PARKERSBURG — The Patriots won Thursday night, but the Patriots lost too. That’s because in a Class AAA boys basketball duel between the visiting No. 3 George Washington Patriots and the No. 1 Parkersburg South Patriots, GW prevailed, knocking off top-ranked South 66-58 at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center. The setback for South after a 16-game winning streak to move to No. 1 in the state left it at 18-2 with the next game versus No. 2 University on Saturday for the OVAC 5A championship at Ohio University-Eastern in St. Clairsville, Ohio. After senior night honoring seven basketball players, South overcame GW leads of 8-3 and 13-8 in the first quarter to get within two both times on treys from Seth Fallon. And a Cole Plants hoop on a drive down the lane with 47.6 seconds remaining cut the gap to just 15-13 at the quarter break. But the second stanza saw GW, after Shane Snider drove the baseline for a tying bucket at 29-all, tally the final six points on a Bunky Brown basket and then two free throws followed by a Matthew Cook bucket with 33 seconds left for a 35-29 lead at halftime. The third period was more GW extending its lead to as much as 47-35 halfway through to as much as 16 at 55-39 before the margin was 13 at 57-44 going to the last eight minutes of play. But South clawed back into contention in the fourth quarter, getting revved up on defense as the offense made a move. Behind Colton Luther and Snider, South quickly got within eight, but no further in slipping behind by nine, then 11. After that, the closest was eight (64-56) at 49.3 seconds on a Brayden Mooney bucket and then the final score on another Mooney hoop with only 18 seconds left. For GW, now 16-2, Brown led the way with 19 points, while Cook and Justin Phillips notched 16 and 14 respectively. South was paced by Plants with 16 points, followed by Mooney with 15 and Fallon with 11. “I thought we played poorly offensively,” said South head coach Mike Fallon. “We took a lot of contested shots. We looked lethargic at times, but as bad as we played, we still had chances. “At 60-51, we had five straight possessions and either missed a layup or threw it out of bounds. With five straight trips, we had a chance to knock into that thing, and it was just like we couldn’t get over that hump. We kept fighting, but it seemed like the harder we fought, the worse it got at times.”