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McWhorter Leads Patriots Past Monarchs

Park takes control early and hands JM 61-36 defeat

Photo by Kyle Lutz Wheeling Park’s De’Vaughn McWhorter drives to the basket while John Marshall’s Adam Miller defends during Tuesday’s game.

WHEELING — During Wheeling Park and John Marshall’s first matchup of the season, the Monarchs were in control for the first three quarters. Although the Patriots secured a win, it took a valiant comeback effort.

This time around, Wheeling Park coach Michael Jebbia made a few adjustments to ensure that would not happen for a second time.

The game plan worked almost to perfection as the Patriots forced 10 turnovers in the first half and scored 10 of the game’s first 12 points in a 61-36 victory over the Monarchs on Tuesday at the John Marshall Field House.

“They were in control for three quarters,” Jebbia said about the last time the two teams met. “We tried to do some different things on (Bryce) Yoho. An emphasis was to discard them in the half court and try to rebound the basketball and trigger our fast break that way. It was refreshing. We had a nice start. This is the best we’ve played against John Marshall since probably the game down here last year.î”

De’Vaughn McWhorter led the way for Wheeling Park (11-2) with 18 points including hitting four 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Jack Stakem and Alex Vargo both tallied 11 points while Donovan Goddard and Keondre’ King each had eight points.

“The nice thing is our two all-staters (King and Vargo) didn’t have to score a ton,” Jebbia said. “We had a nice margin on them. We’re going to need De’Vaughn McWhorter to make shots down the stretch. We’re going to need Jack to keep playing the way he is playing and Donovan Goddard continues to step up.

“This is the best our chemistry has been in quite some time here. These guys get along, they cheer for each other, they like each other and this group has kind of been together for two or three years.”

The Monarchs (5-12) scored the first bucket of the game, but it was all Patriots the rest of the way as they scored the next 10 points. A McWhorter basket with 1:19 left in the opening quarter made it 17-6. The lead never fell to single digits the rest of the way.

Wheeling Park extended its lead to 24 as it scored 13 of the first 15 points of the second quarter as the score read 32-8 with 3:04 left until halftime.

“They were a better team than when we played them up there,” John Marshall coach Chad Clutter said. “They’ve gotten on a nice win streak and beaten some good teams when they went to South, so they have a lot confidence. They played like your typical Wheeling Park team (Tuesday).

“Hats off to them for that. You force us into turnovers, we don’t make too many shots and get out-rebounded, it’s difficult to win.”

Along with his 11 points, Stakem rattled off five rebounds, three steals and three assists and didn’t turn the ball over.

King and Vargo also did not have to do much of the heavy lifting. While on average the dynamic duo takes 16-17 shots per game, Vargo took eight while King had nine.

“That’s the main thing,” Jebbia said. “If King and Vargo make plays to get other guys buckets, that just helps the team. They didn’t try to force anything. We had a very good practice (Monday). I think the John Marshall game at home was a wake-up call. John Marshall played really well, controlled us for three quarters up there.”

Leading the way for the Monarchs was Aaron Reid and Bryce Yoho as they both had nine points. Reid compiled all of his in the final eight minutes.

“We’ve been doing this for the past five or six games trying to move forward,” Clutter said. “The kids don’t give up. We’re just going to have to tighten up defensively and keep teams in the 50s in order to win.”

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