PARKERSBURG - A 17-2 run, sparked by Jeremy Bell, in the fourth quarter after visiting Nitro had cut a 15-point gap down to just seven propelled Parkersburg High up by 22 with 3:56 to play and the Big Reds went on to cage the Wildcats 78-57 in a MSAC basketball game Wednesday night at Memorial Fieldhouse.
The Senior Night win boosted the 11th-ranked Big Reds' record to 14-5 while Nitro dropped to 7-10. PHS next plays on Friday night at Spring Valley.
Bell netted a game-high 24 points, followed for PHS by Devin Hoehn with 21 and Alex Ash with 11. For Nitro, Ethan Clark tallied 15, Angelo Siranni 13 and Devin Perry nine.
Article Photos
Photo by Jeff Baughan
Parkersburg’s Jeremy Bell goes to the basket against Nitro’s Ethan Clark Wednesday. Bell scored a game-leading 24 points in the Big Reds’ 78-57, win Wednesday.
The Big Reds started out on fire, zooming out to a 17-8 lead at 3:30 of the first period, but then began to cool off and and were up only 21-16 at the quarter break.
But PHS got its second wind after Nitro knotted the score at 25 with 2:38 until halftime.
A 11-2 run up to halftime in the last 2:25 of the second stanza on two Bell buckets, a Trevor Britton trey and a pair of Ash hoops pushed PHS out to a 36-27 lead at intermission.
Fact Box
Parkersburg High 78, Nitro 57
Nitro 16 11 19 11 - 57
PHS 21 15 19 23 - 78
NITRO (7-10)
Angelo Sirianni 5 3-4 13, Evan Eich 0 0-0 0, Dylan Lester 1 0-0 2, Josiah Bosely 0 0-0 0, Kipp Brewer 0 0-0 0, Sam Neff 1 0-0 3, Tyler Barton 1 0-0 2, Terrell Ivy 3 0-0 6, Ethan Clark 6 1-2 15, Hunter Ferrari 3 1-1 7, Lee Klocke 0 0-0 0, Buck Shepherd 0 0-0 0, Devin Perry 4 1-2 9, TOTALS: 24 6-9 57. 3-point goals: Neff 1, Clark 2
PHS (14-5)
Devin Hoehn 9 0-0 21, Dax Mennillo 3 0-0 6, Trevor Britton 1 2-4 5, Ben Umpleby 2 0-0 4, Chad Newell 0 0-0 0, Alex Ash 5 0-0 11, Jeremy Bell 7 9-13 24, Mike Blanc 0 1-2 1, Clayton Stanley 2 2-2 6, Levi Hays 0 0-0 0, Reid Strobl 0 0-0 0, Andrew Lyons 0 0-0 0, TOTALS: 29 14-21 78. 3-point goals: Hoehn 3, Britton 1, Ash 1, Bell 1
JV game: PHS 50, Nitro 32
PHS JV scoring: Kyle Foster 2, Logan Dudley 5, Jeremy Stewart 2, Levi Hays 11, Reid Strobl 15, Jacob Hoover 4, Landon Miller 4, Andrew Lyons 7
Next game: PHS at Spring Valley 7:30 p.m. Friday
And PHS quickly expanded that lead to 15 at 42-27 by notching the initial six points of the second half.
However, Clark scored seven of the final eight points in the third period to reduce the Wildcats' deficit down to nine, 55-46, heading into the fourth quarter.
But after the gap shrunk to seven in the first nine seconds of the fourth, the Big Reds responded with their decisive 17-2 spurt of the game. From 7:18 to 3:56, a span of 3:22, Bell's nine points spearheaded the key run of the game for a commanding 72-50 advantage.
''I thought Jeremy and Devin had monster games,'' said PHS head coach Jeff Mennillo. ''But that just needs to happen as we come down the stretch. We need to get our top guys playing at a high level.''
Mennillo is hoping his team will be playing next Saturday in the MSAC Night of Champions, something PHS has never done. ''That's not an absolute - things have to happen - but we're leaning that way I think,'' he said. ''Hopefully, we can make that happen, but it's not entirely in our control.''
