CHARLESTON — Foul trouble couldn’t bring down Jefferson in the quarterfinals of the boys Class AAAA state basketball tournament, but then near-perfect free throw shooting by Parkersburg South in the semifinal round was instrumental in the Patriots ending the Cougars’ season the next night.

Jefferson held off seventh-seeded Cabell Midland, 73-72, to keep its dream of an unbeaten season alive as the Cougars moved to 23-0 overall. Even though the use of its season-long pressure defense caused foul problems for the Cougars, they prevailed behind a second half comeback that saw them once trail by 10 points (at 52-42) in the third quarter. Two Jefferson players would foul out and two others finished with four fouls.

Much of the game was marked by scoring runs from both sides.

Jefferson immediately took an 8-0 lead and maintained some sort of margin until the half ended with it ahead, 34-29.

Cabell Midland quickly disregarded its mid-game deficit and took the game’s reins in the third quarter, once surging to a 10-point lead.

When the rallying Cougars moved back to within three points of the lead, trailing just 58-55 after three periods, a pressurized last quarter was almost guaranteed.

Even though the brothers Smith kept the Knights either in front or constantly nipping at the heels of the Cougars, it was the scoring of Jamari Jenkins (23 points), Cam Johnson (21 points) and Daion Taylor (12 points) that helped the Cougars prosper. Dominic Smith finished with 29 points and Chandler Smith counted 19 to pace the Knights.

After the Cabell Midland-flavored third quarter, Jefferson finally regained the lead at 63-62, but soon enough it was back to 67-67.

The Cougars’ four-point lead was just enough to withstand a last-ditch three-pointer from Cabell Midland.

Third-seeded Parkersburg South joined the Cougars in a fast-paced, up-and-down game that saw Jefferson put the Patriots on the foul line too many times.

Cyrus Traugh was so much of Parkersburg South’s offense with his 30 points and 17-of-19 showing from the foul line. A telling stat from the eventual 81-62 win by the Patriots was that Traugh missed his team’s only free throws as they were a definitive 30-of-32 from the foul line.

Jefferson’s pressure never really bothered the Patriots, which had just 10 turnovers as compared with Jefferson’s 12 floor errors.

Austin Mooney joined Traugh in continually padding the Patriot scoring column. Mooney and Traugh combined to score Parkersburg South’s first 18 points. Traugh had 19 points by halftime and Mooney was able to add 20 points in all.

Things opened with scoring bursts by both sides. The Patriots took a 7-0 lead, but in seemingly no time Jefferson was ahead, 8-7.

Parkersburg South’s 20-14 edge was then tied at 25-25 before the quick-scoring Patriots claimed a 37-29 lead by halftime.

Basically, a third quarter scoring drought dragged the Cougars down to their first loss of the season. Going just 3-for-17 from the field in the quarter became too much frost to overcome.

The Patriot lead was at 59-46, even before the free throw-loving Wood County representatives went 13-for-13 from the line, in the last quarter.

Jackson Smith (15 points) and reserve Brady McMullen (eight points and seven rebounds) were key figures along the winning way.

Jenkins had 15 points, Will Shively had 11 points and nine rebounds and Jaiden Gladney 10 points for the Cougars. Johnson secured nine rebounds and Taylor was credited with eight rebounds for the go-down-fighting Cougars.

Parkersburg South would lose to Morgantown in the Class AAAA championship game the next night.

Jefferson’s 23-1 season was the most decorated and best one in the school’s long basketball history.