Fort Gay, W. Va. — Tolsia junior Parker Watts broke the school record for points in a basketball game with 55 as the Rebels defeated Huntington Expressions Prep 96-95 in Overtime Wednesday at Rebel Arena.
Parker Watts with Brian Stacy and Virgil Ward after breaking the school record for points.
In a high scoring affair, the Rebels trailed 95-93 with 4.7 seconds left and had to go the length of the floor. Inbounder Robert Evans hit Evan Ball who found a streaking Parker Watts who made the tough layup while being fouled and then hit the record breaking free throw to give Tolsia the lead and eventual victory 96-95 with .5 seconds left in the game.
Watts went 19 of 20 from the free throw line and hit five three pointers, Bryson Muncy tallied 13 points, Cole Blackburn added 12 points, Robert Evans netted 11 points and Evan Ball chipped in with 5 points.
The Rebels hit 8 three pointers and went 23 of 26 from the free throw line.
Grace Christian 85 Tolsia 80 ( Tuesday )
The Rebels suffered a loss in Double overtime to the Soldiers at Rebel Arena.
Parker Watts tied the previous record of 54 points which was held by Coty Jude. Watts hit 8 three pointers as well.
CJ Waller tallied 11 points, Robert Evans added 6 points, Josh Hofmeister netted 3 points, Bryson Muncy, Cole Blackburn and Evan Ball had 2 points each.
Tolsia hit 10 three pointers and went 4 for 13 form the free throw line.
The Rebels ( 11-6 ) will return to action on Friday against Van for Senior night at Rebel Arena.
Tolsia Head Coach Brian Stacy
COACH’S COMMENTS
“,,, So proud of our kids for bouncing back from the loss to Grace Christian on Tuesday in Double OT, I thought our kids played extremely hard throughout and really showed what they could do and against a super talented team. The energy and effort was great against Grace but we made too many mental mistakes and when you do that late in games it’s hard to close out the win. Tonight I thought we did that and we came out victorious.”
“… Really ecstatic over the effort tonight. If we can play like that every night we have chance to win every game on our schedule. It was top to bottom from everyone that went in the game.”
“… Parker was fantastic once again and for him to break the school record like he did is really special. Against a team like this and go 19 of 20 from the foul line and seal the victory with under a second left is storybook kinda stuff. He wasn’t alone tonight we got contributions from several people and that is the way it needs to be. We have so much talent on this team and it showed in the victory tonight.”
“… I told them before the game that this was just a high school team a stacked team but Parker has played against these guys and Evan knows just about every one of them so let’s just go out there and play and see where we stand at the end of the night. I didn’t think our kids backed down one time tonight and it showed throughout the contest.”
Tolsia Junior Parker Watts
Player of the Game
“… Really motivated me when we came out and not many fans in the stands. I’m sure people thought we would be intimidated and out matched against Expressions Prep. But I hope with our effort tonight that we can get the fans back out for the rest of the season. Really disappointed with the loss against Grace Christian but I think we put that behind us and really came out tonight and tried to have fun, play team ball and get a win.”
“… Coach told us before the game no matter what happens just keep playing and never give up. I thought we played better as a team and really buckled down and gave great effort throughout. So proud of my teammates for gutting out the overtime victory.”
“… When the first quarter ended and it was like 21-16 we knew that we had a real shot to play with them for the rest of the game. I told them on the bench to just keep playing and keep putting pressure on them. Evan Ball isn’t 100% but he hit a big three, Bryson Muncy hit two huge free throws to tie it late, Robert Evans is a beast for a freshman and is already hard to handle. Cole Blackburn played well and it was just a total team effort.”
