PARKERSBURG - Joe Padden drained eight 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 26 points here Wednesday night as Class A No. 5 Parkersburg Catholic rolled to an 88-64 victory against visiting Wirt County.
The Tigers' only lead of the contest came 43 seconds into the opening stanza when JT Nemeth scored two of his team-high 22 points from a Jeremy Kerby assist for a 2-1 cushion.
However, the Crusaders of head coach Rob Strcula had more weapons than the Tigers could guard as both Daniel Collie and Brett Wright had big games. Collie not only scored 19 points, but nearly pulled off a triple-double after dishing out nine assists and hauling down eight rebounds. He also had a game-high four steals. Wright scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 11 caroms.
Article Photos
Photo by Jeff Baughan
Parkersburg Catholic's Brett Wright grabs a rebound from Wirt's Dylan Frazier Wednesday. The Crusaders won, 88-64.
"We want our defense to fuel our offense," said Strcula, which happened a lot in the first half as PCHS had forced 14 orange and black turnovers by halftime. "Tonight was a great example of that."
Wright's three-point play at 6:54 of the first quarter actually put PCHS ahead for good at 4-3. Eric Scott, who had a dozen points, found Padden open beyond the arc for a 20-10 lead at 3:07 of the first quarter. Tony Allowatt's feed to Payton Sturm made it 28-17 late in the first quarter and the Tigers trailed by nine entering the second quarter thanks to Josh Quinn's buzzer-beating 14-foot bank shot.
Josh Trembly, who joined Quinn in scoring 10 points, knocked down a triple to make it 29-22 just 1:30 into the second quarter, but the Crusaders went on a 10-0 spurt to take control of the game. Collie had seven markers in the run and that included a 3-pointer to make it 39-22 after Wright swatted away a Tiger field goal attempt in transition.
Fact Box
Parkersburg Catholic 88,
Wirt County 64
Wirt 19 11 14 20 - 64
PCHS 28 23 21 16 - 88
WIRT COUNTY (4-9)
Matt Roberts 2 5-6 9, Jeremy Kerby 0 0-0 0, JT Nemeth 8 4-7 22, Josh Trembly 4 0-1 10, Josh Quinn 4 2-4 10, Austin McVey 0 0-0 0, Trenton Hardbarger 5 1-4 11, Mark Cunningham 0 0-2 0, Dustin Garner 1 0-0 2, Shane Hinzman 0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 24 12-24 64; 3-point goals: Nemeth, Trembly 2
PARKERSBURG CATHOLIC (8-2)
Eric Scott 5 0-0 12, Tony Allowatt 1 0-0 2, Joe Padden 9 0-0 26, Brett Wright 7 2-4 16, Daniel Collie 7 4-5 19, Payton Sturm 3 1-2 7, Andrew Earley 1 0-0 2, Brady Kurucz 0 0-0 0, Austin Luther 1 0-0 2, Carson Weyer 0 0-0 0, Bobby Casto 0 0-0 0, Michael Migliore 1 0-0 2; TOTALS: 35 7-11 88; 3-point goals: Padden 8, Scott 2, Collie 1
Shooting: WC 24-62 (38.7%), PC 35-79 (44.3%); 3-pointers: WC 4-8, PC 11-37; Rebounds: WC 48 (Hardbarger 9, Nemeth, Kerby, Roberts 7), PC 39 (Wright 11, Collie 8, Padden 7); Assists: WC 13 (Kerby 4), PC 20 (Collie 9); Steals: WC 4 (4 with 1), PC 13 (Collie 4, Kurucz 3); Turnovers: WC 21, PC 8
JV score: P. Catholic 73, Wirt 58
JV scoring: Wirt - McVey 12, Cunningham 8, Garner 23, Hunter McCoy 3, Hinzman 10, Dylan Frazier 2; PCHS - Earley 11, Luther 8, Weyer 13, Ben Richards 2, Cody Offenberger 7, Tony Borrelli 17, Austin Hendershot 8, Derek Westermeyer 7
Next games: Wirt County vs. Bishop Donahue 6 p.m. Friday in the St. Marys Invitational; Parkersburg Catholic at Ritchie County today.
Trenton Hardbarger's deuce just before the break, part of his 11-point effort, had the Tigers trailing 51-30 at intermission.
The Tigers, now 4-9 with a 6 p.m. date Friday against No. 7 Bishop Donahue in the St. Marys Invitational, closed the deficit to 17 after a Matt Roberts putback in the third. However, the hosts then went on a 10-1 run to put the game completely out of reach.
Roberts finished with nine points and seven rebounds while Padden also grabbed seven boards.
Parkersburg Catholic, which has its second four-game winning streak of the season, will try to improve upon its 8-2 record when it heads to Ellenboro this evening to take on Ritchie County in a Little Kanawha Conference North Division battle.
