Charleston – Parkersburg South last played in the state title game in 2015 when it lost a tight contest to Huntington.
The Wood County Patriots began their quest for a return trip to the championship game Thursday morning in the Class AAAA quarterfinals against No. 6 seed Wheeling Park.
South looked every bit the part of a title contender.
Powered by 17 points apiece from Jackson Smith and Ashton Mooney, South rolled past the Patriots from Ohio County, 72-46.
“I thought we came in and struggled early. The environment kind of swallowed us up for three or four minutes,” Parkersburg South head coach Mike Fallon said. “Once we settled down I thought we played really well. All the credit goes to these kids. They don’t let things fluster them.
Trailing 13-12 with 7:25 left, Parkersburg South separated the game when Park struggled to find the mark the remainder of the quarter.
South ran off eight straight points before Park answered with a tip-in at the 3:57 mark. Unfortunately for Park, that was its last score of the half.
A triple from Jackson Smith sent South on an 11-0 run to end the half and lead 31-15 at the break.
In the first 16 minutes, Park shot a meager 25 percent from the field, including 1-of-7 from behind the arc.
Park showed some life to open the second half, but when Aiden Blake hit a tough 3 to beat the third quarter buzzer, South was in full command up 51-31.
“Our game plan was to have some longer possessions. They average 75-to-77 points per game and we are just not quite that high of a scoring team,” Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia said. “The first quarter went well. They hits some key shots and we missed some open ones. Had that (lead) been seven or eight at halftime, I think we may have been able to make a better comeback in the third quarter.”
Ashton Mooney and Jackson Smith led the South attack with 17 points apiece. Cyrus Traugh scored 14 for South and Caleb Shaffer had 14 rebounds.
Freshman guard Aiden Davis scored 16 for Park, while Brett Phillips scored eight and had nine rebounds,
“Parkersburg South has been really good all year long,” Jebbia said. “The play a tough schedule and Mooney and Traugh are two of the best that we have played against all season long.”
