Photo provided by: kim north
Wheels – Not bad for a season opener.
Wheeling Park debuted with a 71-35 pound-for-pound victory over John Marshall at the 6th Annual SunAmdi Basketball Classic Nightcap held at WesBanco Arena, Aiden Davis had a double-double and Mikel Davis He scored 18 points and made three one-handed dunks.
Aiden Davis, a smooth-shooting junior, hit five straight threes en route to a game-best 31 points. He also had a career-high 10 rebounds as the Patriots snapped a 39-game winning streak (0-2) against the Monarchs.
John Marshall boys basketball hasn’t beaten Wheeling Park since Feb. 29, 2008 in the Class AAA sectional final. This was the last time the Monarch boys team advanced to the state tournament.
“Our defense was really good from the start,” Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia said. “I was excited to play the season opener inside (WesBanco’s) arena, but I was nervous and took a quick shot.”
The Patriots scored the first seven points of the game and never looked back, leading 20-4 at the end of the first quarter and 29-10 at the half.
“Aiden and Mikel really pushed us forward early on,” Jebbia said. “They did a great job of putting the ball in the hoop.
“Amare (Johnson) had some big buckets. We had some contributions off the bench as well, and we’re going to need that all season.”
Overall, Wheeling Park had nine players reach the scoring column. The two unrelated Davises single-handedly outscored John Marshall.
The Patriots were too aggressive going to the basket at times.
“There were six charging fouls,” Jebbia noted. “That’s something we need to cleanse.”
Meanwhile, John Marshall committed 10 of 25 turnovers in the first quarter and never scored.
“This is a learning process for our kids. Wheeling Park is a very good basketball team. They have athletes and great players,” said John Marshall first-year head coach Joel Nau. . “We’re just learning right now. We have a lot of young kids, and for most of them, this is their first time playing varsity basketball.
“We will be even better,” he added. “We’ll keep working. We can only go up from here.”
The Monarchs lost seven seniors to graduation.
Hayden Geyser led John Marshall with 11 points. He had 3 trays.
Mikel Davis and Landon Lewis each had five rebounds as the Patriots held a 30-21 advantage.