MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In an ideal world, Morgantown boys basketball coach Dave Tallman and Wheeling Park boys basketball coach Michael Jebbia wouldn’t have been guiding their respective teams against one another for the second time in five days.
However, that was exactly the case Tuesday night at MHS as the Mohigans welcomed the Patriots for an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference semifinal in the third matchup this season between a pair of familiar foes.
Less than one week after Morgantown prevailed at Wheeling Park by four points, the Mohigans were again tested by the Patriots but dominated with defense in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 59-45 victory.
“We made an adjustment at halftime. They were getting loose on threes,” Tallman said. “Let’s give Wheeling Park credit. They shot the absolute lights out of it tonight. Aiden Davis is a first-team all-state kid in my mind for sure. They did a great job and schemed us up a little bit. We just had to gut it out. It was an ugly night, but their coaching makes it that way by the way they played us.”
Morgantown (18-1) improved to 3-0 this season against WPHS, which fell to 11-6. The Mohigans will face Dover (Ohio) on Saturday at Harrison Central (Ohio) for the OVAC title, while the Patriots head to Parkersburg South on Friday.
“I’m proud of our guys for battling. We understand they’re very good and well-coached,” Jebbia said. “We had a great game with them Friday night. It stinks we have to play them again here Tuesday, but it’s the way the tournament works. They’re a seasoned team. They’re good.”
The Mohigans led 49-41 through three quarters and limited WPHS to one field goal and four points over the final 8 minutes.
Park’s only basket came from point guard Aiden Davis, who made a short jumper with 42 seconds left when the outcome had been all but decided.
“We have four guys scoring in double figures for the season, but when you play against a team with 6-7, 6-6, 6-5 and 6-4, it’s tougher to score in there,” Jebbia said. “A lot of our strength is driving and getting buckets inside and it’s just not always going to be there against them. Their length causes those problems.”
MHS began the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to seize control of the contest. Garrison Kisner’s cutback, one free throw from Izzy Everett and a Brody Davis three-pointer provided the offense during that surge, and not until freshman Amare Johnson’s two free throws at the 3:54 mark did the Patriots score in the fourth quarter. At that point, Park’s deficit was 55-43.
“They started to go inside a little bit and they have the size and they got some separation,” Jebbia said.
After making 10-of-19 field-goal attempts in a well-played first half, WPHS was limited to 6 for 21 second-half shooting.
The Mohigans built an early 9-3 lead on the strength of forcing five turnovers over the first 5 minutes, while Everett and Jacob King combined to for all of the offensive production to that point.
But Park settled in, and Johnson provided a major lift off the bench, sinking a trio of three-pointers over the final few minutes of the opening quarter to cut his team’s deficit to 15-12.
“To have a game like that for a freshman off the bench is incredible,” Jebbia said.
Johnson picked up where he left off by making another trey early in the second quarter for an 18-15 deficit, before King responded with a runner that was followed by Everett’s layup.
The Patriots answered with four straight points from Aiden Davis, and they closed their deficit to 24-23 on a Keohn Stephens layup at the midway point of the frame.
Everett countered with a triple that allowed MHS to regain its four-point lead, and it stayed that way through two quarters after Aiden Davis and Morgantown’s Cam Danser traded triples, enabling Morgantown to hold a 32-28 advantage at halftime.
King’s trey and a Brody Davis layup provided a 5-0 surge for the Mohigans, who went from leading 36-32 to holding a nine-point advantage. Kisner added back-to-back buckets moments later, before a Brody Davis layup left the Mohigans with their largest lead at 47-33 with 2:52 remaining in the third.
The Patriots closed the period in strong fashion, utilizing an 8-2 run to cut their deficit to eight. Aiden Davis began that stretch with a trey and Johnson scored the other five points, before Park sputtered offensively down the stretch.
Everett scored 14 of his 15 points in the opening half.
King added 10 points in the win, while Danser and Brody Davis scored eight apiece. Kisner added eight points. Both Davis and Kisner were scoreless at halftime.
“Thank goodness Izzy was here tonight,” Tallman said. “Other guys weren’t producing and he stepped up. That’s a strength of our team. We have so much depth and any night it can be anybody. We’ve said that all along. Tonight we had a bunch of guys laying goose eggs out there and Izzy stepped up and carried us. I’m really proud of him. He guarded the other team’s best player all night. He was in the training room all day icing his knee this morning and he really gutted it out. He’s a great kid and he’s earned it.”
The Mohigans finished 23 of 43 from the field and after totaling only seven first-half rebounds, they controlled the glass in the second half to finish with a 25-19 edge on the boards.
Johnson scored a game-high 19 points in defeat and Aiden Davis added 18, but the remainder of the Patriots combined for only eight points on 3-for-15 shooting.
WPHS had 14 of the game’s 23 turnovers.
MHS played without standout point guard Sharron Young, who has been sidelined of late with a thumb injury. Young was in action for Morgantown’s 79-43 victory over WPHS in their first meeting this season, but he’s been out the last two.
“We expect more out of those seniors and they have to be more mature and step up and be leaders,” Tallman said. “Our seniors struggled tonight a lot and they have to really step up and put this team on their back while Sharron’s out.”