Photo by Cody Nespor John Marshall’s Roman Gray (20) drives to the basket against Wheeling Park defender D’arrae Goodwin.

WHEELING — John Marshall came out with a good game plan and played a strong first quarter, but Wheeling Park dominated the second and third quarters as the Patriots won 53-34 on their home court Tuesday.

Playing in a Region 1, Section 1 semifinal match, the Monarchs (8-13) came out in a 2-3 zone defense that gave the host Patriots (15-8) fits throughout the opening frame.

“We thought we could slow them down a little bit with the zone press to try to take 12 to 15 possessions away from them and I think we probably did that,” said JM coach Chad Clutter. “It took them a little bit of time to figure it out, but we knew they would start hitting some shots.”

After a 9-9 first quarter, John Marshall jumped out to a 13-9 lead early in the second quarter. That was the last lead the Monarchs would hold, however, as back-to-back 3-pointers from Park’s Brendan Richter sparked a 14-point run that put the Patriots firmly in the driver’s seat.

“We got a couple of buckets and Brendan Richter hit a couple of treys and sometimes you see the ball go in the hoop and you start to move a little better,” explained Park coach Mike Jebbia.

Park led 27-16 at halftime and the Patriots’ scoring run continued into the third quarter. After scoring the first nine points of the frame, Wheeling Park had out-scored John Marshall 27-3 over a stretch of play beginning in the second. An and-one by Ty Rogers was the Monarchs’ only scoring during that time.

“We always tell the guys at halftime to come out and win the first four minutes,” Jebbia said. “You don’t want to look ahead and we had to lock in here on John Marshall. I’m proud of our guys to come out and hold them to three points in the third quarter.”

Park held JM to just three points in the third and led 40-19 entering the final frame.

Part of JM’s struggles was the loss of center Grant Neiswonger, who sat on the bench with foul trouble for the majority of the second and third periods. Without their senior post player, Clutter thought Park was able to get a number of easy looks inside to beat the zone.

“They started getting some paint touches for easy baskets underneath,” Clutter said. “We missed (Neiswonger) inside, he’s good defensively and has a nice nose for the ball. It just didn’t go his way tonight.”

Brett Phillips led Wheeling Park with 23 points while freshman Aiden Davis supported him with 16 and a pair of threes. Richter finished with eight points.

Roman Gray paced John Marshall with 10 points, followed by seven from Brennan Sobutka.

“This is the second game in a row we missed 20 shots in the paint,” Clutter said. “They contested everything inside and we had a hard time putting it in.”

Wheeling Park advances to play No. 1 Morgantown on the road Friday. The top-seeded Mohigans downed Brooke 80-43 in their semifinal match Tuesday.

“They’ve been number one (in the state) here for a couple of years now but we’ve played them very well,” Jebbia said. “They’ve just had a spell in the late third, early fourth and pulled away in both games (this season). We’ve got two days to prepare and get ready and we’re looking forward to it.”