Marietta’s Trey Hawkins (3) goes up for a jumper as Parkersburg’s Chandler Jackson defends during the River City Classic Friday at Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

MARIETTA — The annual River City High School Classic tipped off Friday at Marietta College’s Ban Johnson Arena. Games will continue Saturday and Sunday.

Boys: Marietta 73, Parkersburg 54

Freshman Graesyn Moat led four Marietta scorers in double figures Friday night as the Tigers rolled to a 73-54 win over the Parkersburg Big Reds in the River City Classic at Ban Johnson Arena.

Moat was a non-starter in the game but was called into action early when Tiger senior Zaiden Wittekind got into early foul trouble.

All Moat did was go 7-of-10 from the floor while also pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out three assists.

Belpre’s Malik Currie, left, goes up for a 3-pointer as Ross County Christian’s Squire Russell contests during the River City Classic Friday at Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

After a close first quarter the Tigers opened up a double-digit lead in the second quarter and then kicked things into high gear in the third as they out-pointed the Big Reds 18-13 to take a 17-point lead into the final quarter.

Marietta shot nearly 55 percent from the floor (29-53) including eight from behind the arc while out-rebounding Parkersburg by a hefty 28-16 margin.

Joining Moat in double-figures for the Austin Gardner-coached Tigers was Logan Grosklos and Austin Riley with 16 points apiece and Trey Hawkins with 13.

Grosklos connected on three triples while Riley led all rebounders with nine.

Moat and Grosklos shared the player of the game honors for the winners while Chandler Jackson picked up the award for the Big Reds after tossing in a team-high 17.

Monroe Central’s Corbin Farnsworth (42) handles the ball during a game against Tyler Consolidated during the River City Classic Friday at Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Jaxon Thomas also reached double figures with 12 as did Mathias Williams and Quentin Wilson with 11 and 10 points respectively.

The Big Reds slipped to 2-3 with the loss and will return to action January 6th at home versus Capital while the Tigers (5-2) will play back at Marietta College Sunday afternoon (2:30) when they take on Bloom Carrol.

Boys: Belpre 71, Ross County Christian 42

After a very close first quarter the Belpre Golden Eagles dominated the final three periods and rolled to a 71-42 win over the Ross County Christian Academy Eagles in the finale of the opening night of the River City Classic.

Belpre led by just two-points at the end of the first quarter but out-pointed RCCA 56-29 the rest of the way to roll to their fifth win of the season against four losses.

Parkersburg Catholic’s Jayden Walker (22) handles the ball as Frontier’s Jacob Bowersock (10) defends during the River City Classic Friday at Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Malik Currie poured in a game-high 27 points to lead the way for Belpre including 15 in the second half.

Currie also came up with seven steals in the game as the Golden Eagles forced Ross County into no less than 22 turnovers with many of them turning into easy buckets on the other end.

With Ross County Christian leading by three-points early in the second quarter Belpre finished out the first half on a 16-4 run to turn the three-point deficit into a nine-point lead (33-24) at the break.

Currie scored 10 of those points including back-to-back buckets in transition after he came up with steals on consecutive plays.

Also reaching double digits for Belpre was Haiden Tabler with 15, A.J. Copen with 11 and Malakai Ensor with 10.

Marietta's Braxtyn Kroft wins the opening tip against Belpre's Madi Lauer during the Tigers' 50-40 victory on Friday afternoon at Marietta College's River City Shootout. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Ross County (5-4) was paced by Isaac Kellogg with 16 points and Reed Elliott with 11.

Currie and Kellogg earned Player of the game honors for their respective teams.

The Golden Eagles will next host Federal Hocking on Monday evening.

Girls: Frontier 47, Tyler Consolidated 28

Anna Bowersock missed a double-double by one rebound and Willow Smitley stuffed the stat sheet here Friday during the River City Classic to help lead Frontier to a 47-28 victory versus Tyler Consolidated.

Frontier's Kelsey Dye dribbles the ball behind her back to avoid Tyler Consolidated's Katie Grimm during the Cougars' 47-28 victory Friday at Marietta College's River City Shootout. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

The Silver Knights, who slipped to 1-7 and had their only lead at 6-3 thanks to a Ryland Henderson free throw along with a deuce and a trey by Riley Stover, allowed the last nine points of the first and trailed 24-10 at halftime and 43-22 entering the fourth.

Tyler Consolidated’s Katie Grimm was named Player of the Game after leading them with a dozen counters.

Bowersock paced the Cougars with 18 points and nine rebounds, but Smitley was named Player of the Game after putting up 14 points, grabbing seven caroms and dishing out a game-high five assists. Smitley, who added a blocked shot, also tied Stover for game-high steal honors with four.

Although Ella Cisler assisted on a Keely Barrows bucket to open the affair, the Silver Knights quickly pushed ahead 6-3. However, a deuce by Addison Edgar for part of her nine markers and then a putback by Bowersock put the Cougars in front to stay with 3:17 remaining in the first.

TCHS, which shot just 17.4% (4 of 23) in the first half and finished at 21.7% (10 of 46) for the game, watched the Cougars open the second on a 10-0 spurt. Bowersock, who converted just 11 seconds in, also joined Smitley with a 3 as the Silver Knights called timeout after a Kelsey Dye basket.

A driving lay-in by Grimm finally got the Silver Knights on the board in the second, but their only other bucket came via a Riley Wise make. Frontier was able to take its 14-point advantage into the break as Bowersock had an offensive rebound and swished in a 14-footer a half second before the horn.

Frontier, which improved to 7-3 and is off until Cameron invades next Friday, forced seven more Silver Knight turnovers during a third quarter where the two teams combined for five three-point play opportunities, but Grimm was the lone player to convert one.

Tyler Consolidated will look for win number two of the campaign at 2:30 p.m. Saturday inside the BanJo versus Trimble.

Girls: Marietta 50, Belpre 40

Belpre only dressed six players here Friday during the River City Classic at Marietta College, but the Golden Eagles fought to the end before coming up short against Marietta, 50-40.

The 4-4 Tigers, who return to action at 5:30 p.m. Sunday versus Fairland back inside Ban Johnson Arena, appeared to be on track for a blowout victory after scoring the first 10 points and bolting to a 21-6 lead after one for first-year head coach Ali Shane.

Second-year Belpre boss Austin Cunningham, who was without the services of starters Julia Way and Gracie Bills due to injury, trailed 33-18 at intermission, but limited the Tigers to just two points in the third and made it a two-possession affair in the final eight minutes.

Hayleigh Chidester, who shared team Player of the Game honors with Braxtyn Kroft, went for game-highs of 18 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, while Kroft pitched in 15 points and grabbed eight caroms.

Chey Parsons, who drained all six of her free-throw attempts, led the now 3-7 Golden Eagles with 17 points en route to being named the Player of the Game. She pulled down half a dozen rebounds as too did teammates Addy Stewart and Khloe Cooper, who had a quartet of assists.

Lauren Elliott, who had nine markers, tallied half of the Tigers’ first 10 points after Chidester opened the tilt with a putback basket, Fiona Fowler added a foul shot and Kroft scored inside.

Belpre, which also returns to the BanJo for its next game at 9 a.m. Saturday versus Shenandoah, got all six of its points in the first from Parsons as the Golden Eagles had 15 of their 19 turnovers in the opening half.

A Stewart runner via a Madi Lauer assist to open the third was answered by a Kroft deuce, but the Tigers finished the quarter missing 9 of 10 from the floor and committing five turnovers. That allowed Belpre to pull within nine at 35-26 entering the fourth as both Savannah Cross and Lauer hit from beyond the arc.

Lauer, who finished with nine markers while Stewart chipped in eight, connected from downtown to open the fourth which made it a two-possession affair.

The Tigers, who got four steals apiece from Fowler and Reed, proceeded to score the next eight points to get some breathing room.

Boys: Monroe Central 77, Tyler Consolidated 44

Monroe Central hasn’t skipped a beat since winning an Ohio Division VI state title last season.

The Seminoles extended their winning streak to 15 straight games over the past two seasons after defeating Tyler Consolidated 77-44 during Friday’s River City Classic at Marietta College.

Corbin Fairbanks led Monroe Central (8-0) with 20 points, while Cooper Howell added 18 points. The team’s Player of the Game, Blake Yontz, scored all 13 of his points in the first half as the Seminoles went into intermission leading 38-15.

“We’ve got three returning starters from last year and what they learned from those upperclassmen during that run, they’ve been able to be leaders this year,” Monroe Central coach Mason Lang said. “They’ve shown the younger guys the way we play and the way they are expected to play. The biggest takeaway is that their leadership has been just amazing.”

Tyler’s only lead of the game at 2-0 was quickly erased when three straight steals – two by Farnsworth and another Yontz – led to easy layups and sparked an 18-0 run. Farnsworth, who did not play in the second quarter, scored 10 points in the opening four-plus minutes.

The gap reached as many as 20 points before Tyler cut into the deficit at 29-14 on 3-pointers from Kolbin Highley and John Mace. The Seminoles regained control with a 9-1 run in the final 1:15.

Monroe Central essentially put the game on ice with six unanswered points in the opening stages of the second half, which created a 44-17 cushion.

Landon Boggs scored a team-high 10 points for the Knights (1-3), who were without the services of their head coach Mark Winters. Winters did not make the trip because of illness.

The first two opponents for Monroe Central to start the New Year are Wheeling Park and Wheeling Central Catholic.

“We’re excited for these challenges,” Lang said “We want to continue to get better. Playing games like these will make us get better.”

Boys: Parkersburg Catholic 71, Frontier 60

MARIETTA – Once Frontier’s shots stopped falling, everything fell into place for Parkersburg Catholic – including a lead which escaped them throughout the third quarter.

The Crusaders remained perfect at 5-0 after limiting the Cougars (3-3) to four points over the final seven-plus minutes of regulation and pulling out a 71-60 win during the River City Classic, Friday night at Marietta College.

“The thing that really got us going – we were getting stops on our end and that ended up giving us momentum for our offense,” PCHS coach Jim McLean said.

Preston Randolph, selected as PHCS’ Player of the Game, provided the spark which rallied his ballclub from a 56-48 deficit in the early moments of the fourth quarter.

Randolph, who scored a team-high 18 points, converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way, came up with a steal and ensuing layup on Frontier’s ensuing offensive series then found teammate Carter Nelson for an open 3-pointer on the next trip downcourt to close out a 13-0 run.

“Sometimes it doesn’t show up in the stat book, but Preston does so many things offensively and defensively,” McLean said. “He covers all aspects of the game because of his basketball IQ.”

Kason Hoff, who was selected as Frontier’s Player of the Game after leading all scorers with 22 points, turned the momentum around only briefly with his bucket at 3 ½ minutes left in the period which left the Cougars trailing 61-58.

A five-point burst from PCHS was later followed by a series of free throws to secure the win.

Luke Anderson with 13 points and Branson Lott with 11 points rounded out the double figure scorers for PCHS. Avery Powell tossed in 19 points for Frontier.

“I like that we started to find our stride offensively in the second half,” McLean said.

Jay W. Bennett, Kerry Patrick and Mike Morrison contributed.