Trojans, Cowgirls notch tourney wins
BY MICHAEL LINDSAYENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — Wesleyan Christian’s boys made shots to take control early.The Trojans made 11 3-pointers for the game — including six by Kade Darr — to lead big early and cruised past High Point Central 71-43 on Thursday in the first round of the Sheetz Holiday Christ-mas Classic at Southwest Guilford.In the featured girls game, Southwest Guilford forced strings of turnovers and con-verted to build a sizable lead early and rolled past Wesleyan Christian 56-20.
“We’ll take it,” Wesleyan boys coach CJ Lee said with a smile. “Holiday hoops is so interesting because they’ve had a couple days off and enjoyed life — which they should. I was really happy with the intensity we had kind of midway through the fi rst quarter, when we got that separation and didn’t look back. We got some guys some minutes who haven’t logged a lot of minutes, which is always great.
“I thought it was just a great team effort — particularly with Kade Darr. He’s been on a tear this month. He’s had a wonderful month of December, and I thought in particular when we went through that stretch where he made some shots in the fi rst half and right after half-time. He really kind of gave us that separation we needed to put the game away.”
Darr totaled 20 points to lead the Trojans (9-3), who are ranked No. 53 in the state overall by MaxPreps and No. 5 among NCISAA 4A teams. Dice Royster added 11 points, followed by Jefferson McLamb with nine points in a well-bal-anced effort across the board.Wesleyan, which only trailed following the Bison’s opening basket of the game, scored the final 18 points of the first quarter and the first three of the second to quickly lead by 20. After a Central rally, the Trojans led 35-14 into halftime and extended their advantage to as large as 35 in the second half.
“We just knew we had to go from the get-go,” said Darr, a junior guard. “Coach always says it’s not like a light switch, so we need to come out playing to our full potential. We knew if we came out sluggish then it could be a game. ... It was great. It makes the game a lot of fun. You’re team’s clicking, you’re moving the ball, you see someone else do something good — it kind of feeds off itself.”
Keith McDuffie Jr. scored 15 points while Tre Hill had 13 points to lead the Bison (1-10), who had a solid 10-3 run in the second to pull within 13 and an 8-0 run in the fourth to get their deficit back into the mid-20s.
They had moments of opportunity but just couldn’t expand on them the way they needed.“We played OK after we got going a little bit,” Central coach Joel Battle said. “We didn’t start with much energy from the beginning. It could be Christmas break or whatever, but we didn’t play hard from the beginning and that put us behind in that first quarter.
“They made a lot of shots — I think they made 11 3-pointers and we only made two. So, that’s kind of the ballgame. When you don’t make shots, then you don’t have much of a chance to win. ... We’re definitely taking steps. We executed some things tonight we’ve been struggling with. But when you’re behind that eight-ball with the amount of time you’ve played, you’ve got a lot to catch up on.”
Wesleyan will face Panther Creek in the semifinals this afternoon at 4:30 in the Cog-gins gym. Central will take on Winston-Salem Christian in a consolation game at 1:30 in the Annex gym.
BY MICHAEL LINDSAYENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — Wesleyan Christian’s boys made shots to take control early.The Trojans made 11 3-pointers for the game — including six by Kade Darr — to lead big early and cruised past High Point Central 71-43 on Thursday in the first round of the Sheetz Holiday Christ-mas Classic at Southwest Guilford.In the featured girls game, Southwest Guilford forced strings of turnovers and con-verted to build a sizable lead early and rolled past Wesleyan Christian 56-20.
“We’ll take it,” Wesleyan boys coach CJ Lee said with a smile. “Holiday hoops is so interesting because they’ve had a couple days off and enjoyed life — which they should. I was really happy with the intensity we had kind of midway through the fi rst quarter, when we got that separation and didn’t look back. We got some guys some minutes who haven’t logged a lot of minutes, which is always great.
“I thought it was just a great team effort — particularly with Kade Darr. He’s been on a tear this month. He’s had a wonderful month of December, and I thought in particular when we went through that stretch where he made some shots in the fi rst half and right after half-time. He really kind of gave us that separation we needed to put the game away.”
Darr totaled 20 points to lead the Trojans (9-3), who are ranked No. 53 in the state overall by MaxPreps and No. 5 among NCISAA 4A teams. Dice Royster added 11 points, followed by Jefferson McLamb with nine points in a well-bal-anced effort across the board.Wesleyan, which only trailed following the Bison’s opening basket of the game, scored the final 18 points of the first quarter and the first three of the second to quickly lead by 20. After a Central rally, the Trojans led 35-14 into halftime and extended their advantage to as large as 35 in the second half.
“We just knew we had to go from the get-go,” said Darr, a junior guard. “Coach always says it’s not like a light switch, so we need to come out playing to our full potential. We knew if we came out sluggish then it could be a game. ... It was great. It makes the game a lot of fun. You’re team’s clicking, you’re moving the ball, you see someone else do something good — it kind of feeds off itself.”
Keith McDuffie Jr. scored 15 points while Tre Hill had 13 points to lead the Bison (1-10), who had a solid 10-3 run in the second to pull within 13 and an 8-0 run in the fourth to get their deficit back into the mid-20s.
They had moments of opportunity but just couldn’t expand on them the way they needed.“We played OK after we got going a little bit,” Central coach Joel Battle said. “We didn’t start with much energy from the beginning. It could be Christmas break or whatever, but we didn’t play hard from the beginning and that put us behind in that first quarter.
“They made a lot of shots — I think they made 11 3-pointers and we only made two. So, that’s kind of the ballgame. When you don’t make shots, then you don’t have much of a chance to win. ... We’re definitely taking steps. We executed some things tonight we’ve been struggling with. But when you’re behind that eight-ball with the amount of time you’ve played, you’ve got a lot to catch up on.”
Wesleyan will face Panther Creek in the semifinals this afternoon at 4:30 in the Cog-gins gym. Central will take on Winston-Salem Christian in a consolation game at 1:30 in the Annex gym.
