photo by: Kim North

Wheeling Park’s Mar Rouse (23) pulls down one of his game-high 14 rebounds Wednesday night as Steubenville’s Josiah Rea (23), Cole Bowers (5) and Santino Haney (2) surround him. Big Red posted a 77-45 victory inside the ‘Palace on the Hill.’

WHEELING – Showing little effects from playing less than 24 hours earlier, Steubenville continued its torrid play with a 77-45 victory over Wheeling Park inside the ‘Palace on the Hill’ Wednesday night on boys basketball action.

Big Red (12-1) led 18-15 after one quarter thanks to seven points from Tre-Von Wiggins and five from Santino Haney, but that was as close as the Patriots (3-5) would get.

Steubenville started the second eight minutes on an 8-2 run before Wheeling Park’s J.D. Williams made a pair of free throws for a 27-20 margin halfway through the quarter. However, Haney, the son of head coach Mike Haney, took over. The 6-foot junior had six points in a 12-0 run that all but sealed the deal at 41-23 halfway through.

Wheeling Park was 7-for-9 from the floor in the first quarter before cooling off to 2-for-12 in the second. It also turned the ball over 10 times.

“I thought we played pretty well. Our defense wasn’t real sharp at the start of the game, but in the second quarter we kind of turned it up a notch or two to create some turnovers and fastbreak points,” veteran Steubenville head coach Mike Haney said.

“We stuck to our game plan in the first quarter, ran our offense and got some buckets,” Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia pointed out.

“Give Steubenville credit. Their hands swarm all over the place and that caused us some problems,” Jebbia noted.

“You can’t give Wheeling Park open shots because they’ve got some really good shooters,” Haney continued. “We tried to get a hand in their faces and disrupt them. I thought we did a good job of that.”

Steubenville built its margin to 20, 50-30,with three minutes left on the third-quarter clock as Cole Bowers, who will kick for the Navy football team next fall, netted seven points in the stretch.

Wheeling Park never quit and pulled to within 14, 53-39, in the latter stages of the quarter before trailing 56-39 with a quarter to play.

“I thought we battled and did some good things in the third quarter, but when they got it back up to 18 and 20 we just don’t have that punch to match them possession for possession.”

A 12-2 spurt to start the final panel put the game out of reach at 68-41 and allowed both teams to empty their respective benches. Wiggins, Haney and Jermaine Moore each had four points during the early run.

“I like the way our kids hustle and play together,” Coach Haney said. “They definitely share the ball very well.”

Haney led all scorers in the game with 25 points, while Wiggins added 16, Cole Bowers a dozen and Moore 11. Bowers and Josiah Rea each collected five rebounds as Steubenville totalled 25. Big Red only had five turnovers.

Wheeling Park was paced by Williams and Kolten Whitmire with 13 points a piece. One bright spot was Mar Rouse on the defensive end where the 6-2 senior pulled down 14 of the Patriots’ 29 rebounds. They, however, turned the ball over 18 times.

“He rebounded the heck out of the ball tonight,” Jebbia said. “He’s been one of our rebounding leaders. He has good instincts and jumps well. He is easy to coach and has gotten better every year.”

Steubenville is back in action Friday night at Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas, while the Patriots head to Charleston the same night to face George Washington.