Trending
WHEELING -- Following a subpar practice on Tuesday, in which Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia admitted that his second team out hustled the first, the veteran mentor wasn't sure what to expect from his Patriots Wednesday night with an athletic Steubenville squad traveling up the hill.
However, Jebbia's team didn't leave him wondering long and while Park wasn't perfect in the opening half of play there wasn't much more the Patriots could have done to impress their coach.
Junior standout Brett Phillips scored 12 of his 17 points in the opening half and Wheeling Park took advantage of hot shooting (17-28), hitting the boards for 18 rebounds and turning the ball over just six times in building a 24-point halftime lead before cruising to an impressive 76-52 pounding of Big Red at the Palace on the Hill.
The victory moves the Patriots to 7-7 on the season with top-ranked Morgantown scheduled to invade the hilltop campus on Friday night. Park, however, will finishing out of the top four and not make the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference tournament this year. Meanwhile, coach Mike Haney's Steubenville squad saw its record even out at 9-9 on the season with Youngstown Cardinal Mooney slated to pay a visit that same night.
"Our practice Tuesday was just ok at best," Jebbia admitted. "And the second team really took it too the first team. But sometimes when that happens your team comes out and plays very well the following night and that that is what happened (Wednesday)."
With the score even at 2-2 the Patriots embarked on a 9-0 run, with Phillips cashing in a pair of close-range hoops to make it 11-2.
Triples from senior Brendan Richter and freshman Aiden Davis, bookended around a pair of baskets a short time later pushed the margin to 21-6 before the hosts settled for a 21-10 reading after a chapter.
Wheeling Park used a 9-2 run midway through the second which included three more baskets from Phillips, to push the cushion to 33-14 before closing the half on a 7-0 burst and heading for the locker room with a huge 40-16 upper hand.
The third quarter once again belonged to the Patriots, led by the play of forward Cole Wilkinson. The junior scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the quarter while pulling down three of his eight rebounds as Park expanded the lead to as many as 31 points before taking a 59-30 edge into the final eight minutes.
"Cole Wilkinson has been a steady player for us all season, but he was just absolutely phenomenal (Wednesday)," Jebbia commented. "He finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots and even more impressive made eight of the nine shots he attempted. And combined with Brett (Phillips) and Caleb (Francis) on the glass, we were really able to control the boards early on."
Steubenville found a little bit of a rhythm in the fourth quarter, far too late, led by junior standout Phaeton Hill, who scored nine of his game-high 19 points in the frame.
"Our main focus coming into the game was trying to limit Hill and (Brenten "Inky") Jones," Jebbia added. "And I felt like we did a pretty good job of doing that, especially in the first half. Offensively we took advantage of some opportunities when they were scrambling on defense. Overall, I felt like we played a good game, which is something we seem to do after losing a couple."
Davis chipped in 15 points for the winners which Phillips added nine rebounds as Park grabbed a 30-27 edge off the glass while turning the ball over 10 times, six fewer than their guests. The Patriots finished the night hitting 30 of 49 field goal attempts for 61-percent. Jones backed Hill with 12 points while pulling down 12 rebounds. While Big Red's dynamic duo finished the night with 31 combined points, they had just 10 between them at the break.
"They shot the ball very well, including making eight of 11 from the three-point line, and we dug ourselves too big of a hole," Haney admitted. "They just played very well in that first quarter, and you can't let a guard like Phillips have that many rebounds. They did a good job hitting the glass, even though we did a lot better job in the second half.
"But we just have to be able to put this one behind us, don't sit and pout and bounce back Friday night against Mooney."