Photo by Cody Nespor Wheeling Park’s Brett Phillips, right, drives to the hoop as Capital’s Kcion Welch defends during Friday night’s game at WesBanco Arena.

WHEELING — When two talented and evenly matched teams get together on the hardwood, sometimes the outcome simply comes down to who has the most experience.

On Friday night, experience benefited Capital as the Cougars won a close 57-50 contest over Wheeling Park inside WesBanco Arena at the Fourth Annual Sam Andy Basketball Classic.

Capital returned all five starters to this year’s squad, while Park only returned one starter.

“Our first few games this year have been similar,” Park coach Michael Jebbia said. “We got control at some point in the third or fourth and then kind of lost it. We have to be able to finish. Hopefully as the season goes along we’ll be able to do that as guys get experience.”

Park began the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to capture a 38-35 edge only to see the Cougars reel off nine straight points and never trailed again.

“We brought back all five starters this year and that helped us a whole lot,” Capital coach Matt Greene said. “We had a lot of turnovers early but we were able to stay away from that in the second half. I’m proud of our guys to come out in our first game and execute down the stretch and get things done. I think that experience helped us down the stretch.”

The closest Park was able to get following Capital’s 9-0 spurt was at 45-42 but the play of senior duo Elijah Poore and Kcion Welch was too much to overcome as they bucketed 10 and eight points, respectively, in the fourth quarter alone.

“Credit to Capital,” Jebbia said. “I thought (Poore and Welch) played well. They used their physical play to get some key buckets. The zone worked for a few possessions but they hit a 3 and the tide switched. We went from being up 3 to down a few. Our guys played hard and bought into the game plan. The pace of play was more to our liking but we just have to be able to finish.”

Neither team was hitting many shots early in the game but Park was able to have success inside as 6-foot-4 junior forward Caleb Francis netted all 10 Park points in the first frame as the Patriots took a 10-6 lead into the second.

“Francis and (Brett) Phillips are going to score inside when they get the ball but we didn’t hit a 3-pointer all night,” Jebbia said. “Capital has quickness that we don’t see on our schedule and that is tough to simulate.”

Park led 14-10 early in the second when the Cougars marched off an 8-2 that sparked a 21-20 halftime advantage.

Park was 0-10 on 3-point tries in the first and finished the game without a successful trey.

Capital enjoyed another big spurt in the third — a 12-3 run — but Park was still able to stay within 35-31 entering the final frame.

Despite 15 second-half points by Phillips, the Patriots were unable to play catch-up.

“Wheeling Park is a really good team and they executed well and played great defense,” Greene said. “They were great at drawing fouls on us, too. We have to clean some of those things up but overall I was really happy with our guys and happy to get out of here with a win.”

Poore led Capital with 16 points, Welch turned in 15 and Garrett Stuck added nine.

Francis paced Park with 20 points, Phillips garnered 17, including a 7-for-8 showing in the fourth from the free-throw line, and Aiden Davis added eight points.

Although Park fell in the game, it meant a lot to Jebbia to carry on the Sam Andy Classic tradition.

“This is the fourth year for it,” Jebbia said. “Coach Andy’s legacy is incredible and we wanted to do something special. He loved playing here. He coached over 100 games here — he coached in the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament. Denny Magruder has been very gracious to us.”