Photo of Jay W. Bennett Parkersburg’s Bryson Singer attacks the hoop while Jackson Smith of Parkersburg South defends during a high school boys basketball game Tuesday at Memorial Fieldhouse.
Sports journalist
PARKERSBURG – It wasn’t the start the head coach was looking for at Memorial Fieldhouse Tuesday night when Parkersburg South faced rival Parkersburg for the first time this year in the AAAA Preseason No. 10.
In fact, head coach Mike Fallon’s Patriots missed their first nine field goals, but the Big Reds not only failed on a bucket, they were 13-1 behind in the first eight minutes to suffer a 91-47 defeat.
“I thought South had a great repertoire and plays.” admitted Big Red boss Bryan Crislip, whose 1-2 squad will be back in action next Tuesday after the Buckhannon-Upshur invasion.
“Lose by 50 or one, it’s still just a loss. The children will regroup and we will come back to training tomorrow and work on getting better. “
Cyrus Traugh led the scorers with 24 points and Ashton Mooney added 21 more to add eight rebounds to the now 4-1 Patriots who are free until after Christmas when they head to Spring Valley next Thursday.
“I thought it was a pretty good game” said Mooney, who watched his teammate Caleb Schaffer (five points, 13 rebounds) register the game’s first field goal at 4:32 of the first. “We played pretty well.
“We just came out and punched them in the mouth and they had nothing to bring back with us. We started slowly but once we started walking we put it on her. We just have to get back to the gym, work hard, and prepare for Spring Valley. “
Despite a difficult opening quarter, Coach Fallon watched his team take a 13-1 lead with 2:06 to go in the verse when Traugh connected from the depths via a Brady McMullen gram. PHS went 0 of 11 out of the field in the first eight minutes.
“I love this group” Fallon explained. “They know their roles and are fully involved.”
The guests led 19-1 before Austin Fleming, who had 17 points on the team, turned a lay-in thanks to Nate Rodriguez Assist. Mooney found Austin Reeves open on an incoming pass, however, and he knocked a triple down for part of his eight counterattacks.
Aiden Blake, who registered a dozen markers from the bench, scored 31:14 at half time with a two. Despite a three-point game from Fleming to keep the deficit at 17, South received a free throw from Reeves and two more from Mooney to advance 40:20 at break.
Riley Street opened the second half with a 3 for the Patriots, who went up after a Traugh double-spin baseline make and a Mooney floater 47-20. A putback from Josh Kopec late in third for the Big Reds, they still had fourth place, 69-37 behind.
PHS, which scored 13 out of 23 on the charity strip compared to 20 out of 25 in Parkersburg South, received 10 points from David Parsons’ bench. Sammy McCale had seven markers while Bryson Singer scored six points and snapped seven caramels.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
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