Wheeling Central swept the boys and girls Undo’s and Main Street Bank Upper Ohio Valley Basketball Tournament championships on Saturday night at the McDonough Center on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University.
The Bishop Donahue boys and Steubenville Catholic Central girls took home consolation victories earlier in the night as well.
Girls
Consolation Game: Steubenville Catholic Central 41, Bishop Donahue 33
The Donahue girls came out in stride as they built a 13 – 0 lead before Catholic Central could even muster a single rebound, but once they did they were establish a game that would get them back into the contest. They would cut the Bishop lead to three at 21 – 19 going into the locker room.
The game would remain close until the beginning of the 4th quarter when Catholic Central took their first lead of the game and extended it to 8. Donahue would not back down though, as they would be able to get the game to 4 points on several occasions, but were unable to get any closer as Catholic Central made their free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
Championship Game: Wheeling Central 47, Weirton Madonna 35
Weirton Madonna was able to produce the pace of the game for the first 16 minutes as they held the Central offense to 7 – 34 (20%) shooting in the first half en route to a 20 – 16 lead.
The Maroon Knights would wake up in the second half as they produced a 15 – 0 run to start the third before Madonna was able to answer with a 9 – 0 run to end the stanza and cut the Central lead to 31 – 29.
That would be the closest Madonna got to the championship though, as Megan Blaha took the game over with 12 points in the final stanza, including 4 – 5 from the charity stripe over the final minutes to ice the game.
Blaha led all scorers with 18 points.
Boys
Consolation Game: Bishop Donahue 71, Clay-Battelle 54
Donahue got back to their winning ways by handling the Cee-Bees in the consolation final. Clay-Battelle held a slim 14 – 13 lead after the first period, but the Bishops would start heating up mid-way through the second quarter. They would go on a 21 – 4 run in the half’s final 4:32 which put them ahead 34 – 20 after 16 minutes. During that final stretch of the half, Taylor Straughn and Brett Moore would go 4-for-5 from beyond the arc to aid in the offensive explosion.
Donahue maintained their distance in the second half and Jessie Padlow would go 6-for-8 from the free throw line to ice the game away.
Chase Truex led the Bishops with 18 points (8-of-9 from the field, 2-of-7 FT) while Straughn scored 16 (2-of-3 from 3pt). Zach Chisler paced the Cee-Bees with 18 points (7-of-21 from the field) while Jarrett Hockenberry scored 16 (8-of-15 from the field).
Championship Game: Wheeling Central 67, Steubenville Catholic Central 60 / OT
Steubenville Catholic controlled the first half as Wheeling Central could not get anything going on offense in the first 16 minutes. Steubenville held Wheeling to 6-of-22 from the field in the first half while shooting 10-of-19 for themselves in building a 26 – 18 halftime lead.
The tides would change in the second half as an unlikely hero stepped up for the Maroon Knights. Freshman, John Burkhalter scored 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the third stanza to pull them into a tie with the Crusaders at 35 with only 8 minutes remaining. That’s where David Park stepped in — like he did in the second half last night — and went perfect from the field in the fourth to keep pace with Steubenville’s offense.
The game looked like it would come down to one final possession by the Crusaders, but a steal by Wheeling’s Chase Hurler would give him one final chance to win it. His jumper would bounce off the front iron though, and the game would go into overtime.
In the 4-minute extra session, Park would again take over as he drilled two huge treys to give Wheeling the lead. Thomas Stanley would also hit an unexpected three to extend the lead and free throws would lock the game down for the Maroon Knights.
Tournament MVP’s
Girls
Steubenville Catholic Central: Miranda Parkinson
Bishop Donahue: Jewel Pupura
Wheeling Central: Regan Blaha, Mackenzi Michaels, Ashton Cross
(Note: Madonna roster didn’t provide numbers with names. #3 & #12 were MVP’s)
Boys
Bishop Donahue: Taylor Straughn, Chase Truex
Clay-Battelle: Zach Chisler
Steubenville Catholic Central: Ryan Fletcher, Matthew Martello
Wheeling Central: David Park, Chase Harler, John Burkhalter
