Petersburg went on a 13-0 run in the third period and withstood a flurry of 3-pointers in the final minutes by the Yellow Jackets to secure a 56-43 victory in Moorefield on Wednesday.
“I’ll take a big win like that. The start of the second quarter was a huge point, but I think our defense the whole night was key,” Petersburg Coach Todd Heare remarked.
“We gave up some shots late. That [Thomas] Williams kid can really shoot, probable seven feet behind the line and those are great shots if he is going to hit them. I thought we played good D, we cut off drives and rebounded well. We played as a unit and spread the floor. They were switching all the screens, so we spread the floor which gave us cutting lanes and helped us out a lot. The huge turning point was we had a 13-0 run in the third quarter coming out of halftime. We got out to a big lead and just held on toward the end for the win.”
The Vikings (6-7) took the opening tip and executed a play ending with Jacob Halterman scoring in the paint for the initial lead.
Petersburg’s Kahner Turner made a defensive rebound, but the Vikings lost the ball out of bounds.
Moorefield (3-10) missed its next attempt and Peyton Sindledecker snatched the board, then Hunter Pool received the pass and stopped out of bounds.
The Yellow Jackets worked the ball around to slow the pace of the game, then Brent Moran dribbled into traffic and was fouled by Pool.
Moorefield failed to connect again and Sindledecker grabbed the rebound, then passed to Trad Harman, who gave it back for Sindlecker to score in the paint at 5:10.
On the next series, Moorefield’s Thomas Williams knocked down a 3-pointer easily six feet behind the line to make it 4-3.
“We are going to keep playing hard no matter what the score is or how much time is left on the clock,” Moorefield Coach Scott Stutler stated.
“We are learning a little bit. When life kicks you when you are down, you can’t give up. There’s going to be no quit in our team. We are going to play hard and continue to play hard and to battle through a little adversity losing a lot of games in a row. Our goal right now is to get better to be where we need to be at the end of the season. Our goal is we don’t set a number of wins or losses, we want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season. We have about a month left, so we will work hard everyday until we get to where we need to be.”
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Blake Watts blocked a shot for the Yellow Jackets, then Harman walked and Pool stole the ball back.
Moorefield’s Garett Haggerty collected a defensive rebound, but the ensuing attempt went awry and Turner got the board and was fouled by Haggerty.
Haggerty snatched another rebound, then scored in the paint at the 32:15 mark which gave Moorefield a 5-4 lead.
Watts and Pool created steals before the Yellow Jackets committed a foul, then Turner drilled a 3-pointer to regain the Vikings edge 7-5 at 2:47.
Chase Vance pulled up in the paint for a jumper to tie the game on the next possession for Moorefield.
Turner broke the tie with a 3-pointer at the 2:11 mark in favor of Petersburg, 10-7.
A block by Turner on Moorefield’s Ben O Neill was followed by a dive into the stands by Harman in an attempted steal and save.
Petersburg’s Tyce Wisnewski swiped the ball and the next two shot attempts drew iron with Sindledecker collecting both rebounds before Moran stole the ball.
Haggerty and O’Neill hauled in offensive rebounds before a lane violation was called.
O’Neill made a defensive rebound and the Yellow Jackets spread the offense around the perimeter in a five out formation with Harman stepping up for a foul trying to knock the ball loose.
Moran pumped fake and took a shot at the buzzer, but it bounced off the rim as Petersburg held a 10-7 edge heading into the second period.
Harman fouled Haggerty 13 seconds into the second frame and both free throws were made.
The Vikings answered with a field goal by Halterman, then Sindledecker collected a defensive carom.
Petersburg missed and Watts and Moran collided trying to save the ball along the baseline.
Sindledecker knocked down a jumper, then Wisnewski caught an air ball shot on defense with a pass to Pool for a layup, 16-9 at 6:26.
After a timeout, the run ended as Haggerty netted a jumper for the Yellow Jackets.
Turner hit a 3-pointer and kept his arm raised after the shot, then stole the ball which led to a missed opportunity and Haggerty grabbed the board.
Haggerty scored a long range jumper to cut the deficit to 19-13 at the 5:17 mark.
Both teams missed shots, then Halterman made one of two free throws.
Vance knocked down a trey at the 4:13 mark to pull the Yellow Jackets to within four, 20-16.
The Vikings closed the first half on a 9-1 run to take a 29-17 advantage into halftime.
Turner added four points for Petersburg in that stretch, while Wisnewski hit a 3-pointer and Halterman added a field goal.
Moorefield missed eight shots in the closing three minutes and change, but did get a steal and rebound by Haggerty and O’Neill plus two rebounds by Moran.
Haggerty added one free throw during that time as the only points for the Yellow Jackets.
In a four minute stretch to open the third stanza, Petersburg went on a 13-0 run starting with a putback by Pool.
Sindledecker stole the ball and fed Halterman for a basket, then grabbed a defensive rebound.
Moran collected a defensive board, but his pass was intercepted by Turner which led to a 3-pointer by Harman at 6:31, 36-17.
Turner and Halterman deflected passes, then Haggerty was assessed a foul on a screen.
Watts made a steal, then Haggerty picked up his fourth foul on a rebounding attempt.
Harman grabbed an offensive board and netted a jumper for the Vikings.
Sindledecker hauled in a rebound on a miss by Moorefield, then Pool made a putback.
Sindledecker located the carom again and dished to Pool for a layup at 4:08 which gave Petersburg a 42-17 lead.
Moorefield’s Lane Ours collected a defensive rebound, then Williams hit a long range jumper and Harman stopped the game to tie his shoelace.
Watts and Sindledecker made defensive rebounds, then Ours stole the ball near the baseline and jumped up to throw it off Harman’s newly tied shoe to ricochet the ball out of bounds.
O’Neill executed a putback for the Yellow Jackets to cut the deficit to 42-21 with 1:22 left in the third period.
Moorefield’s John Bentley collected a defensive rebound, then Vance drew a foul and missed the charity stripe shots with Bentley making the ensuing rebound only to have the ball stolen by Turner.
Sindledecker scored on the next possession for the Vikings
Turner and Ours made defensive rebounds before Wisnewski committed a foul.
O’Neill assisted Ours on a basket in the paint with seven seconds remaining to make it 44-23.
In the fourth period, there was no scoring in the first two and a half minutes before Watts hit a jumper for the Yellow Jackets.
During that span, Moorefield missed five attempts and the Vikings missed twice in addition to four steals by the Yellow Jackets by Vance, O’Neill and Watts.
Haggerty stole the ball after the score and timeout, but no score came as a result.
Sindledecker and Haggerty collected defensive rebounds with Bentley netting a basket at 4:57.
Sindledecker scored inside the paint after making a defensive rebound, then Halterman blocked a shot and Moran blocked one.
After a score by the Vikings, Turner grabbed a rebound and Williams went for a steal and Wisnewski fouled to prevent a breakaway and the free throw was off the mark.
Haggerty snatched the board, then made the putback with three minutes remaining, 50-29.
Watts collected a defensive rebound, then Moran passed to Williams for a 3-pointer at 2:36.
Harman and Vance made defensive rebounds, then Moran knocked down a 3-pointer at 1:52 to cut the deficit to 52-25.
Haggerty hauled in a rebound off a Petersburg miss and the flurry of perimeter shooting continued as Williams drilled a trifecta with 1:04 left, 52-38.
The Yellow Jackets allowed a quick layup by Wisnewski, then responded with a trey by Williams with 45 seconds to go which created a 54-41 score.
Pool sliced through the defense for another Vikings layup, then blocked Williams.
Moorefield made the final score 56-43 on a jumper by Watts with ten seconds remaining.
Pool scored a team-high 14 points in the Petersburg victory, followed by Turner with 13 and Halterman with 11.
Williams paced the Yellow Jackets with 14 points, followed by Haggerty with 11.
In JV action, the Vikings edged Moorefield 27-25.
Petersburg’s Jamie Vance, Adam Nesselrodt and Quenton Oates each scored six points in the win.
Jaydon See netted a game-high 10 points for the Yellow Jackets, followed by Pedro Santiago and Ethan Sines with four markers apiece.
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