Wirt County spoils senior night for Catholic, 51-44
- Parkersburg Catholic’s Landon Edwards, who was honored on senior night and had seven points and eight rebounds, tries to knock the ball away from Wirt County’s Alex Bevel during the Tigers’ 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Parkersburg Catholic’s Leonardo DeAngelo goes up for a shot as Wirt County’s Easton Wyer (32) defends during the Tigers’ 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Wirt County’s Chase Hoover challenges the shot of Parkersburg Catholic’s Leonardo DeAngelo during the Tigers’ 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
- Wirt County’s Braylan Dawson is double teamed by Parkersburg Catholic’s Landon Edwards (24) and Leo Haid (11) during the Tigers’ 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Williamstown’s Cruz Isaly attacks the basket during Tuesday’s game against Ravenswood. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
PARKERSBURG — Carter Nelson knocked down six 3s and led all scorers with 22 points here Tuesday evening on senior night for host Parkersburg Catholic, but Wirt County’s Tyler Smith drained 5 of 6 from the free-throw line in the final 1:49 to help the visiting Tigers secure a 51-44 Little Kanawha Conference triumph and a season sweep of the Crusaders.
A week ago Monday, the Tigers of first-year head coach Roy Atllop handed the then-visiting Crusaders a 66-58 setback.
PCHS boss Jim McLean, who got seven points and eight boards from lone senior Landon Edwards, played the game without the services of an ill Preston Randolph, while Leonardo DeAngelo finished with 10 markers.
“We missed four or five layups in about a two-minute stretch that just killed us and I think it just came from tired legs,” admitted coach McLean, who got a buzzer-beating 3 from Edwards to only trail 30-28 at the break. “We’ve got one guy out sick and two more guys coughing up bronchitis and trying to fight through this game. I thought our bigs actually rebounded really well. Jayden (Walker) and Landon and (Leo) Haid did a great job battling their bigs all night.
“The trouble for us is we had to try and figure out personnel because we are missing a ball handler, so we had to go small for ball handling, but we had to try and match their size rebounding. It’s just really hard missing a guy like Preston. We’re going to have to figure out where we are health-wise, but we definitely have some prep work to do because Friday is another regional matchup (at home versus Cameron) and we got to get that one.”

Parkersburg Catholic's Landon Edwards, who was honored on senior night and had seven points and eight rebounds, tries to knock the ball away from Wirt County's Alex Bevel during the Tigers' 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Smith, who had six rebounds, led the Tigers with 17 points. Braylan Dawson had a dozen, Easton Wyer went for 11 points and eight boards while Alex Bevel chipped in nine points and had four assists.
“You can throw that record out the window, though, with their record (4-12). They are a much better basketball team than that and we are, too. We’re better than 6-8,” said coach Alltop, whose team came up just short on the boards, 38-36, as Walker joined Branson Lott with a game-high nine caroms. “We’re better than that and we’re getting better. He’s got a young team. We’ve got a young team. Both teams are battling right now to try and learn how to score. It’s like pulling teeth to score, but I’m very happy with the win.
“To beat them twice is a big deal. Now we get to go to Richwood (on Thursday) and they’ve won one game I think, but then you got Williamstown on Saturday and I know what they are like. Then we got Calhoun. We’ve got some winnable games coming up and our record is getting a little bit better, and the kids are getting better every time they play. I mean we made a ton of mistakes tonight, but we got to correct a bunch of stuff. It’s not like we are doing the same thing over and over. We find new things every game.”
The Tigers led 14-5 in the first, but Nelson had consecutive 3s and a deuce apiece from Lott and DeAngelo helped the hosts forge a 15-14 cushion. However, Bevel’s assist to Wyer allowed the orange and black to take a 16-15 lead after one.
Wyer’s putback with 2:04 left in the half put the Tigers up 30-22 as the Tigers used a 12-3 spurt during a span where PCHS missed 10 straight field goals.

Wirt County's Chase Hoover challenges the shot of Parkersburg Catholic's Leonardo DeAngelo during the Tigers' 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Neither program could find the range in the third quarter as the Tigers missed 12 of 15 and PCHS 10 of 13.
The Crusaders were able to take a 38-37 cushion into the final eight minutes thanks to a steal and layup by Andrew Francisco.
Bevel’s layup in traffic with 3:04 remaining put the Tigers ahead for good, 43-41. Haid’s assist to DeAngelo that resulted in a trifecta made it 45-44 with 2:09 left, but the hosts didn’t score again.
“I’m proud of my kids,” added coach Alltop, whose team shot 36.7% (18 of 49) compared to PC’s 25.9% (14 of 54) as the Tigers made 5 of 20 from downtown compared to the Crusaders’ 9 of 34.
“They have given me everything they have in practice. They are listening and now they are starting to believe a little bit and that is huge.”

Parkersburg Catholic's Leonardo DeAngelo goes up for a shot as Wirt County's Easton Wyer (32) defends during the Tigers' 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Wirt County's Braylan Dawson is double teamed by Parkersburg Catholic's Landon Edwards (24) and Leo Haid (11) during the Tigers' 51-44 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)