10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Balanced scoring, strong finish lead Patriots past South Charleston, 68-57

South Charleston’s Quay Sutton pushes the pace against Parkersburg South.

 

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — Having seen his team outscored 22-6 over the first 5:40 of the second half, Parkersburg South head coach Brett Rector was looking for a strong response from the Patriots after a nine-point halftime lead turned into a 46-39 deficit against South Charleston.

Rector got just what he was looking for as Parkersburg South executed at a high level over the final 10 minutes and used a balanced scoring effort to pull away from the Black Eagles for a 68-57 win.

“I talk to our guys a lot about being resilient and bouncing back,” Rector said. “Things did not go great for us at the beginning (of the second half), but our guys really stepped up late. I’m proud of the way we bounced back and then we closed out the game as well. That’s something we haven’t been great at. This is our fourth win in a row and hopefully we’re getting better at the right time.”

After South Charleston (10-9) got six straight points from Quay Sutton for a 46-39 lead with 2:20 to play in the third quarter, the Patriots put together their best stretch of the night.

Nathan Currey’s three-pointer made it a four-point game and Zach Seese made 3-of-4 free throws to pull Parkersburg South (13-6) to within one. Cam Marks then beat the third-quarter buzzer with a triple to send the Patriots into the fourth leading 48-46 — and they’d never trail again.

Despite D.J. Johnson tying the game at 48 with a layup to start the fourth, Marks responded with a triple and Currey scored inside to put the Patriots up five.

The Black Eagles got to within three on two more occasions — the latter of which came on Sutton’s two free throws with 4:51 to play.

Seese answered with consecutive buckets in the paint to up the Patriots’ lead to 59-52 and counteted a Johnon follow-up with another bucket from close range.

Parkersburg South stayed on top by at least seven the rest of the way.

“We wanted to win the third quarter to give ourselves a chance going into the fourth,” SC head coach Josh Daniel said. “Well we came out on an 11-0 run and eventually go up seven. After that, I felt like they scored seriously on every possession. We went zone, man-to-man and pressed a little bit. We just broke down defensively and that was the name of the game.”

Parkersburg South held a 12-8 lead through one quarter and it was 22-19 after South Charleston’s Bradley Jones made his second three-pointer of the second quarter. The Patriots’ Alex Woolard and Black Eagles’ Darius Dawson then traded triples to keep it a three-point lead for PSHS with 2:25 left in the opening half.

The Patriots put together an important and impressive stretch to close the opening half, getting three points from Dylan Day, a bucket from Malaki Sylvia and a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Woolard to close on an 8-2 run for a 33-24 advantage at the break.

Woolard scored all 11 of his points in the opening half to help the Patriots hold the nine-point lead.

“On the back of our door it says, ‘Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.’ That’s kind of our mindset,” Rector said. “This guy might get 20 one night and he might not the next night. And you have to be OK with that.”

But SCHS scored the first 11 points after halftime to go on top 35-33 — its first lead since 13-12 in the early stages of the second. Sutton scored six of those 11 points during the surge and totaled 12 of his game-high 23 in the period.

Seese and Currey scored 14 points apiece to pace Parkersburg South, while Woolard and Marks added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“We had some guys come off the bench and give us great minutes,” Rector said. “Zach Seese was really good.”

Johnson contributed 11 points in the loss, while Dawson and Jones scored nine and eight, respectively.





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