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Wheeling Park Knocks Off 4A Leader East Liverpool, 72-63

Patriots Rebound, Literally, From Loss At Morgantown

Wheeling Park’s Brett Phillips (23) drives under the basket for a reverse layup Friday night as East Liverpool’s Mason Ludwig (45) attempts to block the shot. Looking on is the Potters’ Cohen Pease. Phillips had eight points and nine rebounds as the Patriots upset the Potters, 72-63.

WHEELING — After winning its first seven starts, Wheeling Park has only won once in its last four outings — the last being a 36-point setback at Morgantown less than 48 hours prior to Friday night’s tip-off against OVAC Class 4A boys’ basketball leader East Liverpool.

Sophomore Aiden Davis tickled the twine on back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to start the third quarter and junior Mykel Davis had a double-double as the Patriots (9-4) rebounded nicely by knocking off the visiting Potters, 72-63, high atop the Friendly City inside the ‘Palace on the Hill.’

“Those two really stepped up for us tonight,” Wheeling Park head coach Mike Jebbia said of the two Davis’s, who are not related. “Aiden hit those three big shots to get us going in the third quarter and Mykel had an outstanding floor game. You couldn’t ask for any more out of them.”

With the Patriots leading 34-33 at the half after a highly entertaining first 16 minutes which featured a 13-4 run by each team in the first quarter and five deadlocks, Aiden Davis, who had five triples on the night, hit one from the left wing. After a turnover by the Potters (12-4), he connected from the right wing, and, after another turnover by the visitors, Davis buried one from the top of the key and the margin had suddenly grown to 43-33, prompting East Liverpool head coach Nate Conley to call a 30-second timeout.

“The third quarter couldn’t have started any worse for us,” Conley noted. “But we battled back.”

East Liverpool, which is comfortably atop the Class 4A standings, cut the margin to four, 44-40, but Brett Phillips made it 46-40 before Mykel Davis came up with consecutive steals that led to one-handed dunks as the lead was once again 10, 50-40.

A six-point spurt by the Potters to end the quarter brought them to within 50-46 with eight minutes left.

Holding a 54-49 advantage early in the final chapter, Mykel Davis sparked a 11-2 run with a bonus bomb that raised the count to 65-51, the game’s biggest lead. Davis capped the spurt with the third of his four one-handed dunks.

“Mykel is explosive like that,” Jebba said of his 6-1 leaper who had a game-high 28 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and charted half-a-dozen steals. He netted 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, and half of his rebounds were offensive where the hosts totalled 20 of their 32 boards.

“That was our focus,” Jebbia said of hitting the offensive glass hard. “We had 12 at the half, so the guys did what we needed.”

Aiden Davis tallied 20 points while Cole Wilkinson worked the paint for 11 points and seven rebounds, of which five were off Patriots’ misses. Phillips added eight points and nine boards – six offensive – and freshman Amare Johnson had five points in extended playing time.

“We thought it was time to bring Amare up,” Jebbia said. “We played Aiden (Davis) last year as a freshman. I thought Amare handled himself well tonight as he played 20-plus minutes.”

Jebbia said the win is a nice confidence boost for the kids.

“Everyone that went on the floor tonight gave us everything they had, and that’s all I can ask for as a coach. We played well at times tonight and now we have to get ready for Buckhannon-Upshur tonight (Saturday, 7:30).”

Junior Preston Kerr led East Liverpool with 20 points off the bench, with 13 coming in the second half. He also had a team-high seven rebounds. Cohen Pease hit five triples and finished with 19 points.

The Patriots, who entered the week ranked 9th in the West Virginia Class AAAAA poll and a solid fourth in the OVAC Class 5A ranks, turned the ball over just nine times, eight less than the Potters.

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