Published: March 15, 2008 11:53 pm      

Wheeling Central earns fifth Class A title of decade

CHARLESTON — The boys and girls Class A basketball trophies are being reunited in Wheeling.

One week after Wheeling Central won the girls title, the Maroon Knights mustered enough offense to dethrone two-time defending champion Charleston Catholic 53-49 on Saturday and give the boys their fifth championship in seven years.

The school also won both titles in 2004.

“Today, in stretches, we didn’t play well. But we needed to make a play. Whether it was a shot, a rebound or loose ball, we were able to do that,” said Wheeling Central coach Mel Stephens. “I think that’s the mark of a championship team.”

Second-seeded Wheeling Central (20-6) beat No. 4 Charleston Catholic (20-7) for the second time this season.

The score was tied three times in the fourth quarter before Shane Phillips sank two free throws and Cody Koehler made a reverse layup to put Wheeling Central ahead 50-46 with 1:19 left.

Sean Riley made a free throw and a layup to pull Charleston Catholic within 50-49 with 47 seconds left, but the Irish didn’t score again.

Still, there was plenty of drama left.

Koehler threw the ball out of bounds, giving Charleston Catholic the chance to retake the lead.

“I was thinking that could be huge,” Koehler said. “But at that time I thought we’d just come down and play good defense and pull the win out.”

Wheeling Central did exactly that.

Charleston Catholic’s Dominic Tallarico passed the ball into a crowd and Wheeling Central regained possession on the tie-up.

Phillips sank two free throws with 14 seconds left for a 52-49 lead. Charleston Catholic’s Andrew Cassis missed a 3-point attempt with 4 seconds left and Wheeling Central’s Zack Hood finished the scoring with a free throw with less than a second remaining.

Charleston Catholic was held below 50 points for the seventh time in the last nine games.

“In most games this close, it comes down to execution,” said Charleston Catholic coach Bill McClanahan. “We had opportunities and we just weren’t able to do it. I think that’s probably as good a basketball game as we could have played.”

Koehler led Wheeling Central with 13 points. Cory McKitrick and Phillips added 12 apiece.

Cassis scored 14 points for Charleston Catholic and Matt Goolsby added 10.

Wheeling Central was ahead by as much as 23-17 late in the first half and scored the first seven points of the third quarter to increase its cushion to 30-22.

Charleston Catholic went without a field goal over a six-minute stretch, then scored 11 unanswered points.