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Catholic knocks off ’Jackets in sectional

STEVE HEMMELGARN The Marietta Times Parkersburg Catholic’s Alec Hinton goes up for a basket as Williamstown’s Eli Inman defends during Wednesday’s game.

PARKERSBURG — It was what you’d expect when visiting Williamstown and Parkersburg Catholic face each other with both their both boys basketball seasons on the line.

After a back-and-fourth third quarter, it all came down to the final eight minutes Wednesday night at PCHS to decide which team would move along in tournament play with the other seeing its season end.

The margin was just four, 52-48, with 1:54 to play when the Crusaders converted eight straight foul shots down the stretch to hold off the Yellowjackets by a 60-53 count to win a Class A Region 4, Section 1 semifinal.

The victory, the third in three tries over Williamstown this season, advances No. 11 Catholic, now 16-7, to play at 7 p.m. Friday at No. 3 Ravenswood in the sectional final.

PCHS got off to a fast 7-0 start on a Cade Ullman trey, Logan Plummer finding Ullman all alone on the baseline for a basket and A.J. Collins canning two free throws at 4:45 of the first quarter.

But the resilient ‘Jackets pulled within 7-5 and then 10-7 before more treys by Ullman and Collins made it 16-8, and another Collins hoop ended the quarter scoring for an 18-10 Catholic lead.

Williamstown, though, behind the trio of Isaac Brown, Cullen Cutright and Josh Folwell combined to tally all of the Jackets’ 16 second-stanza points to trail Catholic by only 29-26 at the half.

Right to open the second half, a Folwell trey knotted the score at 29 and two Brown foul shots gave Williamstown its first lead of the game at 33-32 at the 3:55 mark. The point advantage then swung back and forth four times before a 37-all tie at 1:52.

Ullman, all alone on the baseline again, scored at 1:26 to lift PCHS ahead 39-37 and a Collins trey from the corner at 2.9 seconds gave the hosts a 42-37 lead going to the fourth quarter.

And the Crusaders were able to stay in front of Williamstown between three and six points throughout the fourth. A Trevor Hoosier tip-in got Williamstown as close at 52-48 before Catholic put the game away with its eight charity tosses in a row.

Plummer led PCHS with 19 points, followed by Ullman’s 16 and Collins’ 12, while Williamstown, finishing at 15-9, was paced by Folwell with 18, Cutright with 16 and Brown with 14.

“He (Williamstown head coach Scott Sauro) threw some stuff at us that we didn’t see on tape,” said Catholic head coach Rob Strcula. “But I’m very proud of how our guys answered the bell. When we got down there several times in the third quarter, we didn’t panic. We stayed poised, focused, made plays and answered the call when we needed to.”

For Sauro, “I thought our kids competed and played really hard,” he said. “We did a lot of things right. But their kids when they had open shots, they made them. They really shot at a high clip from 3. Even with that, I thought we still had a chance to win it — we were right there.”

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