BLACKSVILLE- On paper, the Clay-Battelle boys’ basketball team had every advantage in Wednesday’s Class A Region I co-final and Parkersburg Catholic. The Cee-Bees had a much better record and a jam-packed, raucous, and rowdy crowd at home.
Big blowout win for the seasoned Cee-Bees, right?
Well, not really. Final score: Clay-Battelle 75, Parkersburg Catholic 65.
OK, so a comfortable home victory for the higher seed after a few early game tournament jitters, right?
That wasn’t even close to describing just how close this exciting, hard-fought, bruising battle actually was.
From the opening tip to the final 30 seconds, it took every bit of Clay-Battelle’s effort, grit, and poise, including all 36 points from athletic senior big man Preston Luzader, to prevail and advance to the state tournament in Charleston.
The Crusaders’ schedule was laced with Class AA and AAA teams, and they made it immediately clear they were certainly much better than their record showed. Luzader was an absolute monster in the first quarter, dominating in the paint, drawing fouls, hitting lay-ups, and also stepping out behind the arc for a pair of threes, 17 points in all. Yet Parkersburg Catholic kept close with three triples, and trailed by eight after the first 8 minutes, 25-17.
The Crusaders then changed up their defense which forced a series of missed shots and turnovers by the Cee-Bees and fueled hope and life in the underdogs. Several strong dribble-drives from guard Preston Randolph led to his points at the rim or dishes for short jumpers as Parkersburg Catholic roared all the way up and over the mountain to take a surprising 35-34 lead heading into the break.
There were very few single-digit quarters for the Cee-Bees this season, so a huge pushback from the home team was expected to start the third frame, but the Crusaders – behind three straight 3-pointers from Leonardo D’Angelo – simply would not wilt, even though Luzader began imposing his will down low midway through the quarter. Clay-Battelle finally regained the lead late and headed into the fourth up by just 55-52.
The two teams traded a few points and many defensive stops for four tense, nail-biting minutes. Cee-Bee Braden Ponceroff and Parkersburg Catholic’s Landon Edwards traded threes, but the game became a battle between Clay-Battelle attacking the rim and drawing fouls versus Parkersburg Catholic’s outside shooting touch – and the Cee-Bees won both the battle and the war. The Crusaders hit six buckets to Clay-Battelle’s three, but the Cee-Bees toed the line 18 times in the fourth quarter, and made 13, just enough to finally put the game safely out of harm’s reach. When Luzader picked off a pass intended for Edwards at the top of the key with 32 seconds left, the title was in the bag, the ticket to Charleston punched.
“We knew who they were coming in,” sweaty, smiling C-B coach Josh Kisner said after the game. “They played some very good teams tough, and besides, come tournament time, everybody’s 0-0. We saw that they had good shooters in D’Angelo and Edwards, and that Randolph was a penetrator. They changed up their defense in the second quarter, and it took us a while to adjust, but once we did, we knew the key was to stay aggressive, attack on offense, and limit them to one shot. Eventually, getting to the line and the defensive glass made the difference.
“That,” he grinned, “and Preston, of course. He’s the heart of this team, and he simply would not be denied today. A big key for him, and for our whole team, was to stay out of foul trouble, and we did that. He was so active and strong down low, and we did a good job of getting the ball to him in good spots. I can’t say enough about how proud I am of him, of Josiah Morgan and Brock White, our other seniors, and the whole team. They worked so hard and played so hard for each other all year, and it’s so gratifying to see them get rewarded.”
For Luzader, anything other than a win would’ve been simply unacceptable.
“I just didn’t want my last game in this gym to be a loss,” he explained while surrounded by jubilant teammates and classmates from the student section. “We felt we knew them, knew what they wanted to do against us. We didn’t panic at all at halftime – we were down by 20 earlier this year and won – so we planned on taking the ball at (Randolph), because he had three fouls, and because he made their offense go. When he fouled out (with 2+ minutes left), we knew we had it.
“I think we know what we have to do at states,” he concluded. “Some of us have been there before, but really, we just need to play together as a team, like most of us have since middle school. It’s just basketball, and our goal is just to win the next game. That’s all – just win.”
Box score
PARKERSBURG CATHOLIC (7-16)
Branson Lott 2 0-0 5 Carter Nelson 1 0-0 3 Preston Randolph 7 3-4 17 Leonardo D’Angelo 7 0-0 17 Landon Edwards 8 0-0 19 Jayden Walker 1 0-0 2 Leo Haid 1 0-0 2 Totals 27 3-4 65.
CLAY-BATTELLE (18-6)
Cooper Payton 5 4-8 14 Josiah Morgan 2 4-6 9 Braden Ponceroff 1 6-10 9 Brock White 1 2-6 4 Preston Luzader 14 6-6 36 Cayden Moats 1 0-0 3 Totals 24 22-36 75.
3-pointers – PC 8 (Edwards 3, Lott, Nelson, D’Angelo 3), CB 5 (Moats, Morgan, Ponceroff, Luzader 2). Fouled Out – PC 2 (Nelson, Randolph)
