Wheeling Park junior guard Aiden Davis has had his hands full with Bridgeport’s defense, specifically when Zach Ayoob is the one guarding him, the past couple of meetings.

 

It really wasn’t any easier for him during Thursday’s Class AAAA Region I co-final at BHS. That textbook defense that the Indians are known for was present. But at some point, a premier shooter, like Davis, is eventually going to find a way to make shots.

 

Davis scored his team’s first eight points and finished with 24 to lead the Patriots past the Indians, 49-38, earning a spot in next week’s state tournament at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.

 

Wheeling Park, now 16-8, will be the No. 7 seed and face No. 2 Morgantown for the fourth time this season on Wednesday. It will be Patriots’ 24^th state tournament appearance.

 

With the loss, the Indians end the season at 20-5.

 

It marked the third consecutive year the two schools have met at BHS with a spot in the state tournament on the line. Park won two years ago when Davis hit some clutch free throws down the stretch as a freshman. The Indians won last year’s game on Anthony Spatafore’s buzzer-beater.

 

“When (Bridgeport) joined our region in 2021, we knew it was going to turn into a great rivalry,” Wheeling Park coach Michael Jebbia said. “Dave Marshall is one of the best basketball coaches in this state. The way he gets his players to buy into the type of defense they play, it’s impressive.

 

“Nobody has guarded Aiden the way Ayoob has during his career. It’s his footwork, and his length.

 

“I think the big thing that helped Aiden tonight was he got hot early.”

 

When the Indians and Patriots met in the regular season, a 51-44 victory for BHS, Davis was held to 15 points most of which came late at the foul line. He also did not make a 3-pointer.

 

His first attempt from the floor on Thursday was a contested deep 3 that found nothing but net. He quickly added a three-point play and the Patriots were off and running with an 11-point lead late in the first.

 

“It’s not like we were surprised by (Aiden), he’s an incredible player,” BHS coach Dave Marshall said. “We spend so much time preparing for him but a guy like Aiden is tough and I feel like I have one of the best perimeter defenders in the state of West Virginia with Zach and our scheme is geared to try and take away that penetration.

 

“Some guys, if you give them just a little bit of room they are going to hit a shot. We didn’t even give him any room and he was still hitting shots. Hats off to him.”

 

The Indians closed out the opening quarter with a 3-pointer from Anderson McDougal and a steal and layup at the buzzer by Ayoob to make it 17-11.

 

That momentum carried over into the second as BHS scored the first six points on a pair of free throws from Ben Bifano, a bucket in the paint from Bifano and a layup from Phoenix Sickles after McDougal drove into the lane with a spin move and found his teammate for the easy basket.

 

But other than a scoop layup from Ashton Curry, that would be all the points the Indians would get in the first half. Park however, got two more big baskets from Davis, who finished with 19 in the first half and a huge 3 from Mykel Davis to make it 27-19 at the half.

 

The Indians held the Patriots to just five points in the third quarter but things didn’t fare any better for them on offense.

 

“I thought we did exactly what we needed to do defensively, we just didn’t make shots,” Marshall said. “And that’s not a knock on any of our guys. We took good shots. I thought at times they out-scrapped us. I told our guys, ‘That’s not condemning to you,’ but they played with that chip on the shoulder that we carried all season.”

 

McDougal’s first-quarter 3 would be the only one for the Indians as they finished 1-for-16 from behind the arc.

 

The Patriots would go to seal the win by making 9-of-12 from the line down the stretch.

 

Sickles finished with a team-high 14 points, while Jack Spatafore and McDougal each finished with seven. McDougal also had five assists and four steals.

 

“I told my guys, this doesn’t take a thing away from what they accomplished,” Marshall said. “We all wanted to go to that next level and see what kind of seeding we were going to have. Everybody wants to play in Charleston, that’s what you start this for.

 

“We won 20 games this year. We are the smallest school in quad A by far and we hosted three straight regionals. To watch the community get behind a basketball team has been a lot of fun. I love those seniors, all four of them (Curry, Bifano, Ayoob and Rowen Michaelis). What they have done and bought in from a leadership standpoint has been great.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Ayoob (23) guarding Davis. In bottom photo, Sickles goes up for a layup. Photos by Joe LaRocca.