Photo by Kim North Wheeling Park’s JD Williams (15) guards John Marshall’s Hayden Gaider (00) during Thursday night’s game inside the John Marshall Field House in Moundsville. The Patriots continued their dominance over the Monarchs with a wire-to-wire 56-37 victory.

MOUNDSVILLE — Getting off to a fast start is essential in any sport in lifting a team to victory. That is exactly what Wheeling Park did Thursday night inside a crowded John Marshall Field House.

The Patriots (2-3) scored the first 16 points of the game in defeating John Marshall 56-37 in boys’ basketball action to extend their winning streak over the Monarchs to 41 straight. John Marshall hasn’t beaten Wheeling Park on the hardwood since Feb. 29, 2008 — Leap Day — to be exact.

“We stressed defending and slowing down No. 10 (Preston Watkins) and No. 20 (Kayden Knapp). We thought they were their two best scoring chances,” Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia said. “The kids really bought in and had three really good days of practice.

“My assistant coaches Jerry (Ammirante) and Gene (Ammirante) scouted John Marshall live and we had a really good read on them.

Junior Josh Huffman sparked Wheeling Park’s early onslaught as he scored seven of the first nine points of the contest as the visitors held a commanding, 18-1, advantage at the end of eight minutes. He finished with a game-high 17, which included a trio of trifectas.

“I thought Josh played his best game of the season,” Jebbia praised.

Leading scorer JD Williams also had seven first-quarter lightings. He ended with 11.

The Monarchs (2-5) missed their first 11 shots from the floor and three foul shots before Landon Snyder dropped in the second of a two-shot foul with 1:39 left in the opening quarter.

“That seems to be the thing this year. We get off to bad starts and out ourselves in a hole,” first-year John Marshall head coach Mike Thomas, the Wheeling Park freshman coach the last two years, said. “Coming back is really, really hard. You expend a lot of energy doing it that way.”

John Marshall got to within 13, 26-13, with 3:37 left in the second quarter, but Wheeling Park received back-to-back triples by reserve Sincere Saunders-Paige to pull back ahead 32-14 at the half.

“Sincere hit a couple of timely threes to push the lead back up,” Jebbia pointed out. “They were two huge shots.”

Jordan Beck-James came off the bench to score six of his eight points during the second quarter.

The Patriots, who snapped a three-game losing skid after a season-opening triumph over Brooke in the Sam Andy Classic, connected on their first five shots of the third quarter while John Marshall was as cold as the falling temperatures.

Huffman banged a three for half of his points in the quarter as Wheeling Park pulled away at 47-21 entering the final chapter.

“We’ve got huge respect for John Marshall. We know every time we play them we’re going to get their best shot,” Jebbia said. “We’re still a work in progress.”

John Marshall outscored Wheeling Park 13-9 in the fourth quarter. However, the damage had already been done.

“Some way, somehow, we’ve got to find a way to start off quicker than we did tonight,” Thomas declared.

Wheeling Park point guard Kolten Whitmire joined Huffman and Williams in double figures with 10.

“We’ve got to do a better job of playing with the lead, but this is an entire new team,” Jebbia noted.“We were fortunate to get a win tonight.”

John Marshall’s bench players — Jackson Helms (11) and Hayden Gaiser (9) — outscored the five starters (17). Kayden Knapp had seven for the starters.

Bryar Haught grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds as the Monarchs led, 33-23, off the glass. Whitemire had five to lead the Patriots, who also received four each from Jay Bordas, Huffman and Jamar Creighton.

Wheeling Park shot a respectable 51 percent (21-41) from the floor to 31 percent (14-44) for the hosts. John Marshall also charted eight more turnovers, 18-11, including 10 in the first half.

Jebbia said the win was crucial for his team as a big three-game week looms next week.

“This win was very important for us,” Jebbia stressed. “When you look at our upcoming schedule, they’re aren’t many easy games for us. We’re at Steubenville Tuesday and then we host Bridgeport (W.Va.) on Thursday (Jan. 9) before traveling to Parkersburg on Saturday (Jan. 11)

Meanwhile, the Monarchs, after a 2-1 start, have now dropped four straight. They travel to Preston on Jan. 11.