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Wheeling Central Boys Basketball Wins Fifth Straight OVAC Title

Senior John Burkhalter Sets Record With Six 3-Pointers

Photo by Josh Strope Wheeling Central’s John Burkhalter, left, pulls up for one of his championship game record six 3-pointers Saturday at Ohio University Eastern. Defending on the play is Shadyside’s Chase Wade.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Shadyside coach Ed Andes thought the best way to be successful against Wheeling Central was to try and keep Brent Price from doing damage inside the paint.

Price had a solid game with 20 points, but the Tigers’ Chase Wade did a good job on not allowing him to take over the game.

Wheeling Central is no one-trick pony, though. Saturday during the OVAC Class 2A title game at Ohio University Eastern, it was John Burkhalter that made the Tigers pay.

The senior hit a Class 2A championship game record six 3-pointers on his way to 22 points and the Maroon Knights claimed their fifth straight OVAC title with a 75-61 victory against Shadyside.

“I woke up this morning and I was feeling good,” said Burkhalter, who was named the John Howell Most Valuable Player. “I was shooting away and doing alright in warmups. I was iffy if I was going to shoot a lot but after the first couple, I was going to let them fly.

“To win one is amazing, but to win all four years I was here is a real honor.

“I couldn’t have done it without all the other guys that help me out like Owen (Gainer), Brent, Gabe (Rohmann), Bray (Price) and everybody else that contributed on the court.”

Wheeling Central (20-2) scored the first six points and looked like it would run away with it again — it has beaten Shadyside in its two previous meetings this season, 77-55 and 78-45.

Shadyside (12-10) wasn’t going to go down easy this time. The Tigers tied it at 19-19 late in the first quarter on a basket by Wade.

Burkhalter’s first 3-pointer gave the Maroon Knights a lead before the end of the quarter and they never trailed again.

Wheeling Central pushed the lead to double digits in the second quarter, paced by three 3-pointers from Burkhalter.

The lead grew to as many 17 as Brent Price snatched a rebound away from Wade and put it back for a 55-38 advantage in the third quarter.

“We battled but they have so many weapons,” Andes said. “We tried to keep Price out of the lane, but Burkhalter was hitting. Then you have to worry about Gainer. Just a lot of guys to guard and you don’t know who is going to beat you.

“I can’t fault our kids’ effort. Price does a great job of getting guys a lot of shots and when he gets in the lane, nothing but good things happen. We missed some layups and we had some good looks, but the outside shot just wasn’t really falling for us.”

The Tigers went on an 11-3 run to get within nine, but Brent Price drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, followed by a Burkhalter 3-pointer. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Gainer tipped the ball to himself and scored an easy layup.

Price’s steal and dunk a few minutes later was the exclamation point as Wheeling Central earned another title.

“It doesn’t (get old),” Wheeling Central coach Mel Stephens said. “The neat thing is you basically come in with a new group of kids and it is special for them. The guys coming back, they realize that now we won five in a row, the pressure is on them next year. It keeps them focused, keeps them energized.

“You have to give Shadyside a lot of credit. They played better. Our pressure hurt them at times, but other times they made us pay for it at the other end. The Wade kid inside played well. We didn’t play our best, but knowing the pressure was what we wanted to do and it had the result that we wanted.

“John had a really good hand. Sometimes you live by that, you die that. That has been our game all year, though. When you are making shots like that, even if you give up a two at the other end, you are still ahead a little bit.”

Wade led the Tigers with 19 points, followed by Josh Zandron and Austin Carroll, each with 14. Gainer added 12 for the Maroon Knights.

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