Photo by Cody Nespor Linsly’s Caleb Murray (3) scores an acrobatic layup past Frontier’s Tanner Bills during Sunday’s OVAC All-Star basketball game.

WHEELING — In a game that more than lived up to its all-star billing, the West Virginia boys OVAC All-Stars defeated their Ohio counterparts 132-104 in the 44th Samuel A. Mumley All Star Basketball Classic Sunday afternoon.

Played in the Palace on the Hill at Wheeling Park High School, both boys teams put on a show with long-range 3-pointers, sensational displays of passing and powerful dunks at the rim.

“This game is always fun, I’ve been fortunate to do it a couple of times now and it’s a fun game,” said St. Clairsville coach Ryan Clifford, who led the contingent from the Buckeye State. “It’s a nice all-star game because they play a little harder with it being Ohio versus West Virginia. It’s good to have all these guys who battle all year against each other on the same team for a day and a couple of practices.”

The 15-men rosters spent the first few minutes of the game feeling one another out and it was St. Clairsville’s Avery Henry who grabbed the early spotlight. The big man bullied his way through West Virginia centers Alex Isinghood from Brooke and Grant Neiswonger from John Marshall and scored at will early on.

Henry’s efforts had Ohio up 21-20, but the trio from Morgantown responded in kind, as Class AAAA state champs Brooks Gage, Jalen Goins and Alec Poland all drained 3-pointers and the Mountain State squad built up a 32-26 lead partway through the first half.

“That was a lot of fun to get to coach some of these guys that we play against all year long and some of these guys that we don’t really get to see,” said Cameron coach Tom Hart, coaching the West Virginia side. “It’s just a lot of fun seeing these guys play together. They compete against each other but then they come out passing the ball to each other and they’re having fun. It was a great game, a great atmosphere and I’m just glad to be a part of it.”

The action really started to pick up after the second round of substitutions as the West Virginians showed team chemistry that was far more advanced than their one week of playing together would suggest.

Oak Glen’s Jontae Howard teamed with Weir’s Anthony Cross, Linsly’s Raef Wykes, Paden City’s Brandon Hizer and Magnolia’s Trevor Williamson to put on a dazzling display of team basketball. The high-flying quintet ran, passed, lobbed and shot their way to a 15-0 scoring run pushing, the Mountain State’s lead to 47-29.

“For the fact that we only practiced one time together and some of the guys couldn’t make it, the chemistry was really good,” Hart said. “They passed the ball really well, they were finding the open man a lot and they were making sure that everybody got involved in the game.”

Ohio closed the half on an 11-2 run of their own, capped off by a trey from Dover’s TC Molk, and W.Va. led 62-49 at the break.

The halftime entertainment was a dunk contest between three representatives from each state. Wykes and Caleb Murray from Linsly and Madonna’s Evan Bone represented West Virginia while Ohio put forth East Liverpool’s Cole Dailey, Toronto’s Shane Keenan and Jonathan Vermillion from Harrison Central.

Dailey won a tightly-contested decision with a pair of awe-inspiring dunks. The first was a double-dunk as he went up with a ball in each hand and flushed them both through the hoop in one motion. The second was even better as he leapt over Buckeye Local’s Cameron Best, who was seated in a folding chair in the paint, and slammed the ball home.

“We’ve had an up-close look at Cole for four years and in just about every championship game you could be in, Cole was on the other side and we knew he was capable of that,” Clifford said. “He just had a whole lot of fun with it, he was taking suggestions from the team on what to do. He wanted to jump over Avery, but Avery said ‘no way’ so we went with a little smaller guy.”

The start of the second half showcased even more stellar team work by West Virginia. This group also included Williamson and Wykes as well as a rotation of Isinghood, Neiswonger, Gage and Goins, among others. This scoring run stretched to 29-11 to push the hosts’ lead to 93-68.

“You can see their high level of basketball IQ all the way down through the roster,” Hart said. “Their basketball IQ and court knowledge is just through the roof and you could really tell from how they were playing together.”

Ohio tried to fight back into the game thanks, in part, to 18 second-half points by Dailey but West Virginia got hot from range and put it away. Williamson, Wykes, Murray, Isinghood and even the big man Howard all started draining 3-pointers over the final few minutes, some from very deep. That included a near half-court shot from Howard that banked in off the backboard and drew a big cheer from the crowd. Ohio responded in kind as Dailey and Shadyside’s Korey Beckett drained a few from deep as well.

“I told the guys before the game to have fun with it,” Clifford said. “These are guys who, in meeting them in the last week and a half, they may make a friend that they’ll have forever. It’s a fun day and it’s a celebration of basketball.”

In total, West Virginia made 25 3-pointers, led by five from Williamson, four from each of Wykes, Murray and Isinghood and three from Poland.

Wykes led the team with 22 points, followed by 20 from Isinghood and 17 by Williamson. Murray finished with 16 and Poland had 13. Gage scored eight, Goins scored seven, Brooke’s Cole Sperlazza, Neiswonger and Hizer each had six and Howard finished with five points and a couple of blocks on Henry. Madonna’s Matt Amaismeier had four and Cross rounded out the scoring with two.

Dailey led Ohio with a game-high 27 while Henry and Molk both had 14. Martins Ferry’s Jaizen Miles scored nine, Beckett had eight, Keenan and Tanner Bills from Frontier each had six and Best had five. St. Clairsville’s Ryan McCort, Monroe Central’s Malachi Rose-Burton and Vermillion each scored four to cap off the scoring.

The win was West Virginia’s fifth in the last six all-star games and 132 was the most points scored since West Virginia scored 134 in 2016.

Also coaching West Virginia was Brooke coach Adam Shinsky and also coaching Ohio was Monroe Central’s Jon Perkins.

West Virginia 132, Ohio 104

OH — Beckett 3 0-0 8; Best 2 0-0 5; Bills 3 0-0 6; Rose-Burton 2 0-0 4; Dailey 12 0-0 27; Henry 6 2-2 14; Keenan 3 0-0 6; Louden 1 0-0 3; McCort 2 0-0 4; Miles 4 1-2 9; Molk 5 2-2 14; Pappas 0 0-0 0; Powell 0 0-0 0; Vermillion 2 0-0 4; Ward 0 0-0 0.

WV — Amaismeier 2 0-0 4; Bone 0 0-0 0; Cross 1 0-0 2; Forbes 0 0-0 0; Gage 3 0-0 8; Goins 2 2-2 7; Hizer 3 0-0 6; Howard 2 0-0 5; Isinghood 8 0-0 20; Murray 6 0-0 16; Neiswonger 3 0-2 6; Poland 5 0-0 13; Sperlazza 2 1-2 6; Wykes 9 0-0 22; Williamson 6 0-0 17.

3 Pt. Goals — Ohio 9 (Beckett 2, Best 1, Dailey 3, Louden 1, Molk 2. West Virginia 25 (Gage 2, Goins 1, Howard 1, Isinghood 4, Murray 4, Poland 3, Sperlazza 1, Wykes 4, Williamson 5).

OH 49 55 — 104

WV 62 70 — 132