PARKERSBURG – Taj Joyce’s dunk with 45 seconds left in regulation here Monday night inside Rod Oldham Athletic Center put the exclamation mark on No. 10 Parkersburg South’s 60-51 upset of top-ranked Morgantown.
Joyce, who finished with 13 points and was a rebound shy of a double-double, had a game-high three steals and tied Mohigan Marty Johnson for game-high assist honors with five.
Navi Hewitt led the now 12-6 Patriots of head man Mike Fallon, who welcome in No. 9 Washington on Thursday, with a game-high 21 points as the Patriots rode the hot hand of Harry Silvis after the break.
The Mohigans of head coach David Tallman, who slipped to 15-2 and welcome in Buckhannon-Upshur on Wednesday, had the affair even for the final time at 17-all with 3:28 left in the half when Waylon Colistra, who had a team-high 15 markers, assisted on a Collin Ridgeway trey.
However, a Joyce bucket and a Hewitt charity stripe make gave the hosts a 20-17 cushion at intermission and the visitors were unable to recover after PSHS opened the third with consecutive 3s from Silvis and Joyce, which was followed by a Hewitt deuce and then a trifecta for a 31-19 cushion at the 5:17 mark.
“That’s when you knew it was over when the crowd goes crazy,” Hewitt said of the Joyce jam. “It put us up by 11. We’ve had a pretty tough schedule.
“I think playing Canton Central and all those tough teams helped us for games like this. It may not look good on our record, but I think it will help us a lot come tournament time and it’s showing.”
Joyce, who had a one-handed baseline flush to give South a 10-6 lead late in the first, watched Silvis drain three more 3s in the final 2:14 of the third as the Patriots led 44-31 entering the fourth.
“We just wanted it more than they did. We had a lot of energy. It just felt nice,” admitted Joyce, who added of Silvis “when he’s hot everything goes in. We just want to get him the ball.
“We’ve been playing great defense the past couple of games. We’re picking it up. Our chemistry is coming along and we’re getting the ball to each other.”
Morgantown, which hit 5 of 16 from downtown compared to South’s 9 of 16 that included draining 7 of 10 after the break, refused to quit.
Thanks to a triple apiece from Colistra, Johnson, Marcus Gains and Demarcus Bandy the Mohigans were able to make it a two-possession contest at 54-48 with 1:38 remaining, but couldn’t get any closer.
“They slugged us. We didn’t slug them. Credit to them,” said coach Tallman, who got 10 points from Johnson and nine by Bandy. “Their kids showed up ready to play. Coach Fallon does a great job. I got all the respect in the world for him and his program. It wasn’t our night. We had maybe one or two guys ready to play and the rest weren’t. Sometimes you get caught up in that. We got away with it at Steubenville because Marty and Brady (Savage) took the game over and tonight there was just not enough time.
“To be honest we didn’t move the ball. We were one pass and shot the whole first half, which I don’t know where that came from. They do a good job getting in the gaps and things, but I thought if we could get them moving and get them in space then they would have problems guarding us. But they are long and athletic. Honestly, they were a heck of a lot tougher than us tonight. They played a lot harder than us.”
Silvis scored 17 of his markers after the break and said he just tries to do his part.
“My game day, some of the other guys can be normal, but like me on game days I’m serious,” Silvis said. “Like I don’t talk to a person. I’m focused the entire day, watching some film so I get familiar with their guys. The whole day I’m just locked in. Some people think I’m mad, but I’m just focused on the game. Undoubtedly, I had a rough first half.
“Got in some early foul trouble, missed some shots and made some turnovers. I knew my coaches had faith in me and I had faith in God, so I just kept praying to him and my coaches kept instilling confidence in me. The third quarter I just kept the same confidence going. Whenever I shot it, I said a quick prayer to God, and I had some of them go in. All the glory to him.”
Morgantown was held to 20 points below its season average and had its second lowest scoring output of the season. Spring Mills won at MHS, 57-40, back on Jan. 14.
“I thought our kids kind of came out and punched them and put them on their heels,” admitted coach Fallon, who watched pivot Matthew Mullen go for game-highs of 11 boards and three blocks while adding one bucket. “It was kind of tough for them to get back in a rhythm. This was all our kids.
“They’ve bought in and at practice we’ve done some different things and we’ve kind of changed the way we’re playing and everything. They’ve completely bought in. We’ve had great practices, and we don’t have any more of just going through the motions type stuff. They know it’s tournament time and defensively is where we are getting better and better and better.”
South, which shot 48.9% (22 of 45) compared to Morgantown’s 41.3% (19 of 46), held a 32-21 edge on the glass.
“We’ve only been outrebounded once the entire season. That’s one of the things. We really stress that,” added coach Fallon, who got six markers from Mason Nutter. “That’s the thing. When you get Taj and Navi getting downhill and then they got help and all of a sudden you kick that thing and he’s (Silvis) open.
“All the credit goes to our kids. They (Washington) are really good, too. We got them and GW and South Charleston. Boom, boom, boom and then it’s tournament time. The thing about that, it just makes you better for the tournament. Whatever happens now, our ballots will be in before we play our next game. We’ve kind of put our resume on the table and this is what we got.”
— Story by Jay Bennett
Box score
MORGANTOWN (15-2)
Max Frey 2 0-0 4, Demarcus Bandy 4 0-0 9, Marty Johnson 3 3-4 10, Waylon Colistra 5 4-4 15, Brady Savage 2 1-2 5, Marcus Goins 2 0-0 5, Cam Kellogg 0 0-0 0, Collin Ridgeway 1 0-0 3; TOTALS: 19 8-10 51.
PARKERSBURG SOUTH (12-6)
Mason Nutter 2 2-4 6, Navi Hewitt 8 2-4 21, Taj Joyce 6 0-0 13, Harry Silvis 5 3-4 18, Matthew Mullen 1 0-0 2, Kayden Marshall 0 0-0 0 Chase Offenberger 0 0-0 0, Ethan Sands 0 0-0 0, Xavier St. Andry 0 0-0 0, Cameron Fallon 0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 22 7-12 60.
3-pointers: MHS 5 (Bandy, Johnson, Colistra, Goins, Ridgeway). Parkersburg South 9 (Silvis 5, Hewitt 3, Joyce 1). Rebounds: MHS 21 (Colistra 5), PS 32 (Mullen 11, Joyce 9); Assists: MHS 10 (Johnson 5), PS 11 (Joyce 5).
