South wears out Logan in home
Photo by Jay W. Bennett
Parkersburg South’s Ashton Mooney makes a spin move in the paint before draining a bucket during the Patriots’ 65-52 victory Tuesday night against visiting Logan.
<!–
PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg South scored the first eight points of the game here Tuesday night inside the Rod Oldham Athletic Center and never trailed during a 65-52 victory against Logan.
The Patriots of head coach Mike Fallon, who were preseason ranked No. 10 in Class AAAA, had a trio of players finish in double figures. Devin Hershberger led the way off the bench by scoring 19 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Cyrus Traugh, who joined Hershberger with a pair of treys, finished with 18 points. Ashton Mooney added a dozen counters to go along with a game-high five assists and eight caroms.
The first points for the boys on Scott Stephens Court came 53 ticks into the affair from Mooney. A tip-away steal by Jackson Smith then led to a Traugh deuce. Mooney followed with a turnaround jumper in the paint and it was 8-0 at the 5:45 mark when Traugh grabbed a defensive board and raced coast-to-coast for a lay-in, which led to Logan head coach Chris Rider calling his first timeout.
“Great home opener. What a great job (by Devin),” said coach Fallon, whose 1-1 squad will take on Charleston Catholic at 5 p.m. Friday in the FCA Hoops Classic at West Virginia State. “With the kids we have coming off our bench, we got several kids I think can come in every night and give those points. Our bench is pretty special, too. I like that group of kids and down the road they are just going to get better and better.”
Cayden Alford, who had 10 points and nine rebounds, finally got the Chieftains on the board eight seconds after the timeout when he scored in the paint via an assist from Tegan Myers. Myers led the team with 18 points.
Down just 10-6 after Myers and Mason Frasure converted field goals, the Patriots jumped ahead 16-8 thanks to 3s by Traugh and Hershberger. A steal by Traugh and his assist to Aiden Blake, who added two free throws on the next possession, allowed PSHS to hold a 20-8 lead after one.
Brady McMullen’s corner trey via a Riley Street assist had the hosts ahead 23-12. Logan, which dropped to 3-2 and plays Friday at Warren, cut it to 27-21 when Ashton Mahaffey had a lay-in for part of his 11 counters, but Mooney went the length of the court after a defensive board and had a lay-in for a 29-21 halftime cushion.
Myers scored seven straight points in the third for the Chieftains, but Hershberger’s second trifecta had the visitors in a 41-30 hole entering the fourth.
Trailing 46-34 with 6:14 remaining, Logan watched the Patriots score 13 of the next 15 points in a span of 2:23 to go up by 23. Caleb Schaffer had a lay-in during the spurt and Hershberger converted a three-point play as the Patriots canned all nine of their charity stripe tosses.
Logan was able to cut it to 11 late after a Zach Frasure bucket.
“We went flat,” coach Fallon admitted after taking the big lead. “We got up 23 there and then all of a sudden you let a team get a layup here and a layup there then hit a couple 3s. Next thing you know you’re in a dog fight. The great part about it is it’s early in the season and it’s one of those things we’ll learn from.
“I thought offensively is probably what cost us on the defensive end because we took a couple bad shots, a couple offensive fouls and things. Today is a great learning experience. We got a chance to be really good by the end of this year. I love this group and we got so many interchangeable parts. I thought we had Logan completely worn out and then we let them kind of dig back in.”
Schaffer finished with eight rebounds while Logan’s Owen Agnle had six.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
