PARKERSBURG — From the last two minutes of the first half on, host Parkersburg South dominated play Friday night against Cabell Midland en route to the Patriots posting a 76-58 boys basketball win over the Knights at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center. The victory upped South, ranked No. 9 in the state AP Class AAA preseason poll, to 5-1 on the season thus far, while Midland is now 2-2. The Patriots next play on Friday, Jan. 5 at Morgantown at 7:30 p.m. South built an early 9-3 lead on two treys from Seth Fallon and a third by Cole Plants before Midland pulled within 9-8, then tied the game at 13-all with 1:10 left in the first quarter, followed by four more points to take a 17-13 lead into the second stanza. In the second quarter, the Knights forged six-point leads twice until Plants, Malaki Sylvia and Shane Snider brought the Patriots back to a 25-25 deadlock. Then after a Plants’ basket lifted South on top at 27-25 at 3:16, South went on a 7-0 spurt from 1:59 on. Isaac Smith put in a rebound bucket and dropped in a free throw in the run to surge ahead 34-25 before a late Midland basket made the halftime count 34-27. But after the intermission break, the second half belonged to South after the Knights closed the gap to 38-36 at 5:16 of the third period. Eleven of the next 13 points were scored by the Patriots with Brayden Mooney’s trey at 5:02 kicking off the South burst. Then six of the next eight Patriot points by Snyder propelled South up by 11 at 49-38 at 2:34 and to finish off the quarter, South ran off the final six points in the last 55.6 seconds on Plants’ rebound bucket, two Todd Burner foul shots and Plants’ in-lane jumper with just 1.5 seconds remaining to take a 15-point bulge, 55-40, heading to the fourth quarter. In the fourth, South led by as much as 19 halfway through and then again when Cody Durnell gunned in a trey for the last points of the game. Plants led the South scoring with 28 points, followed by Snider’s 14 and Fallon’s nine, while Jovaun Light netted 18 points to lead Midland. “When we move and cut and attack, we’re pretty darn good because we have so many kids that can handle the ball and take you off the dribble,” said South head coach Mike Fallon. “And defensively, I thought we played much better in the second half.”