By BUBBA KAPRAL
The Intelligencer
WHEELING, W.Va. — With a state tournament berth slipping away, Wheeling Park High’s Alex Vargo and D.J. Saunders took matters into their talented hands Tuesday at The Palace on the Hill.
Morgantown battled back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to gain its first lead of the night, 54-53, on a Troy Battle bucket with just 1:01 to play.
Vargo displayed his all-state talent and poise as he responded with a pull-up jumper just inside the foul line, putting the Patriots back up by one with 36 ticks left.
Saunders came up a steal, which led to a Patriots teammate being fouled with 9.1 seconds remaining. The front-end of the one-and-one failed to drop, however, giving the Mohigans one last chance.
Saunders was again up to the task. The quick junior recorded another steal and drove from halfcourt for lay-up just before the final buzzer to notch the 57-53 win.
The hard-earned win was the 18th in 24 starts for Wheeling Park coach Michael Jebbia’s charges. It also avenges two regular-season losses to Morgantown, the most recent coming just 10 days ago — a 70-47 beatdown at the Palace.
Most importantly, the triumph sends the Patriots to Charleston, their first state trip since 2012. Park enters the tournament as the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 George Washington on Thursday.
“It feels great to be going back to the state. This is Wheeling Park’s 22nd trip to the state tourney,” Jebbia said. “We lost in the regional in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019. I think I was on the on the verge of breaking the record for most times being regional runner-up in the United States.
“It is special with this group. We had a great group last year and had a tough regional draw. Morgantown has had our number for five years,” he added. “In all honesty, Morgantown should also be going to Charleston. We have the state’s No. 1 (University), No. 3 (Morgantown) and No. 5 (Park) teams in our region.”
The loss spoiled an otherwise brilliant season for Morgantown (20-5).
“Wheeling Park came out with a great game plan, while we were stagnant early on,” Morgantown coach Dave Tallman said. “We made a great run, but Vargo is a super player and made a big shot. We played much harder in the second half.
“I am happy for Jeb, but I hate that it came at our expense,” he added. “But we will be fine. We got a real good group coming back.”
Vargo led all scorers with 27 points. Senior Travis Zimmerman made the most of his 6-foot-6 frame, netting 19 points.
Alex Rudy paced Morgantown with 13 points while Mac McMillen and Carson Poffenberger each netted nine.
“The last time we played them, we were down 23-8 after one quarter. So I knew we had to due something different,” Jebbia said. “We went to a 2-3 zone. Coach (Terry) Payne did a great job with installing it. Then Coach A (Gene Ammirante) and Coach Jerry (Ammirante) went back and looked at some of the sets Morgantown runs against the 2-3. The coaches did a great job of preparing the team.
“I wanted to limit the possessions, which is hard to do against their pressure. I thought one of the biggest keys was on Feb. 29 Alex Vargo was the only one who scored for us against them,” Jebbia said. “Tonight, we got scoring from everyone. I knew we had to get contributions from everyone if we were going to pull this off. Everyone chipped in tonight.”
Park took command early, building a 16-9 lead after one quarter with Zimmerman delivering six points. The Patriots led 30-21 at halftime and 44-35 after three quarters.
Saunders had eight assists to go with his two ket steals.
Shaheed Jackson has nine boars for the winners.
