File Photo Parkersburg South’s Ashton Mooney passes the ball during a regular season contest vs. Parkersburg at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center.

PARKERSBURG — Now this is more like it.

At least from the Parkersburg South perspective, the boys basketball program has returned to the point of the postseason where the Patriots have provided memorable moments under coach Mike Fallon.

Following last season’s sectional semifinal loss in Fallon’s debut for a second stint at the school, South landed the No. 3 seed for this week’s West Virginia High School Boys State Basketball Tournament in Charleston. The Patriots meet No. 6 seed Wheeling Park at 9:30 a.m. in a Class AAAA quarterfinal matchup Thursday at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.

“What happened last season, there was a lot of disappointment and I think that let us get focused and dialed in for the summer,” Fallon said. “Winning the regional championship over Huntington wasn’t necessarily a sense of relief, rather a sense of this is where we should be. Toward the end of my first go-round at South, I kind of took getting to state for granted. Getting knocked out last year was a rude wake-up call for us. It gave us a whole new perspective and brought our team together.”

A total of four teams from the Mid-Ohio Valley advanced to the state tournament, including three in Class AA where two games bring together the two divisions of the Little Kanawha Conference. On Tuesday, No. 4 Ravenswood and No. 5 South Harrison meet at 11:15 a.m. The two schools did not meet during the regular season.

“We knew last year we were pretty young and inexperienced – we weren’t as physical as some of the teams we played against, and that really hurt us,” said Ravenswood coach Mick Price, who led the Red Devils to consecutive runner-up finishes at state in 2017 and again in 2018. “With an offseason of work, these kids have gotten much better. As the season has gone one, they have gotten confident and played together as a group.

“Before, we were pieces trying to put it together. Now it’s a team.”

Another LKC member, Williamstown, needed just one win to advance to state, but Magnolia altered those plans and enter the Class AA field as the No. 8 seed. The Blue Eagles, who enter with a 10-14 record play No. 1 Poca club 23-1 and heavily reliant on its senior class. Game time is 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

“This is a group of young men who really like the game of basketball,” Magnolia coach Dave Tallman said of his team which uses a rotation based primarily on sophomores. “We played great competition this year – it was one of those years where everyone we played was good. Our record wasn’t that great, but there were a lot of people who didn’t beat the people we played.”

The second game pitting opposite sides of the LKC will occur at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday when No. 2 St. Marys meets No. 7 seed Braxton County for the first time this season.

The past two seasons with a state berth on the line, the Blue Devils have lost on a last-second shot. AS far back as anyone can remember, coach Mark Barnhart pointed out this may be the first year both the girls and boys basketball programs at St. Marys have advanced to the state tournament.

Last week, the St. Marys girls advanced to the semifinal round.

“That is pretty unique,” Barnhart said. “Our girls have been here a lot and I believe this is the eighth trip for our boys. A couple of the boys on the team who attended the games last week said that being down there and seeing the excitement, and thinking you had a chance it was an exciting week for them.

“I think it meant a lot for the boys.”

Class AA Quarterfinal

South Harrison vs. Ravenswood

Whether it’s fate, Ravenswood returns to the state tournament for the first time since 2018 as it celebrates 100 years of basketball at the high school this season.

“It’s a big deal because we are celebrating 100 years of basketball – we have had so many alumni come back for throwback nights and that has kind of re-generated the whole town,” Price said. “On those nights, our kids wanted to do well to let them know we still have this program going.

“We didn’t haver anything to do with the timing of the 100 years of basketball, but the kids had a lot to do with us getting to state in our 100th year. It’s been a really great year for the kids, but we have a ways to go.”

Ravenswood enters with a 20-4 with three losses coming at the hands of the top two seeds in Class AA – Poca once and St. Marys twice.

“The last week of the season, I scheduled Ripley and St. Marys – I wanted our kids to know that if they are going to play in these tough environments this is what it will be like,” Price said. “Those environments and tough games have helped us get to this point. I don’t think our kids are going to be surprised by what’s going on because they know they are playing a very good basketball team.”

The matchup between the respective lineups is eerily similar. South Harrison (23-1) is led by junior Corey Boulden (25.7 ppg and 9.0 rpg), while Ravenswood answers with Matthew Carte (19.5 ppg, 3.7 apg and 3.1 spg). The Hawks boast four players scoring in double figures.

South Harrison (23-1) opened the season with 20 straight wins before losing to St. Marys in the LKC Night of Champions title game.

“We went into the game with St. Marys and there were people who kept saying to me, you guys need to lose,” South Harrison coach Tom Sears said. “And I hated to hear that because I don’t believe that’s true. We went into the gym that next Monday. We had our two-hour practice slot, and for probably an hour and half we sat in the locker room and just talked about who we wanted to be, what we wanted to define us.

“That loss to St. Marys will not define us, and since then we have tweaked some things. We have grown closer together and that was absolutely a gut check. So we are looking for respect now.”

Boulden is the grandson of legendary South Harrison coach Gary Barnette.

“Corey is a great kid – he wants our school to be respected,” Sears said. “He is a Hawk, orange and black through and through. He wants South Harrison to be remembered. He has done a pretty good job thus far.”

Carter is the lone Red Devil scoring in double figures, but Beau Bennett, Drew Hunt and Ashton Miller are hovering in the 8.0-9.8 point range.

“It will be a tall task for us because South Harrison is such a well-rounded team – you can’t concentrate on one kid even though you know Boulden is someone you better know where he is at all times,” Price said. “We are not too far away from what South Harrison has. I feel on certain nights, anyone besides Matthew Carte could be in double figures.

“It has helped us be a little more well-rounded as a team.”

Class AA Quarterfinal

Magnolia vs. Poca

The win over Williamstown marked the second time in three games Magnolia played all five starters the full 32 minutes. The wear and tear didn’t seem to both the Ball Eagles in the turnover department against the Yellowjackets – where they committed just three total.

“That has been our strength this year – we haven’t turned the ball over a whole lot,” Tallman said. “We are impatient at times and take bad shots, so we will need great shot selection against Poca.”

Poca is led by Isaac McKneely, who was selected this week as the Evans Award winner for the second straight season as the state’s top basketball player. McKneely, who has signed with the University of Virginia, averages 20.8 points per game.

“Isaac McKneely is the real deal,” Tallman said. “But he has a good surrounding cast. They are senior-laden, so it will be a great challenge.

“Honestly, we are thrilled to be playing the No. 1 team. It will be a great experience for our guys no matter what happens.”

Magnolia relies heavily on scoring production from a trio of players – Trevor Williams (17.9), Hayden Pyles (14.8) and Haden Shimp (7.9). Williamstown is a senior captain who also averages 7.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

“Trevor was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes a couple of years ago, so his shooting percentages are way down – a lot of that is from fatigue,” Tallman said. “If you saw what he went through, I didn’t even think he would continue with the game of basketball.

“He never complains. He works his tail off. He’s our best on-the-ball defender and is a great ballhandler as well. I think the world of him.”

Following brief issues with COVID and quarantine issues followed by weather distractions, a win over Martins Ferry in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference’s third place kickstarted Magnolia’s season in the right direction.

“The biggest fear we had at the beginning of the season, along with everybody else, was this COVIOD thing,” Tallman said. “We got shut down early for about four days. During the season, they shut down Magnolia for a few days. The snow hit and we didn’t get into the gym a lot, and that was part of our problem during the season.”

Class AA Quarterfinal

Braxton County vs. St. Marys

St. Marys brings in a 22-2 record, including a 59-46 victory over then-undefeated South Harrison in the LKC Night of Champions title game in mid-February.

The Blue Devils trailed 17-7 late in the first quarter then outscored the Hawks 23-2 to pull in front to stay. Behind Corey Boulden’s 26-point scoring average, South Harrison is the highest scoring offense in Class AA.

“Even when we were down 17-7, to our kids’ credit I didn’t see any panic,” Barnhart said. “As the game wore on, you started to see the cumulative effect. Especially on defense, we were getting stops. It seemed like they came out and hit their first four or five shots right off the bat. In the second quarter, our defense was better than I thought.

“To be honest, I think South Harrison missed some shots they are probably used to making.”

After losing to South Harrison 67-61 in the sectional final, Braxton County defeated Moorefield 42-35 for a regional title. DJ Coomes leads Braxton County (13-11) in scoring at 17.5, while William Furbush follows at 14.4.

“Braxton County gave South Harrison one heck of a game in the sectional championship,” Barnhart said. “They have very good athletes and a couple of guards that are very strong with Furbush and Coomes – not just because they are good at driving to the basket, but because they are also very physical.”

St. Marys’ offense revolves around senior Grant Barnhart, who averages 25 points, and 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 51% from the field and 83% from the free throw line. In the post, 6-7 junior Luke Powell averages 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. Senior Brandon Lawhon (8.6 ppg) is a bona fide threat from the perimeter.

Senior Waylon Moore also starts along with either Tyler Wilson or Chance Cox.

“We pretty much used eight players exclusively throughout the year and those eight have really jelled, and played well together,” Barnhart said. “They have a good chemistry.

“The biggest thing on their minds this year was to put themselves in position to have a chance.”

Class AAAA Quarterfinal

Wheeling Park vs. Parkersburg South

When South departed Columbus on the night of Dec. 11 having lost to Dublin Coffman 73-61, Fallon looked up and down his future opponents and pondered how his ballclub to such a brutal strength of schedule.

Turn the clock forward and the Patriots have responded – winning 12 straight following the opening-season loss and taking a 19-3 record into Charleston.

“Our kids just kept getting better and better,” Fallon said. “What we didn’t realize then was that Dublin Coffman was a very good team. I think that prepared us for things to come down the road.”

The two mainstays in the South lineup are senior Ashton Mooney and junior Cyrus Traugh at the guard position. Mooney averages a team-high 20 points and 4.1 assists per game, while Traugh scores at nearly a 17-point clip. Both are 80% percent shooters from the free throw line.

Down the stretch run especially, sophomore Jackson Smith (7.1 ppg) has given South a triple-threat both beyond the 3-point line and as a second rebounder.

“Ashton and Cyrus have been solid for us all year long – every night you know what you are getting from those two guys,” Fallon said. “What I like about them, they are not only scoring on the offensive end but also rebounding and playing defense. And they are all over the place in our full-court pressure.

“Jackson has been on a terror the last four or five games. And his confidence level, you can just see it in practice. That’s what we have been waiting for. We knew the kid would play and now he is coming into that mold. He gives us another dimension that makes us extremely tough.”

Depth is another strength South depends on. The Patriots can easily go 10 to 12 deep and go another three players into the depth chart.

“Our offensive kids are growing into defensive kids and our defensive kids are growing into offensive kids.”

South and Wheeling Park (16-9) met once this season. On Jan. 28, the Patriots won 82-63 on the road.

“We are prepared for about anything we will see,” Fallon said. “The biggest thing about Wheeling Park, they are very patient offensively. For us to win, we need to put a ton of pressure on them and force them to play at our pace.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com