WHEELING - The oohs and aahs from the crowd started from the rim-rattling slam dunks during warmpus prior to Friday night's clash between Paterson (N.J) Catholic and Huntington Prep in Game 2 of the Cancer Research Classic at Wheeling Jesuit University's Alma Grace McDonough Center.
Despite a plethora of turnovers in both halvess, the athleticism on both teams led to an entertaining evening of basketball highlighted by some fast-paced, end-to-end action.
With West Virginia University coach Bob Huggins in attendance just hours after the Mountaineers were dropped from the undefeated ranks by fourth-ranked Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., Paterson Catholic pulled out a 70-67 victory in overtime to push the Cougars' undefeated record to 5-0.
Also on hand was South Florida coach Stan Heath, who previously coached at Kent State University and Arkansas.
Taking advantage of his opportunity to showcase his talents was Paterson junior guard Myles Mack. The 6-foot-2 ball-handler scored 21 points, hitting on 9 of 15 shots from the floor, including a 3-pointer from the top of the circle early in the overtime period that gave Paterson the lead to stay at 63-60.
Mack's teammate Kyle Anderson hit a runner with 3 seconds remaining in regulation to knot the game at 60-60 and force the extra period.
Fuquan Edwin, a6-6 senior already committed to Seton Hall, had 19 points for the Cougars with most of his contribution coming from the free-throw line. He was just 4 of 15 from the field but connected on 10 of 12 free throws, including two foul shots with 5 seconds left in overtime extending the Paterson lead to three points.
Also in double figures for Paterson was 6-9 junior Derrick Randall, with 12 points and 11 rebounds while battling inside against a tall and powerful Huntington Prep front line.
The Express won the battle under the boards 43-38, led by 15 rebounds from 6-10 senior Gorgui Sy Dieng, a native of Senegal, Africa. Dieng also scored 17 points, backed by 6-8 senior Aleksander Kesic with 15 points and 6-5 Tyrel Edwards with 10 tallies.
Justin Coleman, 6-5 senior out of Richmond, Va., who is being recruited by West Virginia, tossed in seven points.
''There were a lot of mistakes by both teams but fortunately the experienced players we have came through late in the game,'' Paterson coach Damon Wright said. ''It was really a long day for us.
''We got up early in the morning and spent 8 hours in the airport before we could finally get on a plane and fly into Pittsburgh.''
The delayed flight prevented the Cougars from arriving in Wheeling until shortly after 7 p.m., which forced a late revision in the CRC schedule. The Wheeling Park-Wheeling Central game, which was slated to be second game wound up being played first. Since that game also went into overtime before the Patriots came away with the victtory, tipoff for the Paterson-Huntington contest did not take place until after 10 p.m.
''I don't think we had tired legs since we had a week off before coming here, but we never got into any kind of a groove tonight,'' Wright said.
The Cougars were playing for the first time since winning the City of Palms Tournament championship last week in Fort Myers, Fla. Mack was the MVP in that event. By going 4-0 oin the Palms Classic, Paterson Catholic is now expected to crack the top 25 on USA Today's national high shool ratings next week.
Huntington Prep, meanwhile, fell to a 5-2 record with its other loss coming against Columbus Northland, currently ranked No. 5 in the country.