Parkersburg Catholic's Preston Randolph is called for a reach-in foul against Braxton County's Brady Toler during the Crusaders' 65-58 Little Kanawha Conference semifinal victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Braxton County’s Brady Toler had a game-high 18 points here Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough during a Little Kanawha Conference semifinal as Parkersburg Catholic punched its ticket to Saturday night’s championship game at Glenville State University’s Waco Center following a 65-58 victory.

The No. 9 Class AA Eagles of head coach Josh Lunceford, who slipped to 14-4 and visit Philip Barbour on Friday before playing the loser of tonight’s Doddridge County at Buffalo tilt in the LKC consolation game, hit just 10 of 21 from the free-throw line and shot 40.7% (22 of 54) compared to the Crusaders’ 53.2% (25 of 47) showing.

PCHS head coach Jim McLean, who watched his No. 4 Class A program improve to 16-2, held a key 38-28 edge on the glass, which helped offset a 12 of 26 effort at the charity stripe.

Luke Anderson led the hosts with 11 points along with game-highs of 18 rebounds and four blocked shots. Branson Lott also had 11 counters and was a carom shy of a double-double while Preston Randolph scored 11 of his 16 markers in the fourth, and Carter Nelson also finished in double figures with 15 points.

“This was a game we had a gameplan for, but it was also one of those games where we just had to find a way to win no matter what it took,” admitted coach McLean, who got eight markers from Leonardo DeAngelo. “That was kind of the message in the locker room. I’m really proud of Branson and Luke with their rebounding. To have a rebound advantage against that team is a victory within itself.

Parkersburg Catholic's Luke Anderson, who double-doubled with 11 points and 18 rebounds, records one of his game-high four blocked shots against Braxton County's Owen Lowther during the Crusaders' 65-58 Little Kanawha Conference semifinal victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“They did a really good job with that. Preston getting downhill in the fourth quarter while also guarding their best player, he came alive in the fourth quarter. He had three fouls, but he wanted to guard their guy anyway. When I see that in his eyes I know it’s going to be OK. Our turnovers were uncharacteristic of us. Sloppy.”

Crusader Andrew Francisco had two of his five dimes late in the opening quarter when DeAngelo and Jayden Walker each drained a 3 to help give the hosts a 16-13 edge after one.

The Eagles fell behind 26-16 with 3:37 left in the half when Lott converted a floater off the glass, but the visitors got right back in it thanks to their press.

Steve Boggs had all six of his points during a 12-3 spurt to end the half as Toler found Owen Lowther open for a 3 with two seconds to go, which made it 29-28 at intermission.

Parkersburg Catholic pushed its advantage back to 10 at 42-32 with 3:18 remaining in the third when Anderson found Nelson open for a deuce, but an Ashton Stewart trifecta, a three-point play from Zack McQuain and a Stewart foul shot made it a one possession affair at 42-39.

Parkersburg Catholic's Leonardo DeAngelo looks to pass after getting cutoff on the baseline by Braxton County's Jamie Nettles (42) and Brady Toler (5) during the Crusaders' 65-58 Little Kanawha Conference semifinal victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Anderson, though, converted the final bucket of the period and the closest the Eagles got the rest of the way was at 51-48 midway through the fourth when Lowther scored. However, PCHS responded with a 9-2 spurt to push its cushion back to double figures as Randolph had three deuces, Nelson one and Francisco made 1 of 2 from the line.

“It’s tough right now. It’s a tough time of the year for us. We’ve got some guys hurt,” said coach Lunceford, who got 10 points off the bench from Stewart along with eight points and as many boards from Jamie Nettles. “I’m not going to sit here and use that as an excuse. When the Boggs kid is healthy we’re different. He’s got a stress fracture in his foot and it’s not going to get any better. That’s the bad part. I mean we’ll just have to play with it the rest of the year and he’s a tough kid.

“They played hard man. You can’t shoot 40% from the free-throw line and win. I don’t want to take anything away from Parkersburg because they are good. That’s a really talented group. They’ve got five guys on the floor that can shoot it, pass it and dribble it. That’s a matchup issue. A matchup nightmare. As far as defensively, I thought we did pretty well. I thought we did a real good job in the first half. Second half it kind of just at times got away from us.”

Lowther joined Nettles, who had a team-high eight boards along with McQuain, with eight points. Toler finished with a game-high six assists.

“We adjusted at halftime and settled in with what we wanted to do,” coach McLean said of being pressed and having six of their 16 turnovers in the second quarter.

Parkersburg Catholic's Branson Lott uses a screen from teammate Luke Anderson to get free from Braxton County's Ashton Stewart during the Crusaders' 65-58 Little Kanawha Conference semifinal victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Credit to them for throwing that at us, but it just took us a halftime adjustment to fix it. It doesn’t matter who we play (Saturday night). It’s going to be a battle.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com