By Rich Stevens
Quarterfinal round games haven’t exactly been a picnic for the favorites, even if Wheeling Central made it a clean sweep for the higher seeds at the boys state high school basketball tournament this week.
The second-seeded Maroon Knights broke a 26-26 tie with 6:31 left in the third period by scoring 19 of the game’s next 22 points en route to a hard-fought 68-54 victory over No. 7 Parkersburg Catholic (15-12).
Wheeling Central (23-2) moves to the semifinals at 11:15 a.m. on Friday against No. 3 Tug Valley, a 67-55 winner over Tucker County.
First, coach Mel Stephens’ team had to stave off the game Crusaders, who trailed by 20 with 6:24 left. Catholic cut the advantage to nine with 58 seconds left, behind a flurry of 3-point goals. Austin Sweeny (1), Logan Plummer (4) and Cade Ullman (2) combined for seven of Catholic’s nine 3-pointers in the final 4:38.
The third quarter hill proved to be too high to climb, especially after a 21-0 run that began at 5:10 of the third and didn’t end until Wheeling Central led by 22 with 4:53 remaining.
“We have to limit teams to one shot and we have to make shots, and they had a lot of offensive rebounds in the third quarter,” Parkersburg Catholic coach Rob Strcula said.
John Burkhalter had 12 of his team-high 20 points in the third quarter to lead four double-figure scorers. He also had three steals, a blocked shot, a rebound and an assist in the third.
“It’s nice having John,” said Wheeling Central standout and WVU recruit Chase Harler, who had 15 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots with just one turnover. “He caught fire in the third quarter. Throughout the year we played off the hot hand. We kept feeding him and he led to that spark.”
Brent Price had 11 points and Owen Gainer 10 for Wheeling Central, which received eight points from its bench, doubled Parkersburg Catholic’s points in the paint (36-18) and outscored the Crusaders on the fast break, 14-0.
Aaron Collins had 19 points to lead Catholic, but only five after halftime. Ullman had 16 and Plummer 12.
“In the first half, Parkersburg Catholic did a good job of dictating the tempo as far as driving the ball and getting offensive rebounds,” Stephens said. “They played a zone and we didn’t hit some shots early. At halftime, we really challenged them as far as what they were doing, driving and rebounding, which was a key coming in.
“The third quarter has been really, really good for us. I told them you can’t keep banking on that.”
