MORGANTOWN — The University High boys’ basketball team made three separate comebacks and then survived a late rally by visiting Parkersburg to pick up a 66-64 victory on Friday night.
The game was part of the BFS Shootout that features both boys’ and girls’ games all weekend played at University High School.
UHS (1-0) trailed 22-12 after the first quarter and then watched the Big Reds (0-1) push the lead to 31-21 midway through the second quarter before senior John Coleman led a 11-0 run to give the Hawks the lead 32-31 before heading into halftime tied at 32.
“We made some change in some personnel and that helped spark us,” UHS head coach Joe Schmidle said of the comebacks.
The Hawks needed one more comeback in the second half as Parkersburg built a 41-33 lead out of the break before UHS finally grabbed the lead for good when Coleman hit a jumper with 1:09 left in the third quarter.
UHS was forced to switch its offensive and defensive focus when it lost junior Demarcus Bandy for the season to an injury during a Monday scrimmage.
“That changed everything,” Schmidle said of the injury. “We had three days to get ready and obviously we looked a little different with Demarcus.”
Coleman and James Fortney Garbart led the UHS attack with 16 points while Coen Henderson added a spark off the bench with 11. Nate Rodriguez led the Big Reds with 18 while Andrew Stalnaker and Isaac Dailey each had 14.
University will face Kentucky school Holy Family Catholic at 4:30 p.m Saturday.
Box score
Parkersburg (0-1)
M. Stalnaker 3 0-2 6, A. Stalnaker 3 7-9 14, Dailey 5 0-0 14, Wilson 1 1-2 4, Anderson 0 2-2 2, Stanley 2 1-2 6, Rodriguez 5 6-8 18. Totals: 19 17-26 64.
University (1-0)
Henderson 5 0-0 11, Lewis 1 0-2 2, Coleman 7 2-5 16, Hudson 2 5-6 9, Demidovich 3 1-1 7, Ford 2 0-0 5, Fortney-Garbart 7 2-4 16. Totals: 27 10-16 66.
3-Pointers – PHS: A. Stalnaker, Dailey 4, Wilson, Stanley, Rodriguez 2. UHS: Henderson, Ford.
— Story by Eric Herter
