SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Petersburg came out firing in the opening minutes and held off a late comeback to beat No. 4 Frankfort 60-56 on Tuesday.
“We knew when we were coming here that it would be a battle,” Petersburg head coach Stacy Berg said. “I knew coach (Scott) Slider would have his kids ready. There was no doubt about that, they were ready to play. We came out and jumped on them quick. I think it was a big part, I think it gave them a little shell shock.”
The Vikings (4-1) were hot to open the game, opening on a 10-2 run.
Kaleb Kuhn led Petersburg in the first two minutes. He scored the first eight points of the game for the Vikings.
“Kaleb came out and was streaky,” Berg said. “Kaleb came out, hit some shots. When things start going right for Kaleb, it can go good. The biggest thing we’re working on with Kaleb is patience. He did a good job tonight understanding what we were trying to do.”
He blocked a layup and hit a 3-pointer on the other end to give Petersburg its 10-2 lead with 6:11 left in the quarter.
The Falcons (2-2) responded with a 7-3 run to cut the deficit to 13-9.
Frankfort’s Cam Layton scored five points during the run and added an assist on a wide open layup by Jeremy Phillips.
“They jumped out straight away, so we had to make up for it,” Frankfort head coach Scott Slider said. “We had to come back and fight back, which we did. I thought we did a nice job of getting back in.”
The Falcons trailed 13-9 after one quarter, but quickly took the lead in the second quarter.
Phillips assisted on back-to-back scores for Frankfort. He found Jeremiah Babo for a 3-pointer to give Frankfort a 14-13 lead with 6:48 left in the half.
Peyton Tingler responded with a 3-pointer to retake the lead for Petersburg.
“We just weren’t tight enough on defense,” Slider said. “We gave them the space to shoot.”
Up 16-14 with 6:20 left in the half, the Vikings outscored the Falcons 9-6 to lead 27-20 at halftime.
Tingler, who finished with 20 points, ended the half with seven points, two assists and a steal in the final six minutes.
“When I need a bucket or we need something, we’re gonna go to our leadership,” Berg said. “We’re gonna give Peyton all the opportunities in the world. We just put the ball in his hands and said go do what you do.”
Petersburg shot 6 of 13 (46%) from 3-point range in the first half.
Frankfort struggled early, going 1 of 10 from the field to start. It finished the half 7 of 23 from the field (30%) and 3 of 11 from deep (27%).
“We needed to take control, the game was running faster in our heads,” Slider said. “We sped ourselves up too much. I thought we would’ve handled that better, especially going into the game.”
The Falcons started to rally back in the third quarter, outscoring Petersburg 20-14 in the first seven minutes to tie the game at 41.
“Some key buckets here and there, that makes a big difference,” Slider said.
Darius Gray set up Layton for a 3-pointer to cap the run.
Uriah Cutter scored nine points for Frankfort after not scoring in the first half.
“To see him step onto the court and play with the confidence he did was great,” Slider said. “He’s not known to be a strong offensive player, but he got to the bucket.”
In the final minute of the third quarter, Cutter hit two free throws to put the Falcons up 45-43.
The Vikings responded by opening the fourth quarter with two unanswered scores as Kuhn assisted Zalon Barrick on a layup to tie the game then Kuhn hit a one-leg fadeaway to give Petersburg a 49-47 lead.
“We’re trying to be a team that is patient and take shots when the shots are there,” Berg said. “Not put up bad shots and know when to go and when not to go.”
A coast-to-coast layup by Kuhn extended the Viking lead to 55-49 with 2:06 left.
Frankfort cut the deficit to two points on a layup by Layton off a Phillips’ assist with 1:23 remaining.
In the final minute, Petersburg went 3 of 4 at the free-throw line to extend the lead to 60-53 with 15.6 seconds to go.
“We made our free throws,” Berg said. “I think that was the difference the last couple minutes.”
On an inbound play, Bryson McKenzie hit a deep 3-pointer for Frankfort to make it a four-point game, but the Vikings inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.
Kuhn led all scorers with 27 points. He made five 3-pointers and added two assists.
Tingler scored 20 with two assists, a steal and a block.
Trace Rohrbaugh had six steals and four assists.
“I’ve always said when Trace is guarding you, you’re gonna work for everything.” Berg said. “Nothing’s gonna come easy when Trace is guarding you. We want that effort, but we also want it to be in control. I thought he did a nice job of applying pressure, knowing when to apply pressure.”
Four Falcons scored in double figures.
Cam Lynch led Frankfort with 13 points along with three assists and a block. Cutter and Layton each scored 11, with Layton adding five assists.
Phillips finished with 10 points and six assists.
“I thought Jeremy hit some big buckets for us,” Slider said. “He’s seeing the floor better, spreading the ball well. We had some good ball movement on the perimeter and got some good looks because of that. He was key to that because he hit a couple shots.”
Petersburg is at Northern on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Frankfort plays its Mineral County rival Keyser on the road on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Tornado (2-2) won both games last season.
“Anytime you’re playing Keyser, it’s always a big deal,” Slider said. “We’ve had great games with them in past years. It’s been a while since there’s been a large margin of victory. You might be a little stronger, they might be a little stronger. But because it’s a county rivalry, both teams are going to be pretty even.”