg Catholic boys basketball program.

Friday night against Fort Frye was not one of them. The senior experienced one of the highest of highs as a Crusader after he surpassed 1,000 points for his high school career during the fourth quarter of a 69-66 win over the Cadets.

There was no stoppage of play when DeAngelo hit the milestone in the fourth quarter, but there was plenty of celebration on the gym floor once the game was over. His teammates surrounded him after the public address announcer revealed his achievement to the crowd.

“This is probably my best high school memory for basketball,” DeAngelo said. “Coming from an 0-22 record my freshman year and to be 7-1 this year, I’m just excited. I honestly thought I could do this, but it took a lot of work and a lot of time in the gym.”

DeAngelo scored a game-high 22 points, including 17 in the second half.

Fort Frye’s Kainan Bradford guards a Parkersburg Catholic ballhandler in the post during Friday’s game in Parkersburg. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“I am so proud of Nardo for learning resilience,” PCHS coach Jim McLean said. “He has come a long way and that goes for mentally and physically. This is his night and he deserves it. The brotherhood around in the locker room is truly amazing.”

For Fort Frye, the New Year has ushered in a brand new approach compared to how the Cadets opened the season. Their top two scorers Chatum Courson and Aiden Brooks are sidelined indefinitely with injuries. The revised lineup had only one day to prepare for PCHS.

Fort Frye didn’t appear fazed at the outset after hitting eight of its first 13 shots while building a 20-10 lead. Ethan Wagner knocked in two threes and scored eight points during those first five minutes of the games.

“Our guys came out with a lot of confidence in that first quarter – we played a style we wanted to play, and at times we got away from that later on in the game,” Fort Frye coach Eric Henniger said. “Tonight was a sign of good things that can happen. We have a completely different team with a lot of younger guys playing and getting heavy minutes now. We just have to keep figuring it out as we go.”

Trailing by 10 in the opening period, PCHS came out of a timeout and reeled off six straight buckets in the matter of 30 seconds to cut the deficit to 20-16. The Cadets maintained a lead for the final 13 minutes of the first half, but the Crusaders managed to close the gap to 34-33 by halftime.

Parkersburg Catholic senior Leonardo DeAngelo, middle, scored his 1,000th career point during the Crusaders’ 69-66 win over Fort Frye, Friday in Parkersburg. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PCHS overtook Fort Frye with a 14-2 run to open the third quarter. DeAngelo started the run with a bucket and found Carter Nelson open or a corner three to ignite the run.

Kainan Bradford’s tip-in off an offensive rebound accounted for the only Cadet points during the drought. Bradford finished with 14 points.

“Fort Frye hit like their first 10 shots of the game – some were off-balanced and others were runners,” McLean said. “At some point they had to calm down. We just needed to settle in, change the defense a bit and get some stops.”

The Crusader’s 11-point lead at 47-36 started to evaporate when Grady Hesson’s bucket at the 3:24 mark of the fourth quarter led to a 6-0 spurt that put the Cadets within two at 65-63 with just more than four minutes remaining in regulation. Hesson led the team with 15 points.

Over the final four minutes, PCHS worked the clock on its offensive end. Fort Frye was forced to foul with 37 seconds showing. Luke Anderson, who finished with 15 points, made both ends of the two-shot foul and DeAngelo added another free throw at 23.6 seconds to increase the lead to 68-63.

Fort Frye’s Ethan Wagner (14) shoots a jumper over Parkersburg Catholic’s Luke Anderson (15) during Friday’s game at Parkersburg Catholic High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

The Cadets still had life after Wyatt Duskey’s 3-pointer at 10 seconds, but DeAngelo again added a free throw at 1.2 seconds. Wagner rebounded the miss on the second attempt but the southpaw’s heave fell well short of the basket at the other end of the court as time expired.

“With a team like Fort Frye, who is physical, we wanted to redeem ourselves a little bit after the Warren game last week,” McLean said. “We know we are better than we played at the Marietta (River City Classic). We just needed to come out and get a win against a physical team.

“I know they are down a couple of guys, but they are going to be strong and physical regardless of who they put out there. So this is a great win for us.”

Parkersburg Catholic, ranked No. 7 in the latest West Virginia Coaches poll, improves to 7-1. Fort Frye drops to 6-2 with a home game next on the docket Tuesday against Warren. Feeling sorry about their injury situation is not who the Cadets are.

“That’s not Fort Frye – all these guys have been winners for a long time, so I got faith in them,” Henniger said. “They are tough-minded kids, so I’m not worried about that at all.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com