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PARKERSBURG — The grind of five games over the course of eight days came to a conclusion Friday night as second-ranked Parkersburg South shut down ninth-ranked Wheeling Park in the fourth quarter for a 68-53 victory at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center.
Wheeling Park, which trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half, whittled the deficit to four points by the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter. South answered Wheeling Park's final parting shot with a 12-2 run over a four-minute span to create a comfort zone and complete the eight-day grind with a 4-1 record.
"Tonight was one of those nights where we didn't play well, but found a way to win," South coach Mike Fallon said after his ballclub improved to 10-2. "In spurts, we played OK. At times, I thought we were kind of lax. They had a week to prepare for us and (Wheeling Park coach Michael Jebbia) did a great job. They were ready.
"The biggest thing for us is taking a couple of days off, getting our legs back and get ready for next week."
Nathan Plotner's presence in the post gave Wheeling Park fits, including a pair of putbacks in the fourth quarter. After scoring just one bucket in the first half, Plotner finished with nine points — including six in the final period. He also blocked seven shots on the night.
Teammate Jackson Smith found his stroke with nine points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers as part of his game-high 20 points. All five South starters scored at least nine points. Point guard Austin Reeves finished with 11 points, while Aiden Blake added another 10 points.
"I thought the kids did a great job during those eight days," Fallon said. "We kind of laid an egg against Linsly. We just didn't put the ball in the basket. We have a one-point lead with 40 seconds left. We put the ball in the hole, we win by 20. It was a good learning experience because we bounced back Tuesday against University. We played really hard and did the right things."
Wheeling Park, which trailed 34-20 at the break, hit its first five shots from the floor in the third quarter — capped by Aiden Davis' 3-pointer which sliced the South advantage to 35-31 at the five-minute mark.
Davis ended the night with four 3-pointers and led Wheeling Park with 18 points. Teammate Brett Phillips also scored in double figures with 16 points.
For the first time since Dec. 17, Wheeling Park played with its starting lineup intact. After opening the season 7-0, Wheeling Park (7-3) has dropped three straight to the likes of Dover, University and South.
"We made a few adjustments at halftime and had a really good third quarter," Jebbia said. "In the fourth quarter, we were playing well and the guys were battling. We cut it to four then Smith started scoring.
"I thought we played good defense. They hurt us on some offensive rebounds, but they are a good team and a veteran team like we are. Now that we have everyone back hopefully we can get into a flow."
A sluggish start from from the field which saw Wheeling Park make only 2-of-10 shot attempts enabled South to take a 12-4 lead at the three-minute mark of the first quarter.
South found enough offense in the second quarter to build a 27-13 lead when Blake's 3-pointer was followed by Smith's putback.
With South leading 27-17, a Wheeling Park assistant coach was whistled for a technical foul. South took advantage with a six-point spurt to increase the lead to 33-17 with just less than a minute remaining before halftime.
Wheeling Park's ability to break South's end-to-end press for the length of the game resulted in only 10 turnovers.
"You just keeping taking one game at a time," Jebbia said. "Who knows. We may see them again in the OVAC Tournament."