MORGANTOWN — The University High boys’ basketball team picked up a much-needed win over Wheeling Park 72-54 on Tuesday night at UHS.
Neither team scored for the first three minutes of the game until the Hawks’ (4-4) Diego Reyes opened the scoring. UHS went on a run to go up 7-0 early but the Patriots (4-5) were able to rally and cut the lead to 12-8 by the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was much of the same. The Hawks used quick ball movement to build a lead to double-digits, 21-10. Park rallied behind guard Aiden Davis, who scored six straight points to lead a 10-2 run and cut the deficit to just 3 at halftime as UHS was ahead 23-20.
Halftime adjustments were in order for UHS head coach Joe Schmidle and crew.
“When we start playing one-on-one, we are terrible,” Schmidle said. “Had a little talk at halftime as far as that goes, and it must have worked.”
The Hawks leading man must have gotten through to his players as they came out in the third quarter to outscore the Patriots 21-13. Garrison Kisner paced UHS with 10 of his 21 points in the third, including a series of slam dunks that brought energy to the Hawks. Elija Jackson added to the tally with two straight 3-pointers to help his team increase the advantage to 11 at 44-33 going into the fourth. Jackson also finished in double-digits with 16 points on 4 of 7 shooting from deep.
UHS scored 28 in the fourth and Kisner slammed the ball for the dagger with 2 minutes to play.
“We got quality looks and shot a good percentage,” Schmidle praised his team. “Any given night, one of these guys can come out and get 20 points. Garrison came to play tonight and he honestly gets better every game.”
Wheeling Park was led by Aiden Davis, who led all scorers with 24 points on 8 of 15 shooting from the floor. Caleb Francis added 9 for Park.
Seven Hawks scored points, including three in double-digits. Diego Reyes added 14 points. UHS picks up an important win against WPHS, which won four out of its last five games.
The Hawks will travel cross-town Friday when they visit fierce-rival and top-ranked Morgantown at MHS. Tip off is set for 7:30pm.
UNIVERSITY 12 11 21 28 – 72
WHEELING PARK 8 12 13 19 – 54
UHS
Garrison Kisner 12 5-7 21 Elijah Jackson 13 2-3 16 Diego Reyes 9 2-2 14 Grant Cavalier 7 0-0
8 Aaron Forbes 0-0 8 Carson Ford 1 0-0 3 Luke Hudson 2 0-0 2
Wheeling Park
Aiden Davis 15 4-4 24 Caleb Francis 7 3-5 9 Brett Phillips 7 2-2 8 Brenden Richter 4 0-0 6 Cole
Wilkinson 6 1-1 5 Ryan Doyle 1 0-0 2
Three-pointers:
UHS – 9 (Jackson 4, Cavalier 2, Reyes 2, Ford 1)
WP – 6 (Davis 4, Richter 2)
