Parkersburg's 66-42 win on Tuesday night against Greenbrier East was something to cherish.
Despite trailing at halftime by three, none of the PHS players were too worried about not making next week's state tournament in Charleston.
"We knew we were going to win it," said Big Red senior Clayton Stanley. "We knew we were going to play a great second half. There were no doubts down there (in the locker room)."
PHS point guard Devin Hoehn, who scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the third as he made all seven of his shots, concurred with Stanley.
"The first half we just played terrible," Hoehn said of trailing 21-18 at intermission. "We knew we played the worst we could ever play. Defensively it wasn't bad. We just shot terrible.
"We just knew we weren't going to shoot like that in the second half. I told the seniors (at halftime) this is our last night here and we got to make it a good one and we came out ready to play."
Ready to play might turn out to be the biggest understatement of the year, but no player or team can possibly think they are going to make 14 of 16 shots in an eight minute span, especially when one considers they had missed 28 of their first 36 attempts.
However, I have to admit the best offense usually comes because of things which transpire defensively and Tuesday night in that pivotal third quarter was no different.
After Hoehn started what proved to be the decisive 27-4 run, Jeremy Bell took a charge and Hoehn went right back down the floor and scored again. The next trip down the floor for the Spartans resulted in no points as Stanley got a blocked shot and Jeremy Bell followed with a long baseline jumper to tie the game for the final time at 24.
From that point on, one could tell the momentum of the contest was turning and no amount of timeouts from Spartan head coach Jim Justice was going to slow these Big Reds down.
I've seen a lot of basketball in my time, but that third quarter is one I most definitely wouldn't mind seeing again.
Of course, with six seniors on the club PHS has the luxury of knowing one another quite well. Usually, the best basketball teams are the ones which are the tightest family and the Big Reds certainly fit that bill.
"These guys, they've worked their butts off for five or six years now and I just don't think people have any idea, any idea, at all how close they are," said PHS head man Jeff Mennillo, who also noted of having his son Dax, also a senior, on the team is, "a special thing on a personal level to get to do that with your son."
As for why coach Mennillo called for a timeout with a second left in the game?
"What do you want to do when you get there next week," Mennillo asked his guys as they rested on the bench. "Do you want to be one and done or go and make more out of it?"
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
